Numerals are an integral part of any language, without which quantitative descriptions, indications of numbers, time and many other phenomena are impossible. Numerals in Italian are subject to certain simple rules, memorization of which is not difficult, and will greatly enrich the conversational speech of language learners.
Cardinal numbers
Quantitative are such numerals that answer the question "how much?", naming the number, number of persons, objects or phenomena.
The table shows cardinal numbers with pronunciation in Italian:
| Numeral | Pronunciation | Translation |
|
zero un (una) due tre quattro cinque sei sette otto nove dieci |
zero uno (una) duo tre quattro chinque sei sette otto new dechi |
zero one two three four five six seven eight nine ten |
|
undici dodici quattordici quindici sedici diciassette diciotto diciannove |
undichi dodichi quattordichi Quindichi sedichi dichasette dichotto dichanove |
eleven twelve fourteen fifteen sixteen seventeen eighteen nineteen |
|
venti ventuno ventidue ventitre ventotto |
venty ventuno ventidue ventitre ventotto |
twenty twenty-one twenty-two twenty-three twenty-eight |
|
trenta quaranta cinquanta sessanta |
trenta quaranta cinquanta sessanta |
thirty forty fifty sixty |
|
cento centuno centoventi |
cento centuno centoventi |
one hundred one hundred and one one hundred and twenty |
|
duecento mille |
Duecento mille |
two hundred thousand |
|
millione milliardo |
Millione millardo |
million billion |
According to the grammar of Italian, numerals related to cardinal numbers follow the following rules:
Compound numbers when written in letters have a continuous spelling
For example, 1000 - mille, 900 - novecento, 61 - sessantuno, 1963 - millenovecentosessantuno.
When writing two-digit numbers that are in the range from 21 to 99 and are not a multiple of 10, the following rule applies: if the tens digit ends with a vowel when writing letters, and the units digit begins with a vowel, then these vowels merge, and the last the tens vowel is ignored in writing and pronunciation. If, other things being equal, the units digit begins with a consonant letter, then the spelling and pronunciation of the tens and units digits are simply combined
For example, 28 - ventotto (venti + otto), 23 - ventitre (venti + tre).
This rule applies to both two-digit and three-digit numbers. It turns out that 108 - centotto (cento + otto) or 130 - centotrenta (cento + trenta).
The number cento does not have a plural. What can not be said about thousands, millions and billions. The numeral mille, when used in the plural, changes its form to an irregular one.mila
So, cento - duecento - quattrocento (100 - 200 - 400), mille (thousand) - duemila (two thousand), millione (million) - tremillioni (three million), milliardo (billion) - duemilliardi (two billion).
The article is not used before cardinal numbers. But there are exceptions
Indication of all or all that is. Gli otto fratelli (All eight brothers.)
I dodici ragazzi (All twelve boys.)
Indicate the date (except the first days of each month)
Il quattro ottobre. (October 4th.) L'otto dicembre. (December 8.) But: Il primo settembre. (September 1st.)
Specifying time periods
Gli anni ottanta. (Eighties.)
Indicating the time in hours
Sono le sette. (It's seven o'clock.)
Italian cardinal numbers do not differ by gender. But there is an exception - the numeral uno, which has a special form for both the masculine (un or uno) and the feminine (una)
Un orso (one bear) - m.r.
Uno zio (one uncle) - m.r.
Una forchetta (one fork) - f. R.
Italian cardinal numbers also include multipliers and fractional numbers.
Formation of multipliers
Numbers called multipliers include such multiples as doppio, quadruplo (double, quadruple), etc. Multipliers in Italian are designed to perform two types of functions:
Fulfill the role of an adjective
Il triplo lavoro (Triple work.)
Act as a noun formed from a numeral
Il (un) doppio (Double amount.)
Formation of fractional numbers
Factional numbers in Italian differ in spelling and pronunciation depending on their relationship to fractions or decimals.
When it comes to simple fractional numbers, the cardinal number is used to express the numerator, and the ordinal number is used for the denominator. In this case, the parts of the fraction must be consistent in number.
un sesto - 1/6
tre ottavi - 3/8
Decimals can be expressed in two ways:
Similar to simple fractional numbers, using ordinal numbers decimo, centecimo, etc
un centesimo - 0, 01
sette decimi - 0, 7
Two cardinal numbers separated by a comma
0, 7 - zero, virgola, sette
0, 02 - zero, virgola, zero, due
Formation of ordinal numbers
Ordinal numbers in Italian are those that answer the question "which one?" by sequentially listing objects, persons or phenomena.
| Numeral | Translation |
|
primo secondo terzo quarto quinto sesto settimo ottavo nono decimo |
first second third fourth fifth sixth seventh eighth ninth tenth |
|
undicesimo dodicesimo tredicesimo quattordicesimo quindicesimo sedicesimo diciasettesimo diciottesimo diciannovesimo |
11th 12th 13th 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th 19th |
|
ventesimo ventunesimo ventiduesimo ventitreesimo ventiquattresimo venticinquesimo ventiseiesimo ventottesimo |
20th 21st 22nd 23rd 24th 25th 26th 28th |
|
trentesimo quarantesimo cinquatesimo sessantesimo settantesimo ottantesimo novantesimo centesimo |
30th 40th 50th 60th 70th 80th 90th 100th |
When constructing sentences, ordinal numbers have features that are characteristic of a qualitative adjective. They change their gender and number in order to agree with the noun they refer to.
Il primo esame (First exam.)
La seconda lezione(Second lesson.)
