14. Numbers in Italian
In any language it’s important to know how to tell the numbers to express an idea or ask for items.
| Number | Italian |
|---|---|
| 0 | zero |
| 1 | uno |
| 2 | due |
| 3 | tre |
| 4 | quattro |
| 5 | cinque |
| 6 | sei |
| 7 | sette |
| 8 | otto |
| 9 | nove |
| 10 | dieci |
| 11 | undici |
| 12 | dodici |
| 13 | tredici |
| 14 | quatrodici |
| 15 | quindici |
| 16 | sedici |
| 17 | diciasette |
| 18 | diciotto |
| 19 | dicianove |
| 20 | venti |
Whenever we want to say a number, we simply take the dozens plus the unit (e.g. 21, 22, 23, …), and we take out the final vowel of the dozen if the unity is “uno” or “otto”:
- 21 -> ventunno NOT ventiunno
- 28 -> ventotto NOT ventiotto
Here are a few examples:
- Io ho venticinque anni (I am 25 years old)
- Abbiamo quattro gatti (We have 4 cats) - see how we used “gati” and not “gato”