The evolutionary development of natural language has led to the fact that the figurative expressions "little" and "many" have been replaced by quite specific meanings of this or that thing. Every language includes an important part of speech - numerals. Spanish numerals belong to one of two large groups: quantitative or ordinal. There is also a division into whole and fractional numbers, as well as doubling the number, tripling, and so on.
Cardinal numbers
These numbers indicate the number of something or someone, for example, seven dwarfs, three musketeers, one king and so on. Spanish cardinal numbers from zero to ten are given below:
- cero - zero;
- uno, una - one;
- dos - two;
- tres - three;
- cuatro - four;
- cinco - five;
- seis - six;
- siete - seven;
- ocho - eight;
- nueve - nine;
- diez - ten.
The rest of the numbers are formed by adding to the above valuescorresponding tens. For example, dieciséis - 16, veintiocho - 28, sesenta y tres - 63. Hundreds are formed as follows: ciento - 100, doscientos - 200, novecientos - 900, except for 500 - quinientos.
Note the peculiarity of the use of the singular: one - uno, one - una. When this numeral is followed by a masculine noun, it is truncated to the form of the indefinite article un. For example: Hay un cuchillo y una tasa de te sobre la mesa - There is one knife on the table and one cup of tea.
Also, cardinal numbers are declined by gender, for example, seiscientos muchachos y quinientas muchachas - six hundred boys and five hundred girls.
Ordinal numbers are derivatives of cardinal numbers
Spanish ordinal numbers are meant to indicate a number in order, such as the first person on earth, the sixth world chess champion, and so on. The rules for the formation of these numerals are subject to strict standards, but there are some exceptions. Here are the basic ordinal numbers in Spanish:
- primero, primo - first;
- segundo - second;
- tercero, tercio - third;
- cuarto - fourth;
- quinto - fifth;
- sexto - sixth;
- séptimo - seventh;
- octavo - eighth;
- noveno, nono - ninth;
- décimo - tenth.
Higher ordinal numbers are almost never used in Spanish, because instead ofthey use quantitative numbers. Something similar happens in Russian, for example, two thousand and five students - student two thousand and five.
Like cardinal numbers, ordinal Spanish numerals are inflected for gender and number, the endings o and os are used for the masculine, and a and as for the feminine. For example, en marzo empiezan florecer primeras flores - the first flowers bloom in March, Gabriel llegó segundo - Gabriel arrived second.
In sentences in which ordinal numbers come before nouns, the definite article is placed before these numbers. For example, Martín es el décimo alumno de esta escuela aldeana - Martin is the tenth student of this village school.
Using ordinal numbers in Spanish
Unlike quantitative numbers, which indicate the number of certain objects, ordinal numbers in Spanish are used to indicate a number in order. Here are some examples:
- Primer cosmonauta de historia humana es Yuriy Gagarin - Yuri Gagarin is the first cosmonaut in the history of mankind.
- Perro es el primer animal que fue domesticado - The dog became the first domesticated animal.
- Séptimo día de cualquier semana es domingo - Sunday is the seventh day of every week.
- Décima legión es la legión romana mas famosa - the tenth Roman legion is the most famous.
The difference between Russian andSpanish
Unlike Russian, which uses ordinal numbers to denote a specific date, in Spanish only the first day of the month is represented as an ordinal number. Any other day of the month is designated as a cardinal number preceded by a definite article. For example:
- Otoño empieza el primero de septiembre - autumn begins on the first of September.
- Día internacional de la mujer es el ocho de marzo - International Women's Day on March 8th.
- El veintitrés de febrero celebran el Día del Defensor de la Patria - Defender of the Fatherland Day is celebrated on the twenty-third of February.
It should be remembered that ordinal numbers are not used with dates in Spanish, cardinal numbers are always used instead. So, the Spanish phrase "en el año mil novecientos ochenta y nueve" would be translated as "in 1989".
When indicating time intervals, quantitative numbers are also used, before which the definite article of the feminine gender is placed, and the word "hour" is omitted, for example, son las cuatro y medio de la tarde - it's half past five in the evening.
Thus, if the ordinal number of any items exceeds 10, then in the vast majority of cases cardinal numbers are used with the definite article. The article indicates that this cardinal number carries the meaning of an ordinal number.
Article and ordinal numbers
SWith cardinal Spanish numerals, the definite article is used to give them specificity. It is also used when indicating the age of someone or something. With ordinal numbers, the article is not used when it comes to kings, kings, counts, and so on, for example:
- Pedro Primero fue gran Emperador de Rusia - Peter the Great was the great Emperor of Russia.
- Napoleón Primero Bonaparte fue un militar y gobernante francés, general republicano durante la Revolución - Napoleon the First Bonaparte was a French military leader and republican general during the revolution.
- Catalina Segunda de Rusia fue emperatriz de Rusia durante 34 años - Catherine II was Russian Empress for 34 years.
- Inocencio Décimo fue el papa 236 de la Iglesia católica entre 1644 y 1655 - Innocent the Tenth was the 236th Pope of the Catholic Church between 1644 and 1655.
- Luis Catorce de Francia fue rey de Francia y de Navarra desde 1643 hasta su muerte - Louis XIV ruled France and Navarre from 1643 until the day he died.
