Beyond 100

Do you remember those good old days before the euro’s arrival in Italy when you would pay a few thousand lire for admission to a museum or a cappuccino and biscotti? Tourists needed more than just the numbers up to 100 to get around. Lire are history, but learning numbers greater than 100 might still prove useful. Though they might seem unwieldy, after a bit of practice you’ll be rolling them off your tongue like a pro.

ITALIAN CARDINAL NUMBERS: 100 AND GREATER

100 cento CHEN-toh

101 centouno/centuno cheh-toh-OO-noh/chehn-TOO-noh

150 centocinquanta cheh-toh-cheen-KWAHN-tah

200 duecento doo-eh-CHEN-toh

300 trecento treh-CHEN-toh

400 quattrocento kwaht-troh-CHEN-toh

500 cinquecento cheen-kweh-CHEN-toh

600 seicento seh-ee-CHEN-toh

700 settecento set-the-CHEN-toh

800 ottocento oht-toh-CHEN-toh

900 novecento noh-veh-CHEN-toh

1.000 mille MEEL-leh

1.001 milleuno meel-leh-OO-noh

1.200 milleduecento meel-leh-doo-eh-CHEN-toh

2.000 duemila doo-eh-MEE-lah

10.000 diecimila dee-eh-chee-MEE-lah

15.000 quindicimila kween-dee-chee-MEE-lah

100.000 centomila chen-toh-mee-leh

1.000.000 un milione OON mee-lee-OH-neh

2.000.000 due milioni DOO-eh mee-lee-OH-neh

1.000.000.000 un miliardo OON mee-lee-ARE-doh

You can place items in "order" with ordinal numbers. For instance, il primo is the first course on a menu and il secondo is the second course. Vittorio Emanuele III, who ruled the unified Italian nation from 1900 to 1946, was the third king with that name. Pope Paul V (1605-1621) was the fifth pope with the name Paul. When used with the numerical succession of kings, popes, and emperors, the ordinal numbers are capitalized:

Vittorio Emanuele Secondo (Vittorio Emanuele II)

Leone Nono (Leone IX)

Carlo Quinto (Carlo V)

diciottesimo secolo (eighteenth century)

ITALIAN ORDINAL NUMBERS

first primo

second secondo

third terzo

fourth quarto

fifth quinto

sixth sesto

seventh settimo

eighth ottavo

ninth nono

tenth decimo

eleventh undicesimo

twelfth dodicesimo

thirteenth tredicesimo

fourteenth quattordicesimo

fifteenth quindicesimo

sixteenth sedicesimo

seventeenth diciassettesimo

eighteenth diciottesimo

nineteenth diciannovesimo

twentieth ventesimo

twenty-first ventunesimo

twenty-third ventitreesimo

hundredth centesimo

thousandth millesimo

two thousandth duemillesimo

three thousandth tremillesimo

one millionth milionesimo

Notice the regularity of ordinal numbers beginning with undicesimo—the suffix -esimo is added to the cardinal numbers by dropping the final vowel of the cardinal number. The one exception includes numbers ending in -tré. Those numbers drop their accent and are unchanged when -esimo is added. Since Italian ordinal numbers function as adjectives, they must agree in gender and number with the nouns they modify: primo, prima, primi, prime.