Spanish Number Converter
Type a number and read it the way it is said in Mexico, with the price, the phone number and the year each read their own way, and the three forms of one shown where they differ.
Type a number
Any whole number from 0 to 999,999,999. One has three forms and this shows all of them.
dos mil cuatrocientos sesenta y uno
2,461
Tengo dos mil cuatrocientos sesenta y un pesos.
- On its own
- dos mil cuatrocientos sesenta y uno
- Before a masculine noun
- dos mil cuatrocientos sesenta y un pesos
- Before a feminine noun
- dos mil cuatrocientas sesenta y una casas
Nothing is uploaded. Everything on this page runs in your browser, and nothing you type is sent anywhere or kept.
What this is
A number is the first thing a foreigner has to catch at full speed and the last thing a course teaches properly. A price comes back at a till, a phone number is dictated once, a year turns up in the middle of a sentence, and each of the three is said a different way.
The converter covers every whole number from zero to 999,999,999. That ceiling is where Spanish changes gear: a thousand million is mil millones in Mexico, and un billón is a million millions, not a thousand of them, so a tool that guessed which one you meant would be teaching a false friend.
The rules are the Real Academia Española's, from its dictionary of doubts and its grammar, both linked at the foot of this page. The phone number is read as the ten digits Mexico has dialled since 2019, in the five pairs a person really dictates.
How to use it
- Type the numberCommas, spaces, dashes and a peso sign are all fine. 2,461 and 2461 are the same number and both are read.
- Say what it isA plain number, a price in pesos, a phone number or a year. The same digits are said four different ways, and the phone number is the one nobody guesses.
- Pick the form of oneAny number ending in one has three: uno on its own, un before a masculine noun, una before a feminine one. The tool shows all three whenever they differ.
The blocks every number is built from
Fifteen words and four rules cover every number a person says in a day. Learn the first fifteen by heart, notice where the y goes, and the rest is assembly.
| Number | In Spanish | What it settles |
|---|---|---|
| 15 | quince | Everything to fifteen is its own word, and they have to be known by heart. |
| 16 | dieciséis | Sixteen to nineteen are diez and the unit run together, with an accent on dieciséis. |
| 21 | veintiuno | The twenties are one word: veintiuno, veintidós, veintitrés. From thirty on they come apart again. |
| 31 | treinta y uno | Thirty and up take y between the ten and the unit, and only there. |
| 100 | cien | Exactly one hundred, and nothing else, is cien. On its own, and in front of a noun. |
| 101 | ciento uno | One hundred and anything is ciento, with no y after it. |
| 200 | doscientos | The hundreds agree with what is counted: doscientos pesos, doscientas casas. |
| 500 | quinientos | Five hundred is not cincocientos. Nor is seven hundred or nine hundred regular. |
| 700 | setecientos | Seven hundred drops the i of siete. |
| 900 | novecientos | Nine hundred drops the ue of nueve. |
| 1,000 | mil | One thousand is mil, never un mil. It is the one place Spanish drops the one entirely. |
| 2,000 | dos mil | Above that, mil is invariable: dos mil, cien mil, novecientos mil. There are no miles. |
| 1,000,000 | un millón | A million IS counted, because millón is a noun: un millón, dos millones, veintiún millones. |
| 21,000,000 | veintiún millones | And being counted, it takes the short form of one in front of it. |
The five that cost a conversation
Each of these is a sentence a learner says out loud that a Mexican does not. Four of them come from guessing that Spanish works like English, and the fifth comes from a rule that looks regular and is not.
| Number | What a learner says | What Mexico says | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| 500 | cincocientos | quinientos | Five hundred, seven hundred and nine hundred are the three irregular hundreds, and five hundred is the one that turns up in a price every day. |
| 101 | cien uno, or ciento y uno | ciento uno | Cien is exactly one hundred and nothing else. The moment anything follows it, it is ciento, and there is no y between the hundred and the rest. |
| 22 | veinte y dos | veintidós | The twenties are written as one word with an accent, and they are the only ten that is. Thirty and up are three words again. |
| 31 | treinta uno | treinta y uno | The y goes between a ten and a unit, and nowhere else. Not after a hundred, not after a thousand. |
| 1,999 | diecinueve noventa y nueve | mil novecientos noventa y nueve | A year in Spanish is simply the number. The English habit of splitting it in half produces something nobody says. |
Reading one is not hearing one
A number on a screen is a different problem from a number said at speed by somebody who assumes you already know it. The listening drill on this site is Get Her Number: people on a small planet say a phone number once, the hints fade and the speech gets faster over twenty levels. The first level is open to everyone.
Questions
Why is it veintiuno but treinta y uno?
The twenties are written as one word — veintiuno, veintidós, veintitrés — and they are the only ten that is. From thirty up the ten and the unit come apart again with a y between them, and there is never a y anywhere else in a number.
When is it cien and when is it ciento?
Cien is exactly one hundred and nothing else, on its own or in front of a noun. The moment anything follows the hundred it is ciento, with no y: ciento uno, ciento cincuenta. Two hundred and up are doscientos, trescientos, and so on.
How do Mexicans say a phone number out loud?
In five pairs, starting with the area code: 55 12 34 56 78 is cincuenta y cinco, doce, treinta y cuatro, cincuenta y seis, setenta y ocho. A pair under ten keeps its zero out loud, cero cinco, because dropping it makes the number impossible to key back.
How do you say a year in Spanish?
As the number itself. 1999 is mil novecientos noventa y nueve and 2024 is dos mil veinticuatro. Splitting a year in half the way English does produces diecinueve noventa y nueve, which is not a year anywhere.
Why does the number change before a noun?
One is the only number that agrees with what it counts. Un peso, una casa, veintiún pesos, veintiuna casas, treinta y un pesos. The hundreds agree too: doscientas casas, quinientas horas. Mil never changes, and millón is a noun with its own plural.
What to remember
- Fifteen words carry everything: uno to quince are learned by heart and the rest is assembly.
- The y goes between a ten and a unit and nowhere else. Treinta y uno, but ciento uno and mil uno.
- Cien is exactly 100. Anything after it makes it ciento, and 500, 700 and 900 are the three irregular hundreds.
- One has three forms, and they cost real sentences: un peso, una casa, veintiún pesos, treinta y una horas.
- Mil is invariable and takes no un in front of it. Millón is a noun: un millón, dos millones, veintiún millones.
- A Mexican phone number is ten digits read in five pairs, with the zero of a pair said out loud.
- A year is the whole number, so 1999 is mil novecientos noventa y nueve, four words long.
Where the numbers and the words come from
- Diccionario panhispánico de dudas, Real Academia EspañolaThe entry cardinales is the rule this converter follows for y, for cien and ciento, and for the written twenties.
- Nueva gramática de la lengua española, Real Academia EspañolaThe chapter on numerals, where the agreement of one and of the hundreds is set out and millón is treated as the noun it is.
- Ortografía de la lengua española, Real Academia EspañolaWhy veintidós carries an accent and why the twenties are one word while every other ten is three.
- Instituto Federal de Telecomunicaciones, MexicoThe ten digit national dialling plan, in force since August 2019, which is why a Mexican number is ten digits and the area code is part of it.
The Progress Estimator
5 test lessons a day ≈ 25 minutes a night · 450 distinct lessons over 3 months.
The Library
Choose a category
The Membership
Castaway
9
per month · or 90/year
The whole school, at your pace.
4,144 flashcard lessons across vocabulary, grammar and conversation, 73,577 cards, and 430 graded readers. Includes unlimited companion chat to practice Spanish every day.
Voyager
19
per month · or 190/year
Keep the lighthouse shining.
Everything in Castaway, including unlimited companion chat, with extra support for the school and its growing library.
Mapmaker
29
per month · or 290/year
Support what comes next.
Everything in Voyager, including unlimited companion chat.
The writer's desk and new game are planned features.
Something broken? Tell us.
Tick what went wrong. A sentence helps, but the tick is enough. No name, no email — we cannot write back, we just fix it.