Counting in Spanish from 1 to 100 Million (and Beyond!)

Counting in Spanish is a fun first step for beginners who are early into their Spanish courses!

That overjoyed sense of achievement you feel once you’re able to count seamlessly in Spanish is worth every minute of studying and repetition. 

As your counting skills in Spanish strengthen, you’ll be inspired to count to higher and higher numbers. That’s why we’ve compiled a fully-stocked lesson that stretches your counting in Spanish up to one hundred million—and beyond! 

If you’re ready to go the extra mile, let’s explore how counting in Spanish can take you to infinity.

Cardinal and Ordinal Numbers

Similar to English, Spanish has cardinal and ordinal numbers. What’s the difference?

Ordinal numbers help define your place in a race, competition, and tier list, or they denote street names and decide a specific order of things. 

El ganó el segundo lugar.

He won second place.

Read more: Ordinal Numbers in Spanish.

Cardinal numbers are the ones you use when counting in Spanish. They help you handle important things such as money, groceries, cooking recipes, bank accounts, and ordering food. 

Queremos dos vasos de agua, por favor.

We want two glasses of water, please.

Read more: How to Use Numbers in Spanish

Spanish Grammar Rules for Numbers

Counting in Spanish is more than just speaking. You have to be able to read and write numbers in Spanish too! There are many things to consider such as gender, grammar, and spelling.

Gender in Spanish Numbers

While the gender of ordinal numbers is generally neutral, the articles change depending on the noun they represent:

El = singular, masculine

La = singular, feminine

Los = plural, masculine

Las = plural, feminine 

For example:

Traje las dos manzanas que me pediste.

I brought the two apples you asked for.

Sábado y Domingo son los dos mejores días de la semana.

Saturday and Sunday are the two best says of the week.

What’s more, it’s important to note that certain numbers are not gender neutral, and these include the number one and all numbers from 200-900 that contain -cientos (m) or -cientas (f). 

Counting in Spanish: Uno

The number one in Spanish exists as un, uno, una, unos, and unas. 

The difference between these is gender and number, while for the variation un, it requires an understanding of placement. 

Let’s look at some examples:

Un = masculine, singular, placed before a noun (means “a” or “one”)

Uno = masculine, singular (means “a” or “one”)

Una = feminine, singular (means “a” or “one”)

Unas = feminine, plural (means “some”)

Unos = masculine, plural (means “some”)

To master the proper placement and usage of un, keep these two rules in mind:

• If the number one proceeds a masculine noun, such as 21 cats, the number 21 is written as veintiún gatos. 
• Additionally, if the number proceeds a feminine noun that begins with the letter a, such as 31 eagles, the number is most commonly written in masculine form: treinta y un águilas.

Example Sentences with un, uno, una, unos, unas

• Tengo un carro verde. — I have a green car
• Quiero uno de esos helados artesanales. — I want one of those artisanal ice cream cones.
• Tengo ganas de una sopa ramen con huevo. — I want a ramen soup with eggs.
• Halloween fue hace unos días. — Halloween was some days ago.
• Mi prima invitó unas amigas a su casa. — My cousin invited some friends to her house.

How to Write Numbers in Spanish

In this section, you won’t be learning the tricks to spelling (learn those here) Spanish numbers, but these guidelines will give you an upper hand in writing or typing Spanish numbers correctly in your assignments. 

Write the numerical form of the number if it:

• has more than three words in it (145 — ciento cuarenta y cinco)
• has decimals (3.14 — tres punto catorce)
• is followed by a unit abbreviation such as in. or kg (44in. — cuarenta y cuatro pulgadas)
• identifies a noun such as hotel rooms, addresses, license plates, etc (Apt. 101 — apartamento ciento uno)

Write the word form of the number if it:

• has one or two words in it (tres / mil cien)
• is joined by the letter y (treinta y dos)

Watch out!

La Real Academia Española (RAE) states that if you start writing the numerical form of numbers instead of words, you should stick to numbers for the whole piece even if it fills any of the criteria mentioned above. This means that you should be consistent in the way you write numbers across your piece. Make sure to check out RAE’s list of number rule recommendations.

How to Count in Spanish from 1 to 100 Million

Now that you have a solid base for counting in Spanish, we can move forward to the big numbers! 

We’ll get started with a couple of handy reference tables that will give you all the tools you need to count as high as you want. 

For the first few number groups, you’ll have to memorize their names. There’s no way around that, but the good news is that starting on 30, you don’t really have to learn any new words! 

Let’s take a look.

Counting in Spanish from 0-9

Counting in Spanish from 10-90

Counting in Spanish from 11-19

Counting Spanish: Multiples of 100

Count Multiples of 1000

What’s a “Billion,” “Trillion,” and Beyond in Spanish vs English?

In English, a billion is a one followed by nine zeroes: 1,000,000,000. 

But that’s not the case in Spanish! 

A billion in English is what we call mil millones in Spanish: 1,000,000,000. 

In fact, un billón is a much larger unit in Spanish than the English “billion.”

In Spanish, un billón equals a trillion, which is a one followed by twelve zeroes: 1,000,000,000,000

That’s a lot of zeroes!

For even more gigantic numbers, check this out:

quadrillion (15 zeros) = un mil billones

quintillion (18 zeros) = un trillón

Counting in Spanish: Numbers from 21-29

For numbers 21-29, all you have to do is add the prefix veinti followed by its respective number. 

• 21 — veinti + uno = veintiuno
• 22 — veinti + dos =veintidos
• 23 — veinti + tres = veintitres
• 24 — veinti + cuatro = veinticuatro
• 25 — veinti + cinco = veinticinco
• 26 — veinti + seis = veintiseis
• 27 — veinti + siete = veintisiete
• 28 — veinti + ocho = veintiocho
• 29 — veinti + nueve = veintinueve

Counting in Spanish: Numbers from 30-99

The trick to count from 30 to 99 is simple! You join the tenth unit and the ones unit together, combined with y (and). 

Check these examples:

• 36 — treinta y seis 
• 48 — cuarenta y ocho 
• 51 — cincuenta y uno 
• 67 — sesenta y siete 
• 77 — setenta y siete 
• 83 — ochenta y tres 
• 94 — noventa y cuatro 

Counting in Spanish from 100-999

Here you follow the same rule as before, except now you have to add an extra word before for the hundreds. 

For numbers between 101-199 you must add the prefix ciento.

From 201-999 you use the same word for the hundredths number (for example, doscientos) The pattern repeats with all numbers 1-9 that precede the hundred.

Let’s look at some more examples:

• 105 — ciento cinco
• 216 — doscientos dieciséis
• 325 — trescientos veinticinco
• 438 — cuatrocientos treinta y ocho
• 593 — quinientos noventa y tres
• 674 — seiscientos setenta y cuatro
• 777 — setecientos setenta y siete
• 823 — ochocientos veintitres
• 934 — novecientos treinta y cuatro

Counting in Spanish from 1000-100,000,000+

To make colossally giant numbers, simply follow the addition rule by using the same structure from before. 

You can use this formula to count all the way to a quintillion (un trillón)! 

Before we jump closer to infinity, here are some rules to know for you to understand the upcoming examples:

• Numbers in the 10,000 range are pronounced by saying the tenth unit followed by the word mil. (11,000 = once mil)
• Only use the word uno when the number is at the end. Otherwise use the word un.

Let’s practice!

• 1758 — mil setecientos cincuenta y ocho
• 5745 — cinco mil setecientos cuarenta y cinco
• 14,576 — catorce mil quinientos setenta y seis
• 56,764 — cincuenta y seis mil setecientos sesenta y cuatro
• 100,543 — cien mil quinientos cuarenta y tres
• 345,875 — trescientos cuarenta y cinco mil ochocientos setenta y cinco
• 3,543,665 — tres millones quinientos cuarenta y tres mil seiscientos sesenta y cinco
• 19,435,456 — diecinueve millones cuatrocientos treinta y cinco mil cuatrocientos cincuenta y seis
• 60,345,234 — sesenta millones trescientos cuarenta y cinco mil doscientos treinta y cuatro
• 100,234,764 — cien millones doscientos treinta y cuatro mil setecientos treinta y cuatro
• 575,435,234 — quinientos setenta y cinco millones cuatrocientos treinta y cinco mil doscientos treinta y cuatro

Try This Pronunciation Trick

Getting tripped up on pronunciation of all these big numbers? An easy way to overcome this obstacle is to put the number in Google Translate. 

Let’s say you write “123,456,789 in Spanish” on the Google search bar and it will retrieve an instant translation in Spanish for you. Click the sound icon in the bottom right corner of the Spanish text to give you a starting point for imitation and repetition. 

Counting in Spanish to mil millones and Beyond

The best way to make sure you don’t forget these numbers is to practice with a native Spanish speaker. Talking in real time with a certified Spanish teacher will keep you on your toes, improving retention, pronunciation, rhythm, and flow of you Spanish.

If you want to focus on counting in Spanish, our teachers will make sure to add in the topics you’re interested in as you learn many new vocabulary words and useful phrases.

Take your Spanish to the next level by taking a free class with us so you can practice counting in Spanish, big numbers, and so much more!

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Rafael Parra

Freelance Writer at Homeschool Spanish Academy

A native Spanish speaker from Guatemala, I'm a psychology student, creative developer, and aspiring polymath who's always learning new things and improving as a person. I'm a nerd when it comes to language, education, and videogames. My goal is to practice all these disciplines in unison and make something great with my time.

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