Counting from 1 to 100+ in Italian

Let’s start with the numbers from 0 to 10 — arguably the most important ones. Why? Because they’ll come up all the time. For example, in English, you’ll need to know “two” to say “twenty-two.” It’s the same in Italian.

So it makes sense to learn 1-10 in Italian very well before moving forward with the rest:

Now that you’ve got the basics down, let’s tackle 11 to 20.

Notice a pattern? Most of these numbers end or start with -dici (which comes from “dieci, meaning “ten”).

Pay attention to the spellings here, as the double consonants may sometimes be confusing. For instance, sedici (16) has one ‘d’ while diciassette (17) has two ‘s’s and ‘t’s.

Once you hit 21, forming numbers becomes much easier. You simply combine the tens (venti, trenta, quaranta, etc.) with the single digits we learned earlier.

Let’s start by learning the tens:

Now, let’s combine them with the units (1-9). Here’s how it works:

• 21 – Ventuno (venti + uno)
• 22 – Ventidue (venti + due)
• 23 – Ventitre (venti + tre)
• 24 – Ventiquattro (venti + quattro)
• 25 – Venticinque (venti + cinque)
• 26 – Ventisei (venti + sei)
• 27 – Ventisette (venti + sette)
• 28 – Ventotto (venti + otto)
• 29 – Ventinove (venti + nove)

Remember, in Italian, these numbers are written as one word, not separately like in English.

There are a few other quirks to watch out for:

• Numbers ending in 1 or 8 drop the last vowel of the ten. So it’s ventuno, not ventiuno, and ventotto, not ventiotto.
• For 3, the ‘tre’ changes to ‘tré’ when it’s at the end of a number (ventitré, trentatré, etc.)

Here are some random numbers so you’ll understand better:

• 56 – cinquantasei
• 99 – novantanove
• 42 – quarantadue
• 89 – ottantanove
• 64 – sessantaquattro
• 35 – trentacinque

Want someone to guide you as you learn the Italian numbers 0-100? Fluent in 3 Months’ Italian native speaker Alice has a great video:

Cento is “hundred,” mille is “thousand,” and millione is “million” in Italian.

This is roughly all you need to start forming larger numbers. You’ll need to pay attention to the endings for the thousands (2,000 is duemila, not duemille, for example.) But that’s it.

Here’s how it works:

Ready for a challenge? Let’s form some numbers between 100 and 1,000,000 to practice.

• 372 – trecentosettantadue
• 153 – centocinquantatré
• 100,000 – centomila
• 278 – duecentosettantotto
• 401 – quattrocentouno
• 1,845 – milleottocentoquarantacinque
• 5,309 – cinquemilatrecentonove
• 595 – cinquecentonovantacinque
• 632 – seicentotrentadue
• 747 – settecentoquarantasette

Our Italian native speaker Alice has you covered for bigger Italian numbers too:

Don’t let the word “ordinal” confuse you — these are simply numbers that indicate rank, like first, second, third, and so on. You might hear them in your daily life, such as when people say “first floor,” “third street,” etc.

Quick note: Unlike cardinal numbers, ordinal numbers change form based on gender. Use the -o ending for masculine nouns and -a for feminine nouns.

To form ordinal numbers after 10th, add -esimo (masculine) or -esima (feminine) to the cardinal number, with some spelling changes:

• 11th: undicesimo/undicesima
• 20th: ventesimo/ventesima
• 21st: ventunesimo/ventunesima

Want some examples of ordinal numbers with masculine and feminine nouns? Here are some you might hear in your daily life:

• Il primo giorno (“the first day”)
• La prima volta (“the first time”)
• Elisabetta Seconda (“Elizabeth II”)
• Il terzo posto (“the third place”)
• Il quarto capitolo (“the fourth chapter”)
• L’ottavo mese (“the eighth month”)

Now that you’ve got the numbers down, let’s put them to use!

You can use both the 12-hour and the 24-hour clock to tell time in Italian. When someone asks you che ora è or che ore sono (“what time is it”), reply with the number or form a full sentence using these templates:

• 1:00 – È l’una (“It’s 1 o’clock” — we used è as 1 is singular)
• 8:00 – Sono le otto (“It’s 8 o’clock” — we used sono as 8 is plural)
• 14:30 – Sono le quattordici e trenta (“It’s fourteen thirty”)
• 5:30 – Sono le cinque e mezza (“It’s five and a half”)
• 09:15 – Sono le nove e un quarto (“It’s quarter past nine”)
• 09:15 – Sono le nove e quindici (“It’s nine fifteen”)
• 15:45 – Sono le quattro e meno un quarto (“It’s quarter to four”)
• 15:45 – Sono le quindici e quarantacinque “It’s fifteen forty five”)

When talking about dates, use cardinal numbers for days (except for the first of the month, which is “primo”).

• May 5th – il cinque maggio
• July 1st – il primo luglio

For years, simply say the number:

• 1990 – millenovecentonovanta

To ask someone’s age, you can use the phrase Quanti anni hai? (“How old are you?”) Their answer will start with Ho followed by their age and anni. (“I am … years old.”)

When asking about prices, use Quanto costa? (“How much does it cost?”). And listen carefully for the number — for your budget’s sake!

Hopefully, you’ll never need these, but it’s always good to be prepared. It’s useful to know how to pronounce Italian emergency numbers in case you need them while traveling.

• 112 – General emergency number (like 911 in the US)
• 113 – State police
• 115 – Fire brigade
• 118 – Medical emergencies