Italian Numbers: From 0 to 2026 (Plus Quanti? and Finger Counting)
A0 · Lesson 09 · Numbers
From zero to the year you were born, one small piece at a time.
Quick answer
Italian numbers 1–10: uno, due, tre, quattro, cinque, sei, sette, otto, nove, dieci. Bigger numbers are built like Lego and written as one word: ventitré (23), cento (100), mille (1,000), duemila (2,000), duemilaventisei (2026).
Italian numbers 0–10
The base of everything. Learn these ten and the rest is just building.
0
zero
DZEH-roh
1
uno
OO-noh
2
due
DOO-eh
3
tre
TREH
4
quattro
KWAHT-troh
5
cinque
CHEEN-kweh
6
sei
SAY
7
sette
SEHT-teh
8
otto
OHT-toh
9
nove
NOH-veh
10
dieci
DYEH-chee
📌 Three sounds to watch
quattro: double t! Stop on it for a split second: quat-tro. Never “quatro”.
cinque: soft c, like CH in chair: CHEEN-kweh. Never “kinque”.
dieci: soft c again: DYEH-chee.
Bonus: sei = 6, and also “you are”. The sentence tells you which!
11–20: two little patterns
Two families: the first six put the small number first, the last three put it last.
11
undici
OON-dee-chee
12
dodici
DOH-dee-chee
13
tredici
TREH-dee-chee
14
quattordici
kwaht-TOR-dee-chee
15
quindici
KWEEN-dee-chee
16
sedici
SEH-dee-chee
17
diciassette
dee-chahs-SEHT-teh
18
diciotto
dee-CHOHT-toh
19
diciannove
dee-chahn-NOH-veh
20
venti
VEHN-tee
💡 In simple words
11 to 16: small number first, then -dici (ten): un-dici, do-dici, tre-dici… se-dici.
17 to 19: the ten comes first, then the small number: dicia-ssette, dici-otto, dicia-nnove.
Like English: four-teen, but then the order flips. Italians flipped it at 17.
The tens: venti, trenta… cento
Nine words. And they rhyme.
20
venti
VEHN-tee
30
trenta
TREHN-tah
40
quaranta
kwah-RAHN-tah
50
cinquanta
cheen-KWAHN-tah
60
sessanta
sehs-SAHN-tah
70
settanta
seht-TAHN-tah
80
ottanta
oht-TAHN-tah
90
novanta
noh-VAHN-tah
100
cento
CHEHN-toh
💡 In simple words
From 30 on, they all end in -anta. Spot the small number inside: quar-anta (4), cinqu-anta (5), sess-anta (6)…
Only venti (20) is different. It’s the rebel.
21–99: glue the pieces together
Ten + small number = one word. No “and”, no hyphen, no space.
venti + due
= ventidue
vehn-tee-DOO-eh · 22
trenta + cinque
= trentacinque
trehn-tah-CHEEN-kweh · 35
novanta + nove
= novantanove
noh-vahn-tah-NOH-veh · 99
📌 Two traps
uno and otto start with a vowel, so the ten drops its last vowel: ventiuno → ventuno (21), ventiotto → ventotto (28), trentaotto → trentotto (38).
tre at the end gets an accent: ventitré (vehn-tee-TREH, 23), trentatré (33).
Common mistakes English speakers make
21: ventiuno → ventuno
Two vowels bump into each other. Italian drops one.
28: ventiotto → ventotto
Same trick with otto.
23: ventitre → ventitré
The accent shows the stress: vehn-tee-TREH.
Writing 45: quaranta cinque → quarantacinque
Italian numbers are one long word. No spaces.
The hundreds: cento, duecento… (never “un cento”)
Small number + cento. Easy, with one surprise.
100
cento
CHEHN-toh
200
duecento
doo-eh-CHEHN-toh
300
trecento
treh-CHEHN-toh
400
quattrocento
kwaht-troh-CHEHN-toh
500
cinquecento
cheen-kweh-CHEHN-toh
600
seicento
say-CHEHN-toh
700
settecento
seht-teh-CHEHN-toh
800
ottocento
oht-toh-CHEHN-toh
900
novecento
noh-veh-CHEHN-toh
💡 In simple words
English says “a hundred” or “one hundred”. Italian says just cento. Never un cento!
Then keep gluing: cento + venti = centoventi (120).
due + cento + trenta + quattro
= duecentotrentaquattro
doo-eh-CHEHN-toh-TREHN-tah-KWAHT-troh · 234
Yes, it’s long. Italians don’t mind. And yes: cinquecento (500) is also the name of the famous little Fiat car.
Mille, duemila: watch the “mila”!
One thousand has a special word. Two thousand changes its ending.
1,000
mille
MEEL-leh
2,000
duemila
doo-eh-MEE-lah
3,000
tremila
treh-MEE-lah
10,000
diecimila
dyeh-chee-MEE-lah
📌 The rule
One thousand = mille. Again, no “un”: never un mille.
From two thousand on, mille becomes mila: duemila, tremila.
Careful with the dot and the comma: Italians write 1.000 for a thousand and 2,5 for two and a half. The opposite of the US!
Years: say them in one breath
English splits years in two. Italian keeps them together: one big number.
mille + novecento + cinquantotto
= millenovecentocinquantotto
meel-leh-noh-veh-CHEHN-toh-cheen-kwahn-TOHT-toh · 1958
duemila + ventisei
= duemilaventisei
doo-eh-mee-lah-vehn-tee-SAY · 2026
💡 In simple words
English cuts years in half: “nineteen fifty-eight”. Italian never does.
Build it in pieces (thousand + hundreds + the rest), then say it as one long word.
Struggling? Practice your birth year until you can say it fast. It’s the one you’ll need most.
Millenovecento… hold on. I ran out of toes. Can we just say I’m young?
Quanti? Quante? How many?
Now let’s use the numbers. One question, two endings.
Quanti?
KWAHN-tee
How many? With masculine words: Quanti gatti? (how many cats?) Quanti caffè?
Question-i endingQuante?
KWAHN-teh
How many? With feminine words: Quante pizze? (how many pizzas?) Quante pesche?
Question-e ending💡 In simple words
Quanti goes with masculine words, quante with feminine words: quanti gatti, quante pizze.
Mixing them up? Everybody will still understand you. Masculine and feminine come later.
Bruno
market seller
Buongiorno! Quanti pomodori?
Good morning! How many tomatoes?
you
Dieci, per favore.
Ten, please.
Bruno
market seller
E quante pesche?
And how many peaches?
you
Quattro. Grazie!
Four. Thank you!
Answer with just the number. No full sentence needed.
Count like an Italian: start with the thumb
Your hands speak Italian too. And they start on the other side.
1
uno
thumb
2
due
thumb + index
3
tre
thumb + index + middle
🇺🇸 In the US
One = index finger. Two = index + middle finger (the “peace” sign).
🇮🇹 In Italy
One = thumb. Two = thumb + index. Three = thumb + index + middle.
Did you know?
Show index + middle finger at an Italian bar for “two coffees” and the barista will still understand you. Try thumb + index, and you are counting like a local!
Step 10 · Practice
🍕 Your turn
Start with a quick warm-up, then press Check. Want more? Open the extra exercises below. Mistakes are part of it. No pressure.
Warm-up · 5 questions
Choose the right number.
1. 4
2. 5
3. 17
4. 21
5. 100
See more exercises · 42 questions ▾Hide the extra exercises ▴
1 · Digits to words
Choose the word for the number.
1. 10
2. 12
3. 16
4. 18
5. 19
6. 30
7. 60
8. 70
9. 200
10. 2,000
2 · Watch the traps
Only one is written correctly.
1. 28
2. 23
3. 31
4. 38
5. 45
6. 1,000
7. 1958
8. 2026
3 · Right or wrong?
True for Italian numbers?
1. quattro has a double t.
2. cinque starts with a K sound.
3. You say “un cento” for 100.
4. 2,000 = duemila.
5. Italians say years in two halves, like “diciannove cinquantotto”.
6. Italians start counting on their fingers with the thumb.
7. Numbers like 35 are written as one word: trentacinque.
8. dieci sounds like DYEH-kee.
4 · Quanti or quante?
Choose the question word. Tip: look at the ending of the next word.
1. ___ gatti?
2. ___ pizze?
3. ___ pomodori?
4. ___ pesche?
5. ___ anni?
6. ___ persone?
5 · Write the number in Italian
Type it in words, as one word. Capital letters don’t matter; an apostrophe works as an accent (ventitre’).
1. 3
2. 8
3. 11
4. 15
5. 20
6. 23
7. 41
8. 50
9. 300
10. 2026
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Ci vediamo la prossima settimana! – Sì, alla prossima lezione! Ciao!
See you next week! – Yes, see you at the next lesson! Bye!
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Written by Luciana
Native Italian teacher, CEDILS certified, 10,000+ lessons since 2020.
