Presents

Italian
Part 15

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 Numbers

Cominciamo a dare i numeri -> Let’s begin to lose our

minds

In today lesson we speak about numbers. The above

sentence shows how Italians have always considered
dealing with numbers a sort of … madness.

In Italian, numbers can be used as:

nouns:

Il cinque è un numero primo -> Five is a prime

number
La lezione è alle otto -> The lesson is at eight
o’clock

adjectives (accompanied by a noun):

Mi servono due penne blu -> I need two blue pens

pronouns (on their own):
Quante penne blu ti servono? Me ne servono due
-> How many blue pens do you need? I need two

Cardinal numbers

Cardinals are the basic numbers. You will find a list of

cardinal numbers at the end of this lesson.
Pay attention to the fact that all cardinal numbers are
invariable except:

uno/una -> one

which is used also as indefinite article, and whose

ending varies according to the word that follows.

In Italian, numbers with more than one cypher are

written together:

2.521 -> 4,944

duemilacinquecentoventuno
When the first element is cento (one hundred) or mille
(one thousand) these are often written separate, and
joined by e (and):

1.100 -> 1,100

mille e cento

Note that mille becomes -mila in compounded plural

forms:

cinquemila -> five thousand

From milione -> million up, you usually write numbers

separing milione/i from the other cyphers, but without
the e:

1.150.000 -> 1,150,000

un milione centocinquantamila

Decimal point
You should have noticed that in Italian, we use a
virgola (a comma) separate the decimals, and a punto
(a full stop) to separate the thousands:
7,5 -> 7.5
sette virgola cinque -> seven point five

4.500 -> 4,500

quattromila cinquecento

Ordinal numbers

Ordinal numbers (except the first ten, that are less

regular, and I list later on) are formed by adding -esimo
at the end of the number, after dropping the
equivalent cardinal number’s final vowel:

undic-esimo -> eleventh

dodic-esimo -> twelfth
mill-esimo -> one thousandth
The cardinal numbers are used as plain adjectives and
then can be masculine or feminine, singular or plural,
and you will understand that by their ending (with the
usual pattern -o/-a; -i/-e).

Dates

Now, Italian dates are different from English ones. Deal

with it since the beginning and you will find the system
quite easy.
In Italy, the pattern for a date is:

DAY, MONTH, YEAR

So, let’s tell it clearly: 7/4/2019 in Italian is:

Sette Aprile Duemiladiciannove -> April 7th, 2019 AND

NOT July 4th, 2019

It’s easy. Just remember the day before the month!

About centuries, in Italian, as in English, you have two
ways to indicate them:

il ventesimo secolo -> the twentieth century

il Novecento -> the 1900s

Time

Time is expressed using a cardinal number preceded by

a feminine, plural article (it refers to the omitted le
ore):

sono le sei di sera -> It’s six o’clock in the evening

sono le sei di mattina -> It’s six o’clock in the morning

But when it’s midday, midnight or one o’clock, you say:

è mezzogiorno -> It’s midday

è mezzanotte -> It’s midnight
è l’una -> It’s one o’clock
The other times (so not the o’clock ones) are indicated
as follows: from 1 to 39 minutes after the hour, you say
the hour and the minutes.

3:32/15:32 - sono le tre e trentadue -> It’s three thirty-

two

From 40 to 59 minutes after the hour, you say the

following hour and the minutes left to that hour.

4:50/16:50 - Sono le cinque meno dieci -> It’s ten to

five

Be careful to these:

… e un quarto -> It’s a quarter past …

… e mezza -> It’s half past …
… meno un quarto -> It’s a quarter to …
Table of the Italian numbers

Number Cardinal Ordinal

1 uno/una primo
2 due secondo
3 tre terzo
4 quattro quarto
5 cinque quinto
6 sei sesto
7 sette settimo
8 otto ottavo
9 nove nono
10 dieci decimo
11 undici undicesimo
12 dodici dodicesimo
13 tredici tredicesimo
14 quattordici quattordicesimo
15 quindici quindicesimo
16 sedici sedicesimo
17 diciassette diciassettesimo
18 diciotto diciottesimo
19 diciannove diciannovesimo
20 venti ventesimo
21 ventuno ventunesimo
22 ventidue ventiduesimo
23 ventitré ventitreesimo
30 trenta trentesimo
31 trentuno trentunesimo
32 trentadue trentaduesimo
33 trentatré trentatreesimo
40 quaranta quarantesimo
50 cinquanta cinquantesimo
60 sessanta sessantesimo
70 settanta settantesimo
80 ottanta ottantesimo
90 novanta novantesimo
100 cento centesimo
200 duecento duecentesimo
300 trecento trecentesimo
1.000 mille millesimo
2.000 duemila duemillesimo
10.000 diecimila diecimillesimo
100.000 centomila centomillesimo
1.000.000 un milione milionesimo
1.000.000.000 un miliardo miliardesimo
This concludes Part 15. You can get new parts when
they are released at sillylinguistics.com

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This lesson was written by Raffaelo Palandri

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