What is the Spanish for “thousand”? How do you tell someone that you live in a town of just one thousand people or even that you live a thousand miles away on another continent?
What’s the Spanish for “a thousand men” and “a thousand years”?
Let’s find out.
How Do You Say a Thousand in Spanish?
Thousand in Spanish is mil, pronounced “meel” or “meal”.
Mil is used to mean both “a thousand” and “one thousand”. If you want to say two thousand or three thousand, simply add them together just like you would in English:
- Two thousand = Dos mil
- Three thousand = Tres mil
- Four thousand = Cuatro mil
- Five thousand = Cinco mil
And so on…
Examples of How to Use Thousand (Mil) in Spanish
The word “thousand” may seem like a random, little-used word that you’ll rarely encounter as a novice language learner.
After all, it’s very specific, and if you’re using it to reference a large number of something, you can just use the words for “many” and “lots”.
But then…how do you tell people what year you were born? How do you reference an article of a thousand words, talk about large sums of money, or reference populations?
It’s also better at driving your point home when you’re trying to stress how long you’ve said something or tried something. “I’ve told you many times” doesn’t have the same ring to it as “I’ve told you a thousand times”.
You’d be surprised at how often you’ll need to use this word.
With that in mind, let’s look at some examples:
- Te lo he dicho mil veces = I’ve told you a thousand times
- Los venden a millares = They sell them by the thousand
- Hubo mil muertos = There were one thousand deaths
- Tengo mil monedas = I have a thousand coins
- Hay mas de 3 mil dias en una decada = There are over 3,000 days in a decade
- Es el año dos mil veintitrés = It is the year two thousand and twenty-three
- Mil velas? Debes ser muy viejo = One thousand candles? You must be really old
- Tengo la mar de cosas que hacer = I’ve got a thousand and one things to do.
- Miles de… = Thousands of…
How Do You Say a Thousand Pounds and Dollars?
“One thousand dollars” in Spanish is mil dolares. If you want to say, “one thousand pounds” in reference to weight, you would say mil libras, but if you’re in Europe and not Mexico or South America, you may have to switch to the Metric system.
In Spain, it would make more sense to use kila, which means “kilos”.
Of course, if you wanted to say, “one thousand kilos” or mil kila, you could also just say una tonelada or “1 tonne”.
How to Pronounce Numbers in Spanish
| Numbers | Spanish Numbers | Pronunciation |
| 1 | Uno | Oo-no |
| 2 | Dos | Dohs |
| 3 | Tres | Trehs |
| 4 | Cuatro | Koo-ah-troh |
| 5 | Cinco | Seen-coh |
| 6 | Seis | Say-s |
| 7 | Siete | See-eh-teh |
| 8 | Ocho | Oh-choh |
| 9 | Nueve | Noo-eh-veh |
| 10 | Diez | Dee-ehs |
| 11 | Once | On-say |
| 12 | Doce | Doh-say |
| 13 | Trece | Trey-say |
| 14 | Catorce | Kah-tohr-say |
| 15 | Quince | Keen-say |
| 16 | Dieciseis | Dee-eh-see-say-s |
| 17 | Diecisiete | Dee-eh-see-eh-teh |
| 18 | Dieciocho | Dee-eh-see-oh-choh |
| 19 | Diecinueve | Dee-eh-see-noo-eh-veh |
| 20 | Viente | Bey-n-teh |
| 21 | Veintiuno | Bey-n-tee-oo-no |
| 22 | Veintidos | Bey-n-tee-dohs |
| 23 | Veintitres | Bey-n-tee-trehs |
| 24 | Veinticuatro | Bey-n-tee-koo-ah-troh |
| 25 | Veinticinco | Bey-n-tee-seen-coh |
| 26 | Veintiseis | Bey-m-tee-say-s |
| 27 | Veintisiete | Bey-n-tee-see-eh-teh |
| 28 | Veintiocho | Bey-n-tee-oh-choh |
| 29 | Veintinueve | Bey-n-tee-, noo-eh-veh |
| 30 | Treinta | Trey-n-tah |
| 40 | Cuatro | Koo-ah-reh-n-tah |
| 50 | Cincuento | Seen-koo-en-tah |
| 60 | Sesenta | Seh-sehn-tah |
| 70 | Setenta | She-tehn-tah |
| 80 | Ochenta | Oh-chen-tah |
| 90 | Noventa | Noh-vehn-tah |
| 100 | Cien | See-ehn |
| 200 | Doscientos | Dohs-see-ehn-tohs |
| 300 | Trescientos | Trehs-see-ehn-tohs |
| 400 | Cuatroscientos | Koo-ah-troh-see-ehn-tohs |
| 500 | Quinietos | Kee-nee-ehn-tohs |
| 600 | Seisientos | Say-ee-see-ehn-tohs |
| 700 | Novecientos | Noh-veh-see-ehn-tohs |
| 800 | Ochocientos | Oh-choh-see-ehn-tohs |
| 900 | Novecientos | Noh-veh-see-ehn-tohs |
| 1000 | Mil | Meel |
A Thousand Million
Being a billionaire is technically much easier in the United States than it is in the UK or European Union, and it has nothing to do with capitalism or the American Dream.
Many countries in the EU use the long-form numbering system. This is also true for Spain, and it used to be true for the UK, but the latter now uses short-form.
In the short-form system, a billion is a thousand million and a trillion is a thousand billion. In the long-form system, a billion is a million million, and a trillion is a billion billion.
So, having a thousand millions in Spain doesn’t necessarily make you a billionaire. Don’t worry though, you’re still incredibly rich.
Thousand in Other Languages
Unsurprisingly, the Portuguese for thousand is also mil, and this is true whether you’re in Portugal or Brazil.
The French and Italian languages borrow from the same source (see below) and use “mille”. The French dessert “mille-fueille” actually means “a thousand leaves”, and refers to the many layers of pastry.
Many other countries use a word similar to the English one, including the Norwegian “tusen”, the Dutch “duizend”, the Danish “tusind”, and the Croatian “tisuću. These words are believed to stem from a compound word meaning “swollen hundred”.
Etymology Check
As always, it’s time for a quick etymology check as we look at the origins of mil and número in Spanish.
Etymology of Mil in Spanish (Mille, Mile)
If you’re an influencer, webmaster, marketer, or blogger, there’s a good chance you’ve heard the abbreviation “CPM” in reference to the cost of advertising.
We’ve heard a few different interpretations of this, including everything from “cost per million” to “cost per millennium”. In actual fact, it means “cost per mille” and refers to the cost per 1,000 views/visitors.
“Mille” is the Latin for “thousand”. Unsurprisingly, it’s where the Spanish word mil comes from.
But that’s not where the connections end.
The Romans would hammer a stake into the ground every 1,000 paces to indicate the length of a road. If you left the city and encountered one of these stakes, you knew that you were a “mille” or a “mile” away.
The original “mile” was one thousand paces or 5,000 Roman feet. Centuries later, it would be defined as 8 furlongs, with one furlong being equivalent to 625 German feet.
Etymology of “Número” in Spanish
Italian and French have a very similar word for “number”, and the English isn’t too far removed, either. That’s because all of these words can trace their origins back to the Latin “numerus”.
Numerus itself is believed to come from Proto-Indo-European and comes from the word “nem”, which meant “to allocate/assign”.