Zahlen auf Italienisch lernen
Why Italian numbers are worth learning early
Numbers come up in almost every everyday situation in Italy: shopping and reading prices, booking hotels and tickets, arranging times and dates, and swapping phone numbers. Because the system is so patterned, a small amount of memorising up front unlocks a huge range of numbers, so it is effort that pays off quickly.
Italian numbers 1 to 20
The numbers from 1 to 20 are irregular and simply have to be learned by heart. They are the building blocks for everything above.
Italian numbers 21 to 100
From 21 onwards the pattern is regular: take the tens word (venti, trenta, quaranta and so on) and attach the unit, written as a single word. So trenta (30) plus due (2) gives trentadue (32).
The units that do not change (due, tre, quattro, cinque, sei, sette, nove) simply attach: ventidue, ventitré, ventiquattro, and so on for every ten.
The two spelling rules to remember
Two small rules cover the exceptions.
The vowel drop with 1 and 8. When you attach uno (1) or otto (8), the tens word loses its final vowel. So venti plus uno gives ventuno (not ventiuno), and venti plus otto gives ventotto (not ventiotto). The same happens all the way up: trentuno and trentotto, quarantuno and quarantotto, cinquantuno and cinquantotto, and so on. This drop happens only with 1 and 8, because those are the units that begin with a vowel.
The accent with 3. When tre is the last part of a longer number, it takes a written accent: ventitré, trentatré, quarantatré, and so on. On its own, the number 3 is just tre, with no accent.
Hundreds and thousands
The word for 100 is cento, and it does not change in the plural: 200 is duecento, 300 trecento, and so on up to 900 (novecento).
For 1,000 the word is mille, but its plural is mila, so 2,000 is duemila, 3,000 tremila, 10,000 diecimila and 100,000 centomila. Beyond that, 1,000,000 is un milione and 1,000,000,000 is un miliardo.
Building numbers beyond 100
Numbers above 100 simply join cento to what you already know, with no spaces and following the same rules. So 101 is centouno, 110 is centodieci, and 123 is centoventitré (keeping the accent on the final tré). The vowel-drop rule still applies where the parts meet, so 180 is centottanta and 108 is centotto. After 200 the pattern repeats with duecento, trecento and the rest, all the way to 999.
Ordinal numbers
Ordinal numbers (first, second, third) are used for dates, rankings, floors and the like. The first ten are their own words: primo, secondo, terzo, quarto, quinto, sesto, settimo, ottavo, nono, decimo. From eleven onwards you simply add the ending esimo to the number, dropping its final vowel: undicesimo (11th), ventesimo (20th), trentesimo (30th). Unlike the counting numbers, ordinals change to agree with the noun, so primo becomes prima for a feminine word.
Summary
Italian numbers are built from a small set of pieces: learn 1 to 20 and the tens, then attach the unit as one word (trenta plus due gives trentadue). Two rules cover the exceptions: the tens word drops its final vowel before uno (1) and otto (8), giving ventuno and ventotto, and a final tre takes an accent, as in ventitré. Hundreds use cento (duecento, trecento) and thousands use mille, with the plural mila (duemila). Master those patterns and you can count from 1 well past 1,000. The best way to make them stick is to use them, ideally on an Italian course in Florence with SPRACHCAFFE.
