Spanish: An Essential Grammar

Ciento

Cientois shortened to cienbefore any noun (including any preceding adjec-

tive) and before mil, but not before numbers less than a hundred:

cien pesados kilómetros a hundred boring kilometres

cien mil habitantes a hundred thousand inhabitants

ciento veinte libras a hundred and twenty pounds

The shortened form is also used when the following noun is omitted but

can be understood from the context:

Le di diez pesos y me I gave him ten pesos and I have

quedan cien. a hundred left.

Notes:

1 Cientoretains its full form when expressing a percentage: El/Un treinta por

ciento son hindúes ‘Thirty per cent are Hindus’.

2 In contrast to English, multiples of ciento cannot be used to express thousands:

mil quinientos= ‘fifteen hundred’.

Doscientos, trescientosetc.

The compounds formed with -cientos, and quinientos‘five hundred’, agree

in gender with what is being counted:

doscientas mujeres two hundred women

quinientas plazas five hundred places

Mil, millón, billón

Millón andbillónare nouns followed by debefore whatever is counted:

un millón de dólares one million dollars

varios billones de pesos several billion pesos

As an adjective milis invariable, but when used as a noun it is pluralized:

Mil personas la saludaron. A thousand people greeted her.

Miles de personas la Thousands of people greeted her.

saludaron.

23.1.4

23.1.3

(^1111) 23.1.2
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

1011

1

12111

3 4 5 6 7 8 9

20111

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

30111

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

40

41111

Cardinal

numerals

241