12.1. Cardinal numbers

*Note that your set of ten (venti, trenta, quaranta, ecc.) will drop its final vowel if it is combined with uno or otto: ventuno, quarantotto, cinquantuno.

**Note that numbers ending in –tré (except for tre itself) have an accent: ventitré, settantatré, duecentotré.

        CARDINAL NUMERALS  (from 101 to 1,000,000,000)

 Notes on cardinal numbers:

• Cardinal numbers are invariable. E.g., “Ha passato trenta giorni in vacanza,” “Ho quattro libri.”

• Mille is ‘one thousand’ while  “-mila” is the invariable form for all multiples of ‘thousand,’ like duemila, tremila, quindicimila, etc…

• Numbers are written together until  999,999. Eg.: novecentonovantanovemilanovecentonovantanove  From  1,000,000 on, they are separated at the millions, billions, trillions . Eg: due milioni e trecentoquattromila.

• for million(s), milione, and billion(s), miliardo, you add di before the noun only if the number is a ‘direct/whole’ number like “one million soldiers,” (without modifications like “one million three hundred thousand soldiers”), e.g., un milione di soldati, tre miliardi di euro.

• If there are modifications (like two billion seven hundred million euros) then you do not add di before the noun, e.g., a) un milione trecento mila soldati; b) due miliardi settecento milioni e ventiduemila persone.