Numbers 1 to 100 in Italian: uno to cento
The numbers 1 to 100 in Italian are each written as one word and built very regularly: tens, then units, with nothing between them. Twenty-two is ventidue, forty-five is quarantacinque. There are two small changes to learn: the tens lose their last vowel before uno and otto, so 21 is ventuno and 28 is ventotto, and a number ending in three takes an accent, ventitré. One hundred is cento.
Italian numbers 1 to 100
| Italian | Italian | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | uno | 51 | cinquantuno |
| 2 | due | 52 | cinquantadue |
| 3 | tre | 53 | cinquantatré |
| 4 | quattro | 54 | cinquantaquattro |
| 5 | cinque | 55 | cinquantacinque |
| 6 | sei | 56 | cinquantasei |
| 7 | sette | 57 | cinquantasette |
| 8 | otto | 58 | cinquantotto |
| 9 | nove | 59 | cinquantanove |
| 10 | dieci | 60 | sessanta |
| 11 | undici | 61 | sessantuno |
| 12 | dodici | 62 | sessantadue |
| 13 | tredici | 63 | sessantatré |
| 14 | quattordici | 64 | sessantaquattro |
| 15 | quindici | 65 | sessantacinque |
| 16 | sedici | 66 | sessantasei |
| 17 | diciassette | 67 | sessantasette |
| 18 | diciotto | 68 | sessantotto |
| 19 | diciannove | 69 | sessantanove |
| 20 | venti | 70 | settanta |
| 21 | ventuno | 71 | settantuno |
| 22 | ventidue | 72 | settantadue |
| 23 | ventitré | 73 | settantatré |
| 24 | ventiquattro | 74 | settantaquattro |
| 25 | venticinque | 75 | settantacinque |
| 26 | ventisei | 76 | settantasei |
| 27 | ventisette | 77 | settantasette |
| 28 | ventotto | 78 | settantotto |
| 29 | ventinove | 79 | settantanove |
| 30 | trenta | 80 | ottanta |
| 31 | trentuno | 81 | ottantuno |
| 32 | trentadue | 82 | ottantadue |
| 33 | trentatré | 83 | ottantatré |
| 34 | trentaquattro | 84 | ottantaquattro |
| 35 | trentacinque | 85 | ottantacinque |
| 36 | trentasei | 86 | ottantasei |
| 37 | trentasette | 87 | ottantasette |
| 38 | trentotto | 88 | ottantotto |
| 39 | trentanove | 89 | ottantanove |
| 40 | quaranta | 90 | novanta |
| 41 | quarantuno | 91 | novantuno |
| 42 | quarantadue | 92 | novantadue |
| 43 | quarantatré | 93 | novantatré |
| 44 | quarantaquattro | 94 | novantaquattro |
| 45 | quarantacinque | 95 | novantacinque |
| 46 | quarantasei | 96 | novantasei |
| 47 | quarantasette | 97 | novantasette |
| 48 | quarantotto | 98 | novantotto |
| 49 | quarantanove | 99 | novantanove |
| 50 | cinquanta | 100 | cento |
The rules, in order
1 to 10 are single words: uno, due, tre, quattro, cinque, sei, sette, otto, nove, dieci.
11 to 16 put the unit first and end in -dici: undici, dodici, tredici, quattordici, quindici, sedici.
17, 18 and 19 turn round and start with dici-: diciassette, diciotto, diciannove. Notice the double s in 17 and the double n in 19.
The tens are venti (20), trenta (30), quaranta (40), cinquanta (50), sessanta (60), settanta (70), ottanta (80), novanta (90). After 20 they all end in -anta, except trenta.
From 21, add the unit straight on: ventidue (22), trentacinque (35), novantanove (99).
The two changes
The tens drop their last vowel before uno and otto, because those two start with a vowel: ventuno (21), ventotto (28), trentuno (31), trentotto (38), and so on up to novantuno and novantotto. Say venti-uno and you will be understood, but it is not how the number is written or said.
A final tre gets an accent: ventitré (23), trentatré (33), novantatré (93). On its own tre has none. The accent marks the stress, which falls on the last syllable.
Sessanta and settanta
Sixty and seventy, sessanta and settanta, differ by two letters and are the pair learners confuse. The clue is the unit they come from: sei gives sessanta, sette gives settanta.
Uno and un
Uno is the number on its own. Before a noun it behaves like the article "a": un libro, una casa, uno studente. In compounds from 21 up, the final o is often dropped before a noun: ventun anni, "twenty-one years".
Which numbers do Italian films say most?
Counted in Italian film and television subtitles, per million words:
| Number | Word | Per million words |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | uno | 1397.8 |
| 2 | due | 1328.3 |
| 3 | tre | 537.6 |
| 4 | quattro | 217.5 |
| 5 | cinque | 224.4 |
| 6 | sei | 3729.3 |
| 7 | sette | 92.8 |
| 8 | otto | 90.0 |
| 9 | nove | 58.6 |
| 10 | dieci | 141.8 |
Two of these counts are inflated. Uno is also the article "a", and sei is also "you are", one of the commonest verb forms in the language, which is why six appears to beat everything. Set those aside and the order follows the counting order, with the two exceptions that turn up in every language we counted: five is said more than four, and ten more than seven, eight and nine. Round numbers get used for approximations, cinque minuti, dieci anni.
Pronunciation notes
- Double consonants are held longer: quattro, sette, otto, diciassette. A short one can change the word: sete is "thirst", sette is seven.
- C before e or i is "ch": cinque is "CHEEN-kweh", dieci "DYEH-chee", cento "CHEN-to".
- Qu is "kw": quattro, quindici, cinquanta.
- Sei is one syllable, "say".
How to learn them
- Learn 1 to 19 and the eight tens by heart. That is 27 words.
- Write out 21, 28, 31, 38 and so on once, to fix the dropped vowel.
- Practise with prices and times, where numbers come fast.
The numbers are in the most common Italian words, and the Italian course, Verbavia (our own course), teaches them in sentences, free on the web. For the other everyday set, see the days of the week in Italian. French does something stranger with 70, 80 and 90: numbers 1 to 100 in French.
Numbers are most often needed for dates, and the months are in months of the year in Italian.
Sources
- The table of 1 to 100 is generated by rule by
scripts/frequency_reference.py, which checks itself against a list of the forms most often got wrong before it writes anything. - The counts are from OpenSubtitles 2018 (Lison, P. & Tiedemann, J., 2016, aclanthology.org) through Hermit Dave's FrequencyWords lists, content licensed CC BY-SA 4.0, github.com, and are printed from the script's output rather than typed.