How to Count Past 100 in Italian

Learn how to count from one hundred and higher

Paper currencies
Paper currencies. Arcangelo Piai / EyeEm / Getty Images

 Now that you know how to count from one to one hundred in Italian, how do you count from one hundred and up?

These numbers, while a bit more complex, are useful to know for higher-priced items (learn about how to talk about prices here), saying the year, and being able to talk about items in large quantities.

While the pattern is straightforward, there are some differences to highlight.

For example, there is no Italian equivalent for the English way of saying “eleven hundred” or  “twelve hundred.” Instead, you would say “millecento - 1100” or “milleduecento -1200.”

Writing Numbers in Italian

When you’re writing numbers in Italian, English and Italian have a few differences. First, the function of periods and commas is reversed. Therefore, the number 1.000 = one thousand (or mille in Italian) and 1,5 = one point five or one and five tenths. In Italian, that would be “uno virgola cinque.”

The indefinite article is not used with “cento - hundred” and “mille - thousand,” but it is used with “milione - million.”

  • cento favole - a hundred fables
  • mille notti - a thousand nights
  • un milione di dollari - a million dollars

“Cento” has no plural form, but “mille” has the plural form “mila.”

  • cento lire - 100 lira
  • duecento lire - 200 lira
  • mille lire - 1000 lira
  • duemila lire - 2000 lira
  • tremila euro - 3000 euros

FUN FACT: Lira was the old form of currency in Italy. L. is the abbreviation for lira/lire. This is where the common expression “Non ho una lira - I don’t have any money” comes from in Italian.

Milione (plural milioni) and miliardo (plural miliardi) require the preposition “di” when they occur directly before a noun.

  • In Italia ci sono 57 milioni di abitanti. - In Italy, there are 57 million inhabitants.
  • Il governo ha speso molti miliardi di dollari. - The government has spent many billions of dollars.

Saying the Year

You can also use these numbers to say the year.  Let’s use the year 1929 as an example.

The number you’re going to start with will be the biggest.

1000 - mille

Then, you’ll use

900 - novecento

Finally, you’ll cover the last two numbers

29 - ventinove

All of that together makes:

millenovecento ventinove

Here are some other years as examples:

  • 2010 - duemila dieci
  • 2000 - duemila
  • 1995 - millenovecento novantacinque
  • 1984 - millenovecento ottanta quattro

A few things to note:

-- When you’re talking about years in the 21st century, you use “duemila” and NOT “due mille”, like in duemila quattro (2004).   

-- If you want to just say ‘84 instead of 1984, you would say “l’ottantaquattro.”

-- If you want to say “In 1984”, you would use the articulated preposition “nell’84,” or “durante l’84” before the numbers.

Italian Numbers One Hundred and Greater

100

cento

1.000

mille

101

centouno

1.001

milleuno

150

centocinquanta

1.200

milleduecento

200

duecento

2.000

duemila

300

trecento

10.000

diecimila

400

quattrocento

15.000

quindicimila

500

cinquecento

100.000

centomila

600

seicento

1.000.000

un milione

700

settecento

2.000.000

due milioni

800

ottocento

1.000.000.000

un miliardo

900

novecento

2.000.000.000

due miliardi

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Filippo, Michael San. "How to Count Past 100 in Italian." ThoughtCo, Apr. 5, 2023, thoughtco.com/counting-in-italian-2011378. Filippo, Michael San. (2023, April 5). How to Count Past 100 in Italian. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/counting-in-italian-2011378 Filippo, Michael San. "How to Count Past 100 in Italian." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/counting-in-italian-2011378 (accessed March 28, 2024).