Recursio
Lesson 21. Numbers 0–15
16 words in this lesson
Tap 🔊 and repeat out loud. These words come back in the dialogue and the exercises below.
numbers 0–15
Numbers from 0 to 15
| 0 cero | 4 cuatro | 8 ocho | 12 doce |
| 1 uno | 5 cinco | 9 nueve | 13 trece |
| 2 dos | 6 seis | 10 diez | 14 catorce |
| 3 tres | 7 siete | 11 once | 15 quince |
Eleven to fifteen are separate words to learn by heart, just like English eleven and twelve. From 16 on there’s a pattern; that’s the next lesson.
Uno, un, una
Before a masculine noun, use un; before a feminine noun, use una, like the articles in lesson 2: un café, una tostada. A short answer without the noun still agrees with it: ¿Cuántos cafés? — Uno. ¿Cuántas tostadas? — Una. When counting or reading a phone number, use uno.
Numbers from 2 to 15 do not change for gender: dos cafés, dos tostadas. With these numbers, the noun is plural.
How many?
¿Cuántos? / ¿Cuántas? from lesson 16 now get an answer: ¿Cuántos? — Tres. In a bar you’ll often hear ¿Cuántos sois? — “How many of you are there?”, answered with Somos cinco — “There are five of us.”
Phone numbers
El número means “number”; here it refers to a phone number.
Mi número es… — “My number is…”. People often read a phone number one digit at a time: seis, uno, cuatro… Grouping is also common, but groups need numbers above 15.
Listen for the difference
These pairs are easy to mix up by ear: dos — doce, tres — trece, cuatro — catorce, cinco — quince. Doce, trece, catorce end in an extra syllable -ce, said with a th sound in the Spanish pronunciation used in this course: do-ce, tre-ce, ca-tor-ce. Listen to the start of cinco and quince: th versus k. The endings also differ: -co and -ce.
el euro — “euro”: Son doce euros — “That’s twelve euros.”
¿Cuánto es? — “How much is it?” Learn this as a phrase for asking the total when paying.
¿Cuántos? — Tres. — How many? — Three.
Un café y una tostada. — One coffee and one piece of toast.
Dos cafés y tres tés. — Two coffees and three teas.
Somos cinco. — There are five of us.
Mi número es seis, uno, cuatro… — My number is six, one, four…
Dialogue
Listen to each line and repeat it. Try to understand it before you look at the translation.
Javier ¡Hola, Lucía! ¿Cuántos sois? Hi, Lucía! How many of you are there?
Lucía Somos cinco. There are five of us.
Javier ¿Y qué tomáis? And what would you like?
Lucía Tres cafés, dos tés y cinco tostadas, por favor. Three coffees, two teas and five pieces of toast, please.
Javier ¿Cinco tostadas? Five pieces of toast?
Lucía Sí, cinco. ¿Cuánto es? Yes, five. How much is it?
Javier Son doce euros. That's twelve euros.
Lucía Gracias, Javier. Thanks, Javier.
Check yourself
Listen. What did you hear?
1. How do you say “three coffees”?
2. How do you say “one coffee”?
3. How do you say 11 in Spanish?
4. How do you say 15 in Spanish?
Match each word with its translation
Build the order: “Three coffees and two teas”
Build the start of a phone number: “My number is 6, 1, 4…”
What you can do now
- Count from 0 to 15
- Order several things: Tres cafés y dos tés.
- Ask and answer how many: ¿Cuántos sois? — Somos cinco.
- Give a number digit by digit: Mi número es…
Key phrases of the lesson:
¿Cuántos? — Tres.
Mi número es seis, uno, cuatro…
Day 21 of 100. Next up: the following lesson.
Lesson 22. How old are you? →The course is the first step. Next comes the Recursio app: short daily practice with spaced review.