Number Pronouncer: Hear Numbers in Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Mandarin and Hindi

Type a number to see how it is written and hear how it is said, including French septante and nonante, Portuguese from Brazil or Portugal, pinyin for Mandarin and the Indian lakh and crore for Hindi.

Convert and listen

Listening quiz: type the number you hear

Uses the language and variety selected above. Numbers are the most common listening trap in a new language; ten rounds a day makes a real difference.

Press “New number” to start.

How numbers work in each language

Spanish

Numbers 16 to 29 are written as one word (dieciséis, veintidós); from 31 they use y (treinta y uno). 100 alone is cien, but 101 is ciento uno. Uno shortens to un before mil and millón (veintiún mil), and mil is never preceded by un. See the Spanish pronunciation guide.

French

France counts in twenties from 60: 70 is soixante-dix (60 + 10), 80 is quatre-vingts (4 × 20), 90 is quatre-vingt-dix. Belgium uses septante and nonante; most of Switzerland also uses huitante. Vingt and cent take an s only when multiplied and final. The full rules, and the numbers whose last consonant changes before a noun, are in French numbers 70, 80, 90.

German

German says the units before the tens (einundzwanzig, "one-and-twenty") and writes every number below a million as a single word: 1,234 is eintausendzweihundertvierunddreißig. Eins becomes ein inside compounds. Listen for the units first, then the tens: this reversal is the main source of errors for English speakers. See the German guide.

Portuguese

Portuguese uses e between hundreds, tens and units (trezentos e quarenta e cinco), and between thousands and a final group that is below 100 or a round hundred (mil e cem, but mil duzentos e trinta). Brazil writes dezesseis, dezessete, dezenove; Portugal writes dezasseis, dezassete, dezanove. See the Portuguese guide.

Mandarin Chinese

Mandarin groups numbers by ten thousand (万 wàn), not by thousand, so 100,000 is 十万 "ten ten-thousands". A single 零 líng marks any gap: 1,005 is 一千零五. The tool uses 两 liǎng for a leading 2 before 千 and 万, as most speakers do, and shows the tone changes of 一 (yì before 百 and 千, yí before 万). See tone sandhi.

Hindi

Every number from 1 to 99 has its own, partly irregular, word in Hindi, and learners simply memorise them. Large numbers use the Indian system: हज़ार hazār (1,000), लाख lākh (1,00,000 = 100,000) and करोड़ karoṛ (1,00,00,000 = 10 million), with commas placed accordingly. Note the numbers ending in 9, such as उनतीस untīs (29), which literally means "one less than thirty". See the Hindi guide.

How to practise numbers

  1. Start with the 0–20 range until you get ten in a row right, then move to 0–100.
  2. In French and German, focus on the hard patterns: 70–99 in French, and units-before-tens in German.
  3. Say each number aloud after hearing it. Prices, times and phone numbers are the situations where you need numbers fastest.
  4. Switch varieties (France/Belgium, Brazil/Portugal) to get used to hearing both.

Frequently asked questions

How does the tool decide between two correct forms?

Where a language allows more than one standard form, the tool uses the most common one and explains the alternative on this page. For example, Mandarin uses 两 before 千 and 万 at the start of a number, and German writes 101 as einhunderteins (hunderteins is also correct).

Why does the audio sometimes read the number differently?

The audio is produced by your browser's voice for that language, reading the words shown. Voices occasionally pronounce rare forms such as huitante or French 1990-reform hyphenation slightly unnaturally. The written form follows the grammar references listed below.

Does the quiz work offline?

The conversion works offline. Audio needs a voice for the language: many are built into the operating system, while some browser voices need an internet connection.

Sources

  • Real Academia Española and ASALE (2009). Nueva gramática de la lengua española, chapter on numerals. Espasa.
  • Grevisse, M. and Goosse, A. (2016). Le Bon Usage (16th ed.), sections on numerals. De Boeck Supérieur.
  • Dudenredaktion (2016). Duden – Die Grammatik (9th ed.), section on Kardinalzahlen. Dudenverlag.
  • Cunha, C. and Cintra, L. (2017). Nova gramática do português contemporâneo (7th ed.), chapter on numerals. Lexikon.
  • Ross, C. and Ma, J.-H. S. (2014). Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar (2nd ed.), chapter on numbers. Routledge.
  • Snell, R. and Weightman, S. (2003). Teach Yourself Hindi, appendix on numbers. Hodder and Stoughton.