Previous Index of A Spanish Reference Grammar Next

 

A SPANISH REFERENCE GRAMMAR   ORDINAL NUMERALS   39

veinte hombres, or, veinte hombres Inds o menos, about twenty men; veinte y pico hombres, twenty-odd men. 182.

  1. In compounds uno becomes un, but una usually is unchanged: sesenta y un libros, 71 books; veinte y una misiones, 21 missions; en la pfigina cuarenta y una, on page 41. 183.

  2. Mil and ciento (cien) are never preceded by un (see 153), except un in compounds (see 183). Milton requires un and is followed by de : un mill-On de hombres, a million men; tres millones de Mares, three million dollars. 184.

  3. In counting, ciento is used, not cien. 185.

  4. Multiples of ciento are not used above novecientos, goo; 1875 is read mil ochocientos setenta y cinco, not diez y ocho cientos, etc. 186.

  5. The conjunction y is employed only between the tens and units of a number: ciento ochenta y seis, 186. From 100 to 115, inclusive, or from any multiple of a hundred to 15 units above it, y is not customary: doscientos doce, 212; ciento tres, 103. 187.

  6. Ciento or centenar, mil or millar, may be used as collective nouns, but ciento and millar are found most frequently in express-

ing rate in commercial language: miles

(or millares) de personas, centenares de libros; but, a dos pesos el ciento, at two pesos a hundred. See 165. 188.

  1. Punctuation of numerals. The period instead of the comma is customary in Spanish in separating the periods of cardinals:

276.325.412, read: doscientos setenta y seis

millones, trescientos veinte y cinco mil, cuatrocientos doce. - The comma instead of the period is used in punctuating decimals: 2,03, dos unidades tres centesimas; 34,405, treinta y cuatro unidades cuatrocientas cinco milesimas. 189.

  1. Optional forms in the tens and twenties: diez y seis or dieciseis, etc.; veinte y uno or veintiuno, etc. See Tabla, page 188. 190. For numerals used as nouns see 105-10g.

I. ORDINALS. See Tabla de los Thimeros cardinales y ordinates page 188.

  1. Ordinals agree with the nouns they modify. Compounds agree in both parts: la cuarta lecciOn, the fourth lesson; el capitulo vigOsimo quinto, the twenty-fifth chapter. 191.

  2. Single ordinals usually precede their nouns, and compounds usually follow: see 191. 192.

  3. Ordinals are little used above duodecimo,

twelfth.   Instead, it is much more frequent

Previous Index of A Spanish Reference Grammar Next