Cardinal numeral

Cardinal numeral . Word that expresses quantity in relation to the series of natural numbers, including zero, which expresses the absence of quantity. They work mostly as adjectives , but they can also function as pronouns or as nouns , when used to name figures or numbers. There are specific rules for writing cardinal numerals, which must be taken into account in order not to make spelling mistakes.

Summary

[ hide ]

• 1 Forms of cardinal numerals
• 2 Spelling
  • 1 Gender
  • 2 Number
  • 3 apocopated form a
• 3 Use as ordinal numerals
• 4 Sources

Forms of the cardinal numerals

Orthography

The cardinals from zero to fifteen, all tens (twenty, thirty, forty, etc.), one hundred (to), five hundred and a thousand are simple words. The rest of the cardinal numerals are compound: they are formed by fusion, juxtaposition or coordination of simple cardinals; those corresponding to the numbers 16 to 19 and 21 to 29 are written in a single word, as well as all the hundreds: sixteen, eighteen, twenty-one, twenty-two, two hundred, four hundred, six hundred, etc. The spellings of these numerals in compound form are outdated and should be avoided.

Starting from thirty, the compound cardinals that correspond to each series are written in several words and are formed by coordination or juxtaposition of simple cardinals; thus, those corresponding to the addition of units to the tens are written interposing between the simple cardinals the conjunction y: thirty-one, forty-five, ninety-eight, etc .; the rest is formed by mere juxtaposition: one hundred two, one thousand four hundred thirty, three hundred thousand twenty-one …

However, by analogy with the series of cardinals composed of ten and twenty, and due to their equally unitary prosodic behavior, cases of universal spellings are documented in those corresponding to other tens: thirty-five, forty-three, fifty-eight, etc., especially in texts by American authors. These simple spellings, although minority, are also valid, since they respond to the tendency to graphic fusion experienced by the pluriverbal lexical units that form a single accentual group; still use religion generally are clearly mainstream traditional pluriverbales grafías: thirty-five, forty-three, fifty-eight, etc., which are recommended.

Compounds corresponding to the first ten in which the diphthong has been simplified are vulgar : diciséis, dicisiete, diciocho, dicinueve. Neither are forms such as thirty-five, forty-eight, fifty-one, etc., in which the final -a of the ten has been eliminated. Both in spelling and in careful pronunciation, the diphthong that exists in the compounds of twenty, as well as in thirty and its compounds, must be maintained. The multiples of a thousand traditionally maintain in writing the graphic independence of its components: two thousand (books), three thousand (soldiers), fifteen thousand (meters), four hundred thousand people), etc. Only when used as nounsLexicalized, as occurs when they designate mountains of a height equal to or greater than that expressed by the numeral, the universal spellings two thousand, three thousand …, eight thousand must be used, which allow the normal formation of the corresponding plurals. Example: Three months after climbing her last eight thousand, Edurne Pasaban has become the first to climb the 14 highest mountains in the world.

For the cardinals two hundred, three hundred and six hundred (composed, respectively, of two, three and six + the plural hundreds) the only spelling currently supported is with the sequence -sc, which should not be simplified. On the other hand, this spelling is not valid for other numerals such as: four hundred, seven hundred, eight hundred, nine hundred. To express the number 100 the words one hundred and one hundred are used: one hundred, when it accompanies a noun. Example: One Hundred Years of Solitude; percent, for percentages (except 100% [one hundred percent]) and when it is a pronoun .

When the quantization is imprecise, the cardinal numerals are combined with the expressions and so many or and pico. The voices thousand, million, billion, billion, trillion and quadrillion are nouns, unlike the other cardinals, whose primary function is adjective; therefore, when these numerals by themselves quantify a noun, it must necessarily be preceded by the preposition of: one million people, two billion pesos; but if, because they are part of a complex numeral, they are followed by other cardinal numbers, the quantified noun is not preceded by a preposition: one million two hundred thousand people. Furthermore, these numeral nouns, when used in the singular, must always be preceded by a determiner: One million two hundred thousand people attended; Tomorrow I’ll give you back the million pesos you lent me.

The case of a thousand is special, since it belongs to both categories: a thousand is the cardinal adjective corresponding to the number 1000: a thousand houses, a thousand people; while the plural thousands is a masculine noun synonymous with thousands. Example: Thousands of people.

Gender

The cardinal numerals when they are nouns, are always masculine: three, one million. When they work as adjectivesor as pronouns they lack gender variation, except for one and its compounds, which have specific forms for the feminine: one, twenty-one, thirty-one, etc .; and of those corresponding to hundreds, from two hundred, whose feminine ones adopt the ending-hundred: two hundred, three hundred, etc., except five hundred, which has its own form and whose feminine is five hundred. The gender of the numeral is determined by the noun to which it refers: Of the three hundred pages that the book has, I have read forty-one. In the case of hundreds, the cardinal in adjective function must necessarily agree in gender with the noun it quantifies, whether it immediately precedes it (two hundred kilos, three hundred tons) or if another element is interposed between them, for example, the word one thousand,

As regards the cardinal one and its compounds, the agreement is required when the numeral immediately precedes the noun: thirty-one kilos, twenty-one tons; but if the word thousand is interposed between the numeral and the feminine noun, the gender agreement is optional: twenty-one thousand tons or twenty-one thousand tons.

Number

When used as nouns, cardinals show variation in number and adopt the plural that corresponds to them according to their form: zeros, ones, twos, threes, fours, fives, sixes, tens, eleven, twelve, thirteen, etc. Example: When the cards were dealt I got three dozen. When they are adjectives or pronouns, they lack number variation; by its meaning, the cardinal one only refers to singular nouns; the other cardinals refer to plural nouns. The cardinal zero constitutes a special case, because although it expresses the absence of quantity, it is always preceded, as an adjective, to plural nouns.

Apocopated form a

When the cardinal one and its compounds are preceded, in adjective function, to a masculine noun, they always adopt the apocopated form un: a book, twenty-one soldiers, one hundred and one opponents. The apocope of the feminine form one is also normal when the numeral precedes a feminine noun that begins with / a / tonic: an eagle, twenty-one axes, one hundred and one weapons; but it is not considered incorrect, although in today’s language it is very rare, to use the full form one in these cases: an eagle, twenty-one axes, one hundred and one weapons.

Use as ordinal numerals

In addition to their proper use to express quantity, cardinals are often used, in common language, to express order, replacing ordinals in their function: the eleventh floor. This phenomenon is all the more frequent the higher the number of order that must be expressed; thus, compared to expressions such as the fifty-seventh anniversary, of a markedly cultured character, in which the ordinal itself has been used, the fifty-seventh anniversary is found much more frequently, in ordinary language. What should not be done, in any case, is to mix both series: ordinal and cardinal.

Regarding their placement, the cardinals with ordinal value are placed before the nouns that designate events, anniversaries or celebrations, but they are postponed in the rest of the cases: the forty-one edition of the festival, the thirty-fifth anniversary; page thirty-five. When the cardinal with ordinal value is postponed to a feminine noun, gender concordance is possible: page two hundred, room three hundred twelve; but the use in apposition of the masculine noun that corresponds to the name of the number is usually more frequent: page two hundred, room three hundred and twelve