GLTIREBITER SAID
How did we get this far without going through the numbers? Or did I miss an earlier post that discussed this?
Numbers from one to ten are probably familiar to North American English speakers:
uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, seis, siete, ocho, nueve, diez (pronounced OO-no, DOSE, TRAYS, KWAH-troh, SEEN-koh, SEHS, see-AY-tay, OH-cho, noo-AY-vay, dee-AYZ) [one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten]
The next five numbers are:
once, doce, trece, catorce, quince (pronounced OWN-say, DOE-say, TRAY-say, kah-TOR-say, KEEN-say) [eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen]
The rest of the teens follow a pattern. I've seen more than one way to spell these; what follows is the multiple word spellings I learned in school long ago:
diez y seis, diez y siete, diez y ocho, diez y nueve [sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen]
The decade for the twenties doesn't follow exactly the same form as other larger numbers (try pronouncing "veinte y uno" quickly, and you'll appreciate it).
veinte, veinteuno, veintedos, veintetres, veintecuatro, veintecinco, veinteseis, veintesiete, veinteocho, veintenueve [twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-four, twenty-five, twenty-six, twenty-seven, twenty-eight, twenty-nine] (veinte is pronounced VAIN-tay)
For the thirties to the nineties, there is a pattern. Each number is in two parts: the number for the decade, followed by "y", and ending with the number for the units. It's easy to see by example. start with the decade numbers:
treinta, cuarenta, cincuenta, sesenta, setenta, ochenta, noventa (pronounced tray-EEN-tah, kwar-AYN-tah, seen-KWAYN-tah, says-AYN-tah, set-AYN-tah, oach-AYN-tah, no-VAYN-tah) [thirty, forty, fifty, sixty, seventy, eighty, ninety]
Add the unit numbers to make the numbers in between, much like English:
treinte y uno, cuarenta y dos, cincuenta y ocho, sesenta y cinco, setenta y tres, ochenta y ocho, noventa y nueve [thirty-one, fourty-two, fifty-eight, seventy-five, eighty-eight, ninety-none]
That covers all the numbers from one to ninety-nine. we'll end this lesson with the bookends around them: cero [zero] and ciento [one hundred] (pronounced SAY-row and see-AYN-to).
Jochy, please feel free correct any errors I have made!
Here's a reference: samples from a Spanish reading book for elementary students. It's a free download for Kindle, Nook, etc.
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/22065