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