Once you have the first thirty numbers down, the rest of Spanish counting up to a hundred is strikingly regular. There are only seven new words to learn — the tens treinta, cuarenta, cincuenta, sesenta, setenta, ochenta, noventa and the round figure cien — and they combine with the unit digits using one predictable pattern. The complications are minor: the fusion of 21–29 (covered on the cardinals 0–30 page) does not extend to 31 and higher, and the number 100 splits into two distinct forms (cien and ciento) depending on what follows.
This page lays out the tens, the y-construction for compound numbers, the apocope of uno in any compound, and the cien/ciento split.
The tens, 30–100
| Number | Spanish | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| 30 | treinta | /ˈtɾejn.ta/ |
| 40 | cuarenta | /kwaˈɾen.ta/ |
| 50 | cincuenta | /θinˈkwen.ta/ |
| 60 | sesenta | /seˈsen.ta/ |
| 70 | setenta | /seˈten.ta/ |
| 80 | ochenta | /oˈtʃen.ta/ |
| 90 | noventa | /noˈβen.ta/ |
| 100 | cien / ciento | /θjen/, /ˈθjen.to/ |
A few things to notice:
- The base pattern is -enta: cuarenta, cincuenta, sesenta, setenta, ochenta, noventa. Only treinta breaks the pattern with -einta.
- 70 is setenta, not sietenta. The stem-changing diphthong of siete (7) does not survive into the ten; the same loss happens in sesenta (60, from seis) and setecientos (700) — covered on the cardinals 100+ page.
- 50 is cincuenta, with the u between c and e. The /kw/ sound here matches the digit cinco.
- Peninsular distinción: the c in cincuenta and cien and the s in sesenta, setenta are pronounced differently in peninsular Spanish — cincuenta with /θ/, sesenta with /s/. In Latin America both collapse to /s/.
Tengo cuarenta y dos años.
I'm forty-two years old.
La autopista tiene un límite de cien kilómetros por hora.
The motorway has a speed limit of one hundred kilometres per hour.
The y-construction: 31, 32, 33…
For any compound number between 31 and 99, Spanish writes three separate words, with y ("and") connecting the ten and the unit. This is the pattern:
[ten] y [unit]
| Number | Spanish |
|---|---|
| 31 | treinta y uno (treinta y un / treinta y una) |
| 32 | treinta y dos |
| 33 | treinta y tres |
| 45 | cuarenta y cinco |
| 58 | cincuenta y ocho |
| 67 | sesenta y siete |
| 76 | setenta y seis |
| 89 | ochenta y nueve |
| 99 | noventa y nueve |
This is the opposite convention from 21–29 (veintiuno, written as one word) — and the asymmetry is a frozen quirk of the language's history. There is no logical reason 21 is one word and 31 is three; you just have to learn them as separate patterns.
Mi abuelo cumple noventa y nueve este verano.
My grandfather turns ninety-nine this summer.
El restaurante cierra a las once y media; son ya las once y treinta y cinco.
The restaurant closes at half past eleven; it's already eleven thirty-five.
En la maratón participaron sesenta y siete corredores.
Sixty-seven runners took part in the marathon.
Spelling the y-construction wrong
Two errors are extremely common from learners:
- Writing one word (cuarentaycinco) — this is invariably wrong above 30.
- Using e instead of y when the next word starts with /i/. The y → e rule applies in connector contexts (padres e hijos), but not in cardinal numbers — cuarenta y uno keeps the y even though uno starts with /u/, and setenta y ocho keeps the y even before /o/. The rule for switching to e only kicks in before /i/ specifically, and unit digits never begin with that sound.
Cuarenta y uno (NOT *cuarenta e uno*).
Forty-one — keep the 'y'.
Apocope: uno → un in any compound
Just like the standalone uno, the uno inside any compound (treinta y uno, cuarenta y uno, … noventa y uno) drops to un before a masculine singular noun, and to una before a feminine. The accent on veintiún (21) was triggered by the fused form ending in -n; the multi-word forms 31, 41, … 91 don't carry an accent because un on its own is monosyllabic.
Cumplió treinta y un años el mes pasado.
He turned thirty-one last month. — 'un' apocope; no accent (monosyllable).
Hay cuarenta y una sillas en la sala.
There are forty-one chairs in the room. — 'una' feminine form.
—¿Cuántos vinieron? —Cincuenta y uno.
—How many came? —Fifty-one. — standalone, no apocope.
This rule is robust: any time uno sits before a masculine singular noun, it drops to un, even inside a longer number. Cuarenta y un libros, sesenta y un años, noventa y un euros.
The cien / ciento split
The number 100 has two forms in Spanish, and the choice between them is one of the cleaner rules in the system.
| Form | Used when… | Example |
|---|---|---|
| cien | directly modifying any noun, or before mil and millones | cien libros, cien mil euros, cien millones |
| ciento | in any compound number 101–199 | ciento uno, ciento veinte, ciento noventa y nueve |
The split is mechanical: cien when nothing follows except a noun, mil, or millones; ciento when other digits follow.
Cien personas asistieron a la conferencia.
One hundred people attended the conference. — 'cien' before a noun, exactly 100.
El piso cuesta cien mil euros.
The apartment costs a hundred thousand euros. — 'cien' before 'mil'.
La empresa tiene cien millones de ingresos.
The company has a hundred million in revenue. — 'cien' before 'millones'.
El libro tiene ciento veinte páginas.
The book has a hundred and twenty pages. — 'ciento' in a compound.
Vivió hasta los ciento dos años.
He lived to a hundred and two years old. — 'ciento' before unit digit.
Ciento por ciento garantizado.
One hundred percent guaranteed. — 'ciento' in 'por ciento', the fixed expression for 'percent'.
Why both forms exist
Historically, ciento was the full form (from Latin centum); cien is the apocopated version, just like uno → un and bueno → buen. Apocope tends to happen in Spanish when a word feels phonetically "heavy" in the position immediately before a noun — and cien libros feels lighter than ciento libros. Over time, the apocopated form became obligatory in some contexts (before a noun, before mil, before millones) and the full form was preserved everywhere else.
This is the same logic that gives us San (from santo) before most male saints' names but Santo before names starting with To- or Do-: Spanish apocope rules are widespread and predictable once you know the trigger contexts.
Reading and writing examples
El estadio tiene capacidad para ochenta y un mil espectadores.
The stadium has capacity for eighty-one thousand spectators. — 81.000; 'un' apocope inside the compound, then 'mil' on its own.
Mi padre tiene sesenta y cuatro años y mi madre cincuenta y nueve.
My father is sixty-four and my mother is fifty-nine.
En el examen saqué un noventa y dos sobre cien.
I got ninety-two out of a hundred on the exam.
Setenta y cinco grados Fahrenheit son unos veinticuatro Celsius.
Seventy-five degrees Fahrenheit is about twenty-four Celsius. — Spain uses Celsius; Fahrenheit appears only in conversion contexts.
Phonetic gotcha: noventa y nueve
The unstressed y between noventa and nueve (in 99) is pronounced as a quick /i/ that often disappears in fast speech — you may hear noventai-nueve run almost as one word. The same compression happens with all the y-numbers: cuarenta y cinco sounds something like cuarentai-cinco. The spelling stays as three words.
Tengo noventa y nueve problemas.
I have ninety-nine problems. — three words in writing, often pronounced almost as two in casual speech.
How Spaniards say their age
Spanish always expresses age with the verb tener + the number + años. This is the most common context in which numbers 1–100 are used in everyday conversation, so it pays to internalise the pattern early.
Tengo treinta y dos años.
I'm thirty-two years old. — note: 'tener... años', never 'ser... años'.
¿Cuántos años tienes?
How old are you? — literally 'how many years do you have?'
Mi tío acaba de cumplir setenta.
My uncle just turned seventy. — 'cumplir + number' = to turn that age.
See the tener page for the verb's other uses.
Common Mistakes
❌ Tengo treinta y uno años.
Wrong — 'uno' inside a compound apocopates to 'un' before a masculine singular noun. 'Años' is masculine.
✅ Tengo treinta y un años.
I'm thirty-one years old.
❌ Cuarentaicinco euros.
Wrong — compound numbers above 30 are written as three separate words. The fusion only applies to 16–19 and 21–29.
✅ Cuarenta y cinco euros.
Forty-five euros.
❌ Hay ciento personas en la sala.
Wrong — directly before a noun, use the short form 'cien'.
✅ Hay cien personas en la sala.
There are a hundred people in the room.
❌ El libro tiene cien veinte páginas.
Wrong — once another digit follows, switch to the full form 'ciento'.
✅ El libro tiene ciento veinte páginas.
The book has a hundred and twenty pages.
❌ Cincuenta e uno.
Wrong — the y → e switch applies before words starting with /i/, not before vowels in general. Numbers always keep 'y'.
✅ Cincuenta y uno.
Fifty-one.
❌ Soy treinta y cinco años.
Wrong — Spanish expresses age with 'tener', not 'ser'. Literally 'I have thirty-five years'.
✅ Tengo treinta y cinco años.
I'm thirty-five years old.
Key takeaways
- The tens 30–100 (treinta, cuarenta, cincuenta, sesenta, setenta, ochenta, noventa, cien) are mostly regular; only treinta slightly breaks the -enta pattern.
- Compound numbers 31–99 are written as three words: ten
- y
- unit. The fusion of 21–29 does not extend.
- y
- Uno → un before a masculine singular noun, even inside a compound: cuarenta y un años, noventa y un euros.
- Cien before a noun, mil, or millones; ciento in compounds 101–199 and in por ciento.
- Use tener + number + años for age, not ser.
- Numbers always keep y, never e, because unit digits never start with /i/.
Now practice Spanish
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Start learning Spanish→Related Topics
- Cardinales 0-30A1 — The first thirty cardinal numbers in Spanish — the irregular teens (once, doce, trece, catorce, quince), the dieci- fusions for 16–19, the veinti- fusions for 21–29, and the masculine/feminine agreement of uno.
- Cardinales 100+A2 — Hundreds, thousands, millions and billions in Spanish — the irregular hundreds (quinientos, setecientos, novecientos), gender agreement on the hundreds, the invariable mil, the de-construction with millón, the European decimal/thousands convention, and the false-friend trap with billón.
- Fechas: 'el 15 de mayo de 2024'A1 — How to write and say dates in Spanish — the el [day] de [month] de [year] format, lowercase months, year-reading conventions, and centuries in Roman numerals.
- Decir la horaA1 — How to ask and tell the time in Spanish — es la una vs son las dos, quarters and halves, the 24-hour clock for transport, and de la mañana/tarde/noche.
- Puntuación española: ¿? ¡!A1 — How Spanish punctuates questions, exclamations, dialogue, lists, and quotations — including the inverted ¿ ¡, the dialogue dash, the three flavours of quotation marks, and the systematic absence of the serial comma.
- Apócope: formas cortas de los adjetivos (buen, mal, gran, primer, san)A2 — A handful of common adjectives drop their final letters when they sit before certain nouns. Bueno → buen, malo → mal, grande → gran, primero → primer, alguno → algún, santo → san — the rules for when, why, and which gender.