In this case, you use una because you're referring to a pregunta (“question”), which is a feminine word. “¿Hay preguntas?” “Solo una.” – “Any questions?” “Only one”.Uno is unchanged because it's not followed by a noun. Change uno to una because it's followed by a feminine noun. Drop the “o” from uno because it's followed by a masculine noun. Before a masculine noun, you drop the o and just use un. When you think about it, those two phrases mean the same thing the only difference is in emphasis.īut the word uno changes to match the gender of the noun it describes. Un libro can mean “a book” or “one book”. Spanish doesn't distinguish between “one” and “a” in the same way that English does. So how do you say Spanish numbers? If you have trouble pronouncing the words, then take a listen to this video: This is no longer true – all dialects of English now use the short-scale system.) How Do You Pronounce Spanish Numbers? (By the way, in the past, American English used the short-scale system while British English used the long-scale system. So Spanish words like billón don't “match up” with their English counterparts like you might expect: Rather than multiplying by a thousand each time, you multiply by a million. In this system, a “billion” is one million millions, and a “trillion” is one million billions. But many countries around the world – including most Spanish-speaking countries – use the “long scale” system. Not everyone does it like this! Our way is called the “short scale” numbering system. In other words, every “step up” involves multiplying by 1,000. In the English-speaking world, a “billion” is one thousand millions (1,000,000,000) and a “trillion” is one thousand billions (1,000,000,000,000). What do you think the Spanish words billón and trillón mean? Did you guess “billion” and “trillion”? Sadly, things aren't that simple. Billions and Trillions in Spanish (They’re Not What You Think) For example, “one million books” is un millón de libros. 6,492,000 – seis millones cuatrocientos noventa y dos milįinally, note that when you're using un millón or millones with a noun, you must use de.483,382 – cuatrocientos ochenta y tres mil trescientos ochenta y dos.You need to put an un in this number to distinguish it from cuarenta mil (40,000).įorming new numbers with mil and un millón is pretty straightforward as well: The only time you'll see un mil is in numbers like cuarenta y un mil (41,000). For un millón, you can't leave out the un. The only two new words you need to learn are mil (1,000) and un millón (1,000,000).
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |