Decode Spanish: Numbers 1-10 Through Words You Know

NUMBERS 1-10 THROUGH FAMILIAR ENGLISH WORDS

No memorization needed.

UNO (1): you likely already know this

DOS (2), TRES (3)

  • hint: drop the -s, and apply d → t, t → th

  • (d)o(s) → (t)o, (t)re(s) → (th)re

  • which sound similar to two and three

CUATRO (4): related to 'quarter' (one in four)

  • hint: c → q

  • (c)uatro → (q)uatro ~ quarter

CINCO (5): related to quintuple (5 times)

  • hint: c → qu

  • (c)inco → '(qu)in' in quintuple

  • This will help you recognize 'quin' later, where it appears in 15 and 500.

SEIS (6): already sounds similar to 'six'

7-10 FROM MONTH NAMES

September, October, November, December

Originally the 7th-10th months

From: septem, octo, novem, decem

Step 1: drop m and p

  • se(p)te(m) → sete

  • nove(m) → nove

  • dece(m) → dece

This will help you recognize 'sete' and 'nove' later, where they appear in 70/90 and 700/900.

Step 2: stressed vowel becomes double vowel

2nd-to-last syllables are stressed (Lesson 1)

  • e → ie, o → ue

  • s(e)te → s(ie)te

  • n(o)ve → n(ue)ve

  • d(e)ce → d(ie)ce

Step 3: more sound change

  • ct → ch, ce → z

  • o(ct)o → o(ch)o

  • die(ce) → die(z)

Finally, siete, ocho, nueve, diez

SUMMARY

1 uno

2 dos

3 tres

4 cuatro; 'quarter'

5 cinco; 'quintuple'

6 seis

7 siete; septem

8 ocho; octo

9 nueve; novem

10 diez; decem