Count On Me

Count On Me

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Do Spanish numbers have gender? Un vs una, doscientos vs doscientas

Say ages, prices, floors and dates with the right endings — out loud, without counting on your fingers.

GRAMMAR PACK · 4 LESSONS · A1

Only three kinds of Spanish numbers change for gender. Uno shortens to un before a masculine noun and becomes una for feminine (tengo un hermano, hay una farmacia aquí — and the same inside bigger numbers: veintiún años, veintiuna páginas). The hundreds 200-900 agree too: doscientos estudiantes but doscientas personas. And the ordinals: primero and tercero clip to primer and tercer before masculine singular nouns (es mi primer día, el tercer examen), while primera and tercera never shorten. Every other number is invariable — and after tenth, everyday Spanish just uses cardinals: el piso doce, not el duodécimo piso.

Below: the phrases that put numbers to work in dates, times and prices, the number slang locals really use, the classic slips — and how you rehearse it by saying real quantities in a real conversation, not doing worksheet math.

Say this

The phrases that carry the conversation

Number-noun agreement (un libro, una mesa)

  • Tengo un hermano.I have one brother.
  • Hay una farmacia aquí.There is one pharmacy here.
  • Tiene veintiún años.He/She is twenty-one years old.
  • Hay veintiuna páginas.There are twenty-one pages.

Ordinal numbers (primero, segundo... primer, tercer)

  • Es mi primera clase.It's my first class.
  • Vivo en el segundo piso.I live on the second floor.
  • La tercera vez.The third time.
  • Es mi primer día.It's my first day.

Numbers in dates and time expressions

  • El quince de marzo.March fifteenth.
  • El primero de enero.January first.
  • Son las tres y media.It's three thirty.
  • Es la una de la tarde.It's one in the afternoon.

Regional Spanish

What locals actually say

Textbooks teach one word. Locals use several — pick your region's and stay consistent.

EnglishMexicoArgentina
loads of (vague big number)un chorro / un buenuna banda
money (slang)una lana / un varolucas (thousands of pesos)
…and a bit (after a number)quinientos y picolas tres y pico

Watch out

Mistakes that mark you as a textbook speaker

  1. Forgetting gender on hundredsHundreds agree in gender — doscientos libros (masc) but doscientas páginas (fem). Only hundreds 200-900 change.
  2. Using primero/tercero before masculine nounsShorten to primer/tercer before masculine singular nouns — 'el primer día', not 'el primero día'
  3. Using ordinals after tenthAfter 10th, everyday Spanish uses cardinals — 'el piso doce' (12th floor), not 'el duodécimo piso'

The part no drill site can do

No flashcards. You learn it by using it

Carla, &Be grammar teacher

Carla

Your grammar teacher for this pack

No worksheets, no number drills. In the Count On Me lessons you talk, and Carla makes the numbers yours: she asks your address and which floor you live on, so el piso plus a number comes out naturally; she lines up four mixed nouns and you put un or una in front of each — un café, una mesa, un libro, una llave — out loud, no pausing to translate. Then it's your birthday and one date you're looking forward to: el quince de marzo, said like you've said it a hundred times.

Blank mid-sentence and nothing bad happens — she waits. That's the practice, without unnecessary judgement.

Finish the 4 lessons and Count On Me is yours — earned, not given.

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Quick answers

Questions people ask

When does uno become un in Spanish?

Before a masculine singular noun: tengo un hermano, never uno hermano. For feminine nouns it's una (hay una farmacia aquí), and the rule repeats inside larger numbers: veintiún años, veintiuna páginas.

Is it doscientos or doscientas?

It depends on the noun: doscientos estudiantes (masculine) but doscientas personas (feminine). Only the hundreds from 200 to 900 do this — quinientos euros, trescientas páginas — everything else stays fixed.

What's the difference between primero and primer?

Primer is the clipped form used only before a masculine singular noun: es mi primer día, el primer piso. Elsewhere it stays full — el primero de enero — and the feminine never shortens: es mi primera clase.

How do you say dates in Spanish?

Plain cardinal numbers: el quince de marzo (March 15th). The one exception is the first of the month, which keeps the ordinal: el primero de enero. Years read as one long number: en el año dos mil veintiséis.

How do you tell the time in Spanish?

Son las tres y media (it's 3:30) — but one o'clock goes singular: es la una de la tarde. For "a little past", locals say y pico: son las tres y pico.