Numbers 0–20 and phone numbers

The numbers

• 11 to 15 are words of their own: once, doce, trece, catorce, quince.
• 16 to 19 are "ten and six", "ten and seven"… written as one word: dieci- + seis. Only dieciséis has a written accent.
• Every c before e or i and every z (cero, cinco, once, doce, trece, catorce, quince, diez, dieciséis…) has the th sound of think in most of Spain. In Latin America (seseo) they are said with an s sound (Letters that surprise English speakers).

Uno, un, una

When you count, say uno. Before a noun, uno becomes un with a masculine noun and una with a feminine noun (the same words as the articles in Articles: el, la, los, las; un, una, unos, unas):

• Un café y dos zumos, por favor.One coffee and two juices, please.
• Una mesa para cuatro, por favor.A table for four, please.

The other numbers never change: dos casas, dos libros.

Using numbers with ser

• Son diecisiete euros.That's seventeen euros.
• Somos doce en clase.There are twelve of us in the class.
• Es la habitación once.It's room eleven.

Sums use y (and, plus) and menos (minus); the answer takes son:

• Dos y dos son cuatro.Two and two are four.
• Veinte menos cinco son quince.Twenty minus five is fifteen.

Phone numbers

• ¿Cuál es tu número de teléfono?What's your phone number?
• Es el seis, uno, cuatro, cero, dos, ocho, nueve, siete, cinco.It's 614 028 975.

In Spain, mobile numbers have nine digits and start with 6 or 7. Saying them digit by digit is always fine. Many Spanish speakers group them in pairs or threes (seiscientos catorce…); you'll learn the bigger numbers in Numbers 21–100.

Learn the pairs that English speakers mix up: dos (2) and doce (12), seis (6) and siete (7), tres (3) and trece (13).

Common mistakes

• uno libro → un libro; un mesa → una mesa. Before a noun, uno becomes un or una.
• diez y seis → dieciséis. Today 16–19 are written as one word.
• dieciseis → dieciséis. It needs the written accent (the others, diecisiete, dieciocho, diecinueve, don't).
• quatro, sinco → cuatro, cinco. Spanish writes cua- with c (never q), and the th sound (or s sound) before e and i with c.
• vente → veinte: the ei is pronounced like English eight.