Numbers in Italian
When children are learning a new language, they are usually taught numbers first as these are good practice in the pronunciation of any foreign language. If you wish to learn Italian, the numbers may also be a good place for you to start. The following are the Italian numbers from one to ten along with their pronunciations:
1 uno (“oo-noh”)
2 due (“doo-eh”)
3 tre (“treh”)
4 quattro (“kwat-troh”)
5 cinque (“cheen-kweh”)
6 sei (“seh-ee”)
7 sette (“set-teh”)
8 otto (“oht-toh”)
9 nove (“noh-veh”)
10 dieci (“dee-eh-chee”)
As Americans, many of us are familiar with the Spanish language counting system. These numbers are very similar in pronunciation as well as spelling.
The numbers in Italian from eleven to sixteen follow the same pattern that many other languages do. The number appears as a combination of the number for ten and the other relative number. The Italian numbers for eleven through sixteen are:
11 undici (“oon-dee-chee”)
12 dodici (“doh-dee-chee”)
13 tredici (“treh-dee-chee”)
14 quarttordici (“kwat-tor-dee-chee”)
15 quindici (“kween-dee-chee”)
16 sedici (“seh-dee-che”)
The numbers from seventeen to nineteen also uses the word for the number ten in a different way. The Italian numbers for seventeen through nineteen are:
17 diciassette (“dee-chahs-set-teh”)
18 diciotto (“dee-choht-toh”)
19 diciannove (“dee-chan-noh-veh”)
The numbers from twenty to twenty-nine also utilize the numbers for one to nine. The Italian numbers from twenty to twenty-nine are:
20 venti (“ven-tee”)
21 ventuno (“ven-too-noh”)
22 ventidue (“ven-tee-doo-eh”)
23 ventitré (“ven-tee-treh”)
24 ventiquattro (“ven-tee-kwat-troh”)
25 venticinque (“ven-tee-cheen-kweh”)
26 ventisei (“ven-tee-seh-ee”)
27 ventisette (“ven-tee-set-tee”)
28 ventotto (“ven-toht-toh”)
29 ventinove (“ven-tee-noh-vee”)
The numbers in Italian from thirty to one hundred if counting by tens are:
30 trenta (“tren-tah”)
40 quaranta (“kwah-rahn-tah”)
50 cinquanta (“cheen-kwahn-tah”)
60 sessanta (“ses-sahn-tah”)
70 settanta (“set-than-tah”)
80 ottanta (“oht-tahn-tah”)
90 novanta (“noh-vahn-tah”)
100 cento (chen-toh”)
When dealing with the numbers in Italian such as “thirty-one,” you follow the same pattern that was shown in the twenties. For example, “thirty-one” would be “trentuno.”
You may also notice that the word for one hundred looks familiar. The English word “cent’ is based on the Latin word for one hundred as is many of the other European languages. The “one” numbers after one hundred are written as such:
101 centouno (“cheen-toh-oo-noh”)
102 centodue (“cheen-toh-doo-eh”)
The numbers for the hundreds utilize a combination of the numbers one through nine and the number one hundred. The Italian numbers for the hundreds are:
200 duecento (“doo-eh-cheen-toh”)
300 trecento (“treh-cheen-toh”)
400 quattrocento (“kwat-troh-cheen-toh”)
500 cinquecento (“cheen-kweh-cheen-toh”)
600 seicento (“seh-eh-cheen-toh”)
700 settecento (“set-teh-cheen-toh”)
800 ottocento (“oht-toh-cheen-toh”)
900 novecento (“noh-veh-cheen-toh”)
The larger numbers in Italian all follow the same type of pattern. The larger numbers include:
1000 mille (“mill-ah”)
2000 duemila (“doo-eh-mill-ah”)
3000 tremila (“treh-mill-ah”)
4000 quattromila (“kwat-troh-mill-ah”)
5000 cinquemila (“cheen-kweh-mill-ah”)
6000 seimila (“seh-eh-mill-eh”)
Numbers in Italian are easy to work with once you have the basics. You should first memorize the numbers between one and nine as these are used in a variety of combinations throughout the rest of the Italian numbers system. As you become more familiar with these, you should have no problem in writing and saying the larger numbers.