Numbers in Italian from 1-1000 and Beyond

Numbers do count… a lot. So for the language learner, knowing Italian numbers ( i numeri ) is essential for day-to-day, real-life Italian conversations.

This guide will show you exactly how to use numbers in Italian—from zero up to sextillion, with the basics of ordinal numbers included too. Read on to get the hang of Italian numbers, and practice along with the audio pronunciation.

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)

Italian Numbers 1 to 10

English	Italian
0	Zero
1	Uno
2	Due
3	Tre
4	Quattro
5	Cinque
6	Sei
7	Sette
8	Otto
9	Nove
10	Dieci

Italian Numbers 11 to 20

You’ll have an easier time remembering these numbers if you think of 11 as “1 and 10” combined, where uno and dieci becomes undici.

12 is “2 and 10” combined, where due and dieci becomes dodici and so forth.

Notice also that the order of names becomes inverted from 17 to 19. So instead of dici coming second, it gets written first for numbers diciassette, diciotto and diciannove.

English	Italian
11	Undici
12	Dodici
13	Tredici
14	Quattordici
15	Quindici
16	Sedici
17	Diciassette
18	Diciotto
19	Diciannove
20	Venti

Italian Numbers 30 to 100

Except for dieci (10) and venti (20), all tens digits are named based on their roots. So 50, coming from cinque (five), becomes cinquanta.

English	Italian
30	Trenta
40	Quaranta
50	Cinquanta
60	Sessanta
70	Settanta
80	Ottanta
90	Novanta
100	Cento

Italian Numbers 101 and Beyond

Hundreds

The hundreds are formed by adding the suffix -cento to the multiplier digit.

English	Italian
200	Duecento
300	Trecento
400	Quattrocento
500	Cinquecento
600	Seicento
700	Settecento
800	Ottocento
900	Novecento

Thousands

The thousands are formed by adding the suffix -mille or -mila to the digit multiplier. 

-mille is used for numbers below two thousand, while -mila is the plural form, and so is used for numbers over two thousand.  

English	Italian
1,000	Mille
2,000	Duemila
3,000	Tremila
4,000	Quattromila
5,000	Cinquemila
6,000	Seimila
7,000	Settemila
8,000	Ottomila
9,000	Novemila
10,000	Diecimila

100,000 to 1,000,000

For the hundred-thousands, we use the suffix -centomila.

English	Italian
100,000	Centomila
200,000	Duecentomila
300,000	Trecentomila
400,000	Quattrocentomila
500,000	Cinquecentomila
600,000	Seicentomila
700,000	Settecentomila
800,000	Ottocentomila
900,000	Novecentomila
1,000,000	Un milione

Going Beyond 1,000,000

Once you get beyond the millions, Italian alternates between the suffixes -ione and -iardo.

English	Italian
1 billion	Un miliardo
1 trillion	Un bilione
1 quadrillion	Un biliardo
1 quintillion	Un trilione
1 sextillion	Un triliardo

Italian Ordinal Numbers

English	Italian
1st	Primo
2nd	Secondo
3rd	Terzo
4th	Quarto
5th	Quinto
6th	Sesto
7th	Settimo
8th	Ottavo
9th	Nono
10th	Decimo

Notes on Numbers in Italian

Of course, at some point you’ll need to form specific numbers. Here are some points to remember when forming different numbers in Italian:

• When two vowels in a number sit side by side, the first vowel is dropped. So for example, instead of venti-uno, you’d say ventuno for 21, and instead of trenta-otto, you’d say trentotto for 38. This lets you pronounce the numbers faster!
• From the ones, tens and hundreds, the bigger your number is, the longer its written form will be. This is because Italian doesn’t separate the hundreds, tens and ones. They have it as one long word with no breaks or spaces. For example, 154 = centocinquantaquattro, or 747 = settecentoquarantasette.
• In Italian, to form the plurals of regular nouns, we change the e to i. So one million is un milione, and two million becomes due milioni. This pattern carries on through the millions, so tre milioni, quattro milioni, etc.
• Italian bilione refers to the English trillion, not billion. This is due to the differences in long and short-scale naming systems used in the different countries. So when an American thinks of, say, “a billion,” his Italian counterpart thinks of it as “a thousand million.”

Other Quantities in Italian

English	Italian
A pair, a couple, a few	Un paio
A trio	Un trio
A few	Alcuni
Half a dozen	Mezza dozzina
A dozen	Una dozzina
A decade	Una decade
A century	Un secolo

How To Practice Numbers in Italian

Ready to practice all that you’ve learned? Here’s a quiz to test yourself on Italian numbers. The answers are below!

1. After a long day out on a tour of Naples, you and five other guests decide to go to dinner at the pizzeria. You need to ask for a table for all six of you. How many people do you request a table for?

2. It’s time for Italian karaoke and you choose 99 Red Balloons. What number will you be using for the main chorus?

3. Mom decided to go all out at the designer hair salon and dye her hair that new hair color, 128 Red. What color does this translate to in Italian?

4. The stakes are high at SuperEnalotto (Italy’s popular Super Lotto). At the time of writing this question, the week’s jackpot is €15.8 million. How would you say this number in Italian?

5. It’s the week before your Italian written test and you need to get a special set of pencils, a five-pack of pre-sharpened HBs. What is “five” in Italian?

6. Last but not least, you just got to your final question number ten! How many questions have you answered in this whole test?

7. It’s a hot day and you’re seventh in line at the local gelato stand. What is your place number in Italian?

8. You’re at the local farmers market while on holiday and stopped by the egg vendor. You need to ask for a dozen eggs, what is the Italian word for “a dozen”?

9. Italy is in the final round of the Eurovision Song Contest, woohoo! They came in third place. What Italian for “third”?

10. You are at the beach and realized you didn’t pack flip-flops, so you need to look for another pair of shoes. What is the Italian word equivalent of “a pair”?

Answers

1. Sei
2. Novantanove 
3. Centoventotto 
4. Quindici milioni ottocentomila (fifteen million eight hundred thousand) or quindici virgola otto milioni (fifteen point eight million)
5. Cinque
6. Dieci
7. Settimo
8. Una dozzina 
9. Terzo 
10. Un paio 

Resources for Practicing Numbers 

Now that you know the Italian numbers, you just need to put them into practice!

Flashcards come in really handy for this kind of learning, with digital options like Anki available for learning on the go. It does involve a bit of memorization, but once you have the basics down, you’ll be able to count up to bigger numbers in Italian.

Another option is the FluentU language learning program. On FluentU, you’ll be able to hear Italian numbers used in context by native speakers.

Once you’re more confident with Italian numbers, try them out in the real world with these guides on time in Italian and shopping in Italian.

 

Now that you know numbers in Italian, you’re one step closer to fluency.

With enough practice, you can boost your confidence when interacting with native speakers. Count on it!

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)