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In numbers after 30 the conjunction y is used between the tens and the units, but not between the hundreds and the tens:

46 = cuarenta y seis

432 = cuatrocientos treinta y dos

millón requires the use of de:

a million people = un millón de personas

three million votes = tres millones de votos

Numbers over one million

1 000 000 000 = mil millones or un millardo (one billion)

1 000 000 000 000 = un billón, un millón de millones (one trillion)

1015 = mil billones (one quadrillion)

1018 = un trillón (one quintillion)

The examples above show Spanish usage as recommended by the RAE. However, billón and trillón are increasingly being used as the equivalents of the English billion and trillion respectively. This usage is not sanctioned by the RAE.

It should be noted that the Real Academia Española (RAE) recommends the International Standardization Office's ruling on the treatment of thousands. This states that spaces should be used to separate groups of three digits. This has been followed in the list above. However, in practice it will be found that spaces, points, and commas are used as separators.

In most Spanish-speaking countries a point is used for writing figures over one thousand:

1,000 (one thousand)= 1.000 (mil)

1,000,000 (one million)= 1.000.000 (un millón)

Some Latin American countries, however, use the comma as in English:

1,000 (one thousand)= 1,000 (mil)

1,000,000 (one million)= 1,000,000 (un millón)

Gender and agreement

Numbers in Spanish are masculine when used as nouns, and require an article: