Italian Numbers: Hundreds, Thousands, Millions and How to Use Them
Once you've mastered 1–100 in Italian, the next step is hundreds, thousands, and beyond. Italian large numbers have some satisfying patterns — and a few quirks around agreement, spelling, and usage that are worth knowing before your first Italian phone call, apartment search, or price negotiation. Understanding how Italians talk about years, population, and prices will immediately improve your comprehension.
One thing that surprises English speakers: Italian numbers above 100 are written as single compound words. You don't write 'due cento', you write 'duecento'. This applies all the way up — trecentoventicinque (325), milleottocentosessantuno (1861, the year of Italian unification). This isn't just orthography — it reflects how naturally Italians process large numbers as single words rather than sequences.
Hundreds — 100 to 1000
| Number | Italian |
|---|---|
| 100 | cento |
| 200 | duecento |
| 300 | trecento |
| 400 | quattrocento |
| 500 | cinquecento |
| 600 | seicento |
| 700 | settecento |
| 800 | ottocento |
| 900 | novecento |
| 1000 | mille |
From 100 onwards, Italian numbers are written as single words (duecento, trecentocinquanta). 'Cento' never takes 'un' before it — say 'cento', not 'un cento'. The same applies to 'mille' (1,000): 'mille', not 'un mille'. However, from 2,000 onwards, 'mille' becomes 'mila' in the plural: duemila, tremila, diecimila.
Thousands and Millions
| Number | Italian | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1,000 | mille | singular |
| 2,000 | duemila | 'mille' → 'mila' in plural |
| 10,000 | diecimila | compound: dieci + mila |
| 100,000 | centomila | compound |
| 1,000,000 | un milione | takes 'un'; needs 'di' before noun |
| 2,000,000 | due milioni | plural 'milioni' |
| 1,000,000,000 | un miliardo | billion (not milliardo) |
| 3,500,000 | tre milioni e cinquecentomila | e links the parts |
When milione/miliardi is followed directly by a noun, insert 'di': 'un milione di persone' (a million people), 'due miliardi di euro' (two billion euros). But if there are more numbers after milione, drop 'di': 'un milione trecentomila persone' (1,300,000 people).
Ordinal numbers (first, second, third…) in Italian are adjectives — they agree in gender and number with the noun they describe. The first ten are irregular and must be memorised; from eleventh onwards, the pattern is regular: drop the final vowel of the cardinal number and add -esimo (or just add -esimo if the cardinal ends in a consonant).
Ordinal Numbers
| Cardinal | Ordinal (m.sg.) | Ordinal (f.sg.) | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| uno | primo | prima | first |
| due | secondo | seconda | second |
| tre | terzo | terza | third |
| quattro | quarto | quarta | fourth |
| cinque | quinto | quinta | fifth |
| sei | sesto | sesta | sixth |
| sette | settimo | settima | seventh |
| otto | ottavo | ottava | eighth |
| nove | nono | nona | ninth |
| dieci | decimo | decima | tenth |
| undici | undicesimo | undicesima | eleventh |
| venti | ventesimo | ventesima | twentieth |
| cento | centesimo | centesima | hundredth |
Numbers in Real Sentences
La mia città ha trecentomila abitanti.
My city has 300,000 inhabitants.
L'appartamento costa duecentocinquantamila euro.
The apartment costs 250,000 euros.
L'Italia ha circa sessanta milioni di abitanti.
Italy has about 60 million inhabitants.
È il mio primo viaggio in Italia.
It's my first trip to Italy.
Abito al quinto piano.
I live on the fifth floor.
Il ventesimo secolo è stato rivoluzionario.
The twentieth century was revolutionary.
In Italian dates, only the first day of the month uses an ordinal: 'il primo maggio' (the 1st of May). All other dates use cardinal numbers: 'il due maggio', 'il quindici agosto'. The article 'il' is always used with dates.
🏛️ Centuries and historical periods
Dante scrisse nel Trecento. — Dante wrote in the 1300s.
Il Rinascimento fiorì nel Quattrocento. — The Renaissance flourished in the 1400s.
Michelangelo visse nel Cinquecento. — Michelangelo lived in the 1500s.
Il cinema italiano del Novecento è famoso nel mondo. — 20th-century Italian cinema is world-famous.
Italian century names are used with a capital letter as historical period labels — this is a distinctive feature of the language. When an Italian says 'il Rinascimento fiorì nel Quattrocento', they mean the Renaissance flourished in the 1400s (which is technically the 15th century, because it was the fourth century of the second millennium). This often confuses English speakers, who think in ordinal centuries. The Italian system counts from 1000 AD — so il Duecento is the 1200s, il Trecento is the 1300s, and so on.
Numbers in everyday Italian life
Il biglietto costa dodici euro e cinquanta.
The ticket costs twelve euros fifty.
Abita al terzo piano, interno quattro.
He lives on the third floor, flat four.
Siamo nel duemilaventisei.
We are in the year 2026.
La popolazione italiana è di circa sessanta milioni di persone.
The Italian population is about sixty million people.
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