Learning to count in Italian is absolutely essential from day one. You’ll need it for everything: paying at restaurants, asking for the time, buying train tickets, giving your phone number, or bargaining at the market (yes, it’s still done!).
The good news: Italian numbers aren’t complicated. Once you’ve understood the logic up to 20, the rest follows naturally. And unlike verbs, there’s no conjugation or agreements to manage – just learn them and you’re sorted.
Basic units: counting from 0 to 10
Let’s start at the beginning: numbers from 0 to 10. Mind you pronounce the double consonants properly (as in “quattro” and “otto”), it really makes a difference.
- Zero: Zero
- Uno: One (becomes “un” before a vowel or simple consonant, “uno” before s+consonant/z/gn/ps)
- Due: Two
- Tre: Three (without accent when standing alone)
- Quattro: Four (pronounce both “t”s properly)
- Cinque: Five
- Sei: Six
- Sette: Seven (stress the double “t”)
- Otto: Eight (double “t” pronounced)
- Nove: Nine
- Dieci: Ten
The irregulars and construction from 11 to 19
Here it gets a bit tricky. From 11 to 16, you put the unit BEFORE (-dici), but from 17 onwards, it reverses: the root goes in front (dici-).
- Undici: Eleven
- Dodici: Twelve
- Tredici: Thirteen
- Quattordici: Fourteen
- Quindici: Fifteen
- Sedici: Sixteen
- Diciassette: Seventeen (double “s” and double “t”)
- Diciotto: Eighteen
- Diciannove: Nineteen (double “n”)
The tens: from 20 to 90
Good news: the tens are super easy! And most importantly, Italian doesn’t do what French does with its “soixante-dix” and “quatre-vingt-dix”.
- Venti: Twenty
- Trenta: Thirty
- Quaranta: Forty
- Cinquanta: Fifty
- Sessanta: Sixty
- Settanta: Seventy
- Ottanta: Eighty
- Novanta: Ninety
Compound numbers and phonetic rules (21-99)
To make 21, 22, etc., you simply stick the ten and the unit together. But watch out: when the unit starts with a vowel (1 or 8), the final vowel of the ten disappears. And when the unit is 3, you put an accent on the “é”.
- Ventuno: Twenty-one (dropping the “i” from venti)
- Ventidue: Twenty-two
- Ventitré: Twenty-three (accent required!)
- Ventiquattro: Twenty-four
- Venticinque: Twenty-five
- Ventisei: Twenty-six
- Ventisette: Twenty-seven
- Ventotto: Twenty-eight
- Ventinove: Twenty-nine
- Trentuno: Thirty-one
- Trentatré: Thirty-three
- Quarantotto: Forty-eight
- Cinquantuno: Fifty-one
- Sessantatré: Sixty-three
- Settantotto: Seventy-eight
- Ottantuno: Eighty-one
- Novantanove: Ninety-nine
The number 100 and its multiples
Even simpler: “cento” never changes. No “s” in the plural like in English.
- Cento: One hundred (invariable)
- Duecento: Two hundred
- Trecento: Three hundred
- Quattrocento: Four hundred
- Cinquecento: Five hundred
- Mille: One thousand
Ordinal numbers (1st to 10th)
Ordinals (first, second, etc.) agree in gender and number. You’ll need them to indicate a floor at the hotel or to say “turn right at the second street”.
- Primo (m.) / Prima (f.): First
- Secondo (m.) / Seconda (f.): Second
- Terzo: Third
- Quarto: Fourth
- Quinto: Fifth
- Sesto: Sixth
- Settimo: Seventh
- Ottavo: Eighth
- Nono: Ninth
- Decimo: Tenth
Mathematical vocabulary and fractions
Useful for recipes, splitting the bill at restaurants, or understanding sales.
- Più: Plus
- Meno: Minus
- Per: Times / Multiplied by
- Diviso: Divided by
- Uguale: Equals
- La somma: The sum
- Il totale: The total
- Mezzo (m.) / Mezza (f.): Half
- Un terzo: A third
- Un quarto: A quarter
- La percentuale: The percentage
- La metà: Half
Idiomatic expressions with numbers
A few common expressions that use numbers. If you drop these into a conversation, Italians will be impressed!
- Fare quattro chiacchiere: To have a chat
- In quattro e quattr’otto: In no time at all
- Essere al settimo cielo: To be over the moon
- Costare un occhio della testa: To cost an arm and a leg
- Dare i numeri: To lose one’s marbles, to talk rubbish
- Non c’è due senza tre: It never rains but it pours
- Uccidere due piccioni con una fava: To kill two birds with one stone
- Sudare sette camicie: To work one’s socks off
- Zero via zero: A complete nobody (for a person)
Collective and multiplicative numbers
- Un paio: A pair (of objects)
- Una coppia: A couple (of people)
- Una dozzina: A dozen
- Una decina: About ten
- Un centinaio: About a hundred
- Un migliaio: About a thousand
- Doppio: Double
- Triplo: Triple
- Quadruplo: Quadruple
- Singolo: Single / Individual
Using numbers for time and dates
For time, you say “sono le” + number (plural), except for one o’clock where it’s “è l’una”. For dates, you use normal numbers, except for the first of the month: “il primo”.
- Che ore sono?: What time is it?
- Sono le due: It’s two o’clock
- È l’una: It’s one o’clock
- Mezzogiorno: Midday
- Mezzanotte: Midnight
- Il primo maggio: The first of May
- Il due giugno: The second of June
- Il duemilaventi: The year two thousand and twenty
- Un secolo: A century
- Un decennio: A decade
Stating your age in Italian
Big difference from English: in Italian, you “have” your age (verb to have), you don’t “are” your age. Never say “sono 30 anni”!
- Quanti anni hai?: How old are you?
- Ho vent’anni: I’m twenty years old
- Ha trentacinque anni: He/She is thirty-five years old
- Sono nato nel millenovecentonovanta: I was born in 1990
- Maggiorenne: Of age (over 18)
- Minorenne: Under age (under 18)
- Coetaneo: Of the same age