Numbers as Pronouns

29 Apr 2018

Definition

When the noun after a number is omitted, the number serves as a pronoun. For example, “How many books do you have?”, “I have three (kids)”. Or, “Which book is your favorite?”, “The third (book)”.

Both cardinal and ordinal numbers can be used as pronouns.

Numbers Below 10

Cardinal Numbers	Ordinal Numbers
uno, una	primero, primera
dos	segundo, segunda
tres	tercero, tercera
cuatro	cuarto, cuarta
cinco	quinto, quinta
seis	sexto, sexta
siete	séptimo, séptima
ocho	octavo, octava
nueve	noveno, novena
diez	décimo, décima

Notes:

• Ordinal numbers take gender.
• When referring to a masculine noun, “first” and “third” drop the trailing o and become primer and tercer, respectively.

Numbers Above 10

Cardinal numbers are the same weather below or above 10, but ordinal numbers can be seen in two ways:

• “number-avo”, e.g., onceavo (11th), doceavo (12th) and treceavo (13th)
• but more commonly, “el number”, e.g., el doce (11th), el doce (12th) and el trece (13th)

Cardinal Numbers as Pronouns

Pretty much the same as in English. For example, ¿Cuántos libros tienes?, Tengo tres..

Ordinal Numbers as Pronouns

The only additional thing needs to be noted is that ordinal numbers have to agree on gender with the omitted noun. For example, El árbol es el séptimo (the tree is the seventh) and La lámpara es la segunda (the lamp is the second). Note that the definitive articles used need to agree on gender too.