Note again, just like the number one, the number twenty-one has three forms. But, for now, here is a list of the numbers zero through to twenty-nine: # We’ll discuss the number thirty in the next section. While English starts to split numbers into two words after twenty, this one-word pattern continues in Spanish up to thirty. Now that we have discussed the number one in detail, next let’s look at the numbers between zero (0) and twenty-nine (29).Īfter the changes that occur with the number one in Spanish, another interesting observation about Spanish numbers is that all numbers from zero to thirty are each only one word. Note the word order here and how we must put unos and unas before the number we want to approximate. This use translates into English as ‘some’ or ‘about’.Įnglish: I’m only going to wait about twenty minutes (20).Įspañol: Solo voy a esperar unos veinte minutos.Įnglish: There are about forty questions on the test (40).Įspañol: Hay unas cuarenta preguntas en el examen. We can do this by combining unos and unas with a larger number. The second situation in which we can use the plural form of one is for making larger numbers approximate quantities. The first is for a small and non-exact number, this situation is best translated into English as ‘a few’ or ‘some’.Įnglish: We spend a few weeks in the mountains every winter.Įspañol: Pasamos unas semanas en las montañas cada invierno.Įnglish: I’m going to have some drinks with friends tonight.Įspañol: Voy a tomar unas copas con amigos esta noche. There are, in fact, two basic scenarios in which we can use this plural form of one. If we don’t need an exact number, we can use unos and unas for approximations. The last thing we need to discuss before moving on is the plural forms of the number one: unos and unas.Īs you saw a moment ago, when we have a large number ending in one, we need to stick with the singular form of one.Įnglish: There are fifty-one examples in the homework (51).Įspañol: Hay cincuenta y unos ejemplos en la tarea. ‘ un libro’, ‘ un artículo’ etc.) And if it is feminine, we don’t need to change forms. Next, here are some examples of the number one behaving like a pronoun:Įnglish: How many countries have you lived in?Īs you can see with this last example, when we want to say ‘one’ and this represents a masculine noun, we need to remember to say ‘ uno’.īut, if we have a noun in our sentence, we need to drop the ‘o’ (e.g. We can only distinguish between ‘one’ and ‘a’ or ‘an’ in Spanish through context. ‘ una idea‘ could translate as ‘one idea’ or ‘an idea’. Note there aren’t different words for ‘one’ and ‘a’ in Spanish, e.g. When we switch between these two options, similar to other Spanish words that describe quantity such as algún vs alguno, we need to decide between three forms.įirstly, here are a few examples of the number one behaving like an adjective:Įnglish: I have one brother and one sister.Įnglish: We only need one idea for the project.Įspañol: Solo necesitamos una idea para el proyecto. When we use Spanish numbers in a sentence, we can either use them like an adjective or a pronoun. So, what makes the Spanish number one so special? In addition, any number ending in one such as twenty-one (21), seventy-one (71), or two thousand four hundred and sixty-one (2,461) also has three forms. One is the most interesting number in Spanish because it has three forms, where most numbers have only one or two. Before we talk about all of the numbers in the Spanish language, we need to stop and talk about the number one (1).
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