Large Catalan numbers become difficult not because counting stops being regular, but because scale words change grammatical category and English reuses familiar-looking names with different values. Catalan follows the traditional European long scale: un bilió is a million millions, 10¹². Modern English one billion is only 10⁹, so translating by resemblance can inflate a budget or population by a factor of one thousand.
The architecture: thousands, millions, and -illions
Up to mil, Catalan builds a numeral phrase. The form mil is invariable and connects directly to the following noun: mil habitants, dos mil cases, cent mil euros. It does not normally take un for the exact value 1000, and it does not insert de before the counted noun.
El municipi té vuit mil quatre-cents habitants.
The municipality has 8,400 inhabitants.
L'empresa va invertir cent vint mil euros en la nova planta.
The company invested 120,000 euros in the new plant.
Milió, miliard, bilió and the later scale names are masculine nouns. They pluralize and take de before a following noun phrase: un milió d'euros, dos milions de persones. That noun behavior explains why the syntax changes at 10⁶.
Més d'un milió de persones van veure el debat.
More than one million people watched the debate.
El pressupost supera els dos milions d'euros.
The budget exceeds two million euros.
| Power | Catalan long-scale name | Transparent alternative | Modern English |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10³ | mil | — | one thousand |
| 10⁶ | un milió | — | one million |
| 10⁹ | un miliard | mil milions | one billion |
| 10¹² | un bilió | un milió de milions | one trillion |
| 10¹⁵ | un biliard | mil bilions | one quadrillion |
| 10¹⁸ | un trilió | un milió de bilions | one quintillion |
The pattern is productive: each -ilió step multiplies the previous -illion by a million, while the intervening -iliard is one thousand of that -illion. In real public communication, however, productivity does not guarantee clarity. Mil milions is often more immediately understood than miliard, and scientific writing may prefer powers of ten.
Segmenting a long numeral
Parse a long number in blocks of three digits from the right, then give each block its scale value. The number 347 208 615 is:
- tres-cents quaranta-set milions
- dos-cents vuit mil
- sis-cents quinze
Together: tres-cents quaranta-set milions dos-cents vuit mil sis-cents quinze. The internal hyphens follow the ordinary Catalan numeral rules; the scale boundaries do not acquire extra hyphens. See hyphens in compound numbers for the D-U-C pattern inside each block.
El projecte està pressupostat en tres-cents quaranta-set milions dos-cents vuit mil sis-cents quinze euros.
The project is budgeted at €347,208,615.
Gender agreement operates inside each relevant hundreds block: dues-centes mil signatures because the counted noun is feminine; dos-cents mil documents because it is masculine. The scale noun itself remains masculine: dos milions de signatures, not dues milions.
La iniciativa va recollir dues-centes mil signatures en tres mesos.
The initiative collected two hundred thousand signatures in three months.
L'arxiu conserva dos milions de fotografies digitalitzades.
The archive holds two million digitized photographs.
Grouping digits without changing their value
In formal scientific and institutional typography, group long digit strings in threes with spaces: 12 500 000. Catalan uses the comma for decimals, so 12,5 milions means twelve and a half million. Periods have traditionally appeared as grouping marks in general prose, but mixing them with international or source-language conventions is dangerous. Choose a house style and use it throughout.
La població va passar de 7,6 milions a 8,1 milions en el període analitzat.
The population rose from 7.6 million to 8.1 million over the period analyzed. (formal)
A decimal scale expression above one normally takes the scale noun in the plural: 1,5 milions. In fully written prose, un milió i mig expresses the same value naturally and avoids making the learner infer agreement from the decimal notation.
La subvenció és d'un milió i mig d'euros, repartits en tres anualitats.
The grant is €1.5 million, distributed over three yearly installments.
The English false friends
Modern international English normally uses the short scale. The following apparent cognates are therefore not translations of one another:
| English expression | Value | Catalan translation |
|---|---|---|
| one billion | 10⁹ | mil milions / un miliard |
| one trillion | 10¹² | un bilió |
| one quadrillion | 10¹⁵ | mil bilions / un biliard |
| one quintillion | 10¹⁸ | un trilió |
El document anglès diu «two billion dollars»: en català són dos mil milions de dòlars, no dos bilions.
The English document says 'two billion dollars': in Catalan that is two billion dollars, not two Catalan bilions.
In financial, diplomatic, or technical translation, never infer the value from the scale word alone. Check the source language, date, audience, and digits. British English historically used long-scale terminology too, although current usage is overwhelmingly short-scale; older documents may therefore require special verification.
Productive names versus editorial clarity
The long-scale system can generate quadrilió, quintilió and beyond. These forms are structurally analyzable, but most readers do not calculate with them daily. A name can be morphologically correct and still be a poor editorial choice.
Use one of three strategies:
- In general news or administration, prefer a transparent expansion: mil milions, un milió de milions.
- In scientific work, use powers of ten or an agreed technical notation: 10¹⁸.
- If the scale name matters terminologically, give both name and power on first mention: un trilió (10¹⁸).
La capacitat teòrica és de 10¹⁸ operacions per segon, és a dir, un trilió d'operacions per segon en l'escala llarga.
The theoretical capacity is 10¹⁸ operations per second, that is, one Catalan trilió operations per second on the long scale. (technical)
El banc central va descriure un volum d'actius d'1,2 bilions d'euros, equivalent a 1 200 000 milions.
The central bank described an asset volume of €1.2 trillion, equivalent to 1,200,000 million. (formal)
The second expression is deliberately redundant. In a high-stakes text, redundancy can prevent a thousandfold error.
Regional and register notes
The long scale belongs to the shared standard across Central, Valencian, Balearic, Northwestern, Northern, and Alguerese Catalan. Scale choice is not a dialect badge. Preferences among miliard, mil milions, a power of ten, or digits depend more on field and audience than on region. IEC- and AVL-oriented texts share the essential values and the noun syntax. In (formal) writing, define any uncommon high scale name. In (informal) speech, speakers commonly reformulate rather than stack unfamiliar -illions.
Common Mistakes
❌ La plataforma té dos bilions d'usuaris.
Incorrect if the intended English source is 'two billion' — Catalan bilions means 2 × 10¹².
✅ La plataforma té dos mil milions d'usuaris.
The platform has two billion users.
❌ El país exporta tres milions productes cada any.
Incorrect — milió is a noun and requires de before the counted noun.
✅ El país exporta tres milions de productes cada any.
The country exports three million products every year.
❌ Van arribar dues milions de cartes.
Incorrect — the numeral agrees with masculine milions, not feminine cartes.
✅ Van arribar dos milions de cartes.
Two million letters arrived.
❌ Hi viuen dos mil de persones.
Incorrect — mil is a numeral and does not take de before the noun.
✅ Hi viuen dos mil persones.
Two thousand people live there.
❌ La xifra és un trilió, és a dir, 10¹².
Incorrect in Catalan's long scale — 10¹² is a bilió.
✅ La xifra és un trilió, és a dir, 10¹⁸.
The figure is a Catalan trilió, that is, 10¹⁸.
Correction Exercise
Correct this sentence from a translated press release: La companyia gestionarà 3 bilions de dades i invertirà dues milions euros. If the English source means 3 × 10⁹ data items and €2,000,000, a clear Catalan version is:
La companyia gestionarà tres mil milions d'elements de dades i invertirà dos milions d'euros.
The company will manage three billion data items and invest two million euros.
The correction changes the scale name, supplies both required instances of de, and makes dos agree with masculine milions.
Key Takeaways
- Mil is an invariable numeral: dos mil persones. Milió and higher names are masculine nouns: dos milions de persones.
- Catalan uses the long scale: miliard / mil milions = 10⁹, bilió = 10¹², trilió = 10¹⁸.
- Modern English “billion” translates as mil milions or un miliard, never automatically as bilió.
- Group long digits consistently and use a decimal comma: 12 500 000 and 12,5 milions.
- Productive high-number names are not always reader-friendly; give a power of ten or a transparent paraphrase when accuracy matters.
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