When do 'hundreds' agree with the noun?

Jessica H.A2Kwiziq community member

When do 'hundreds' agree with the noun?

If the following is true:


Bear in mind that used as adjectives, the hundreds must agree with the noun they accompany: 

Había veinte mil trescientas personas en el concierto.


There were twenty thousand three hundred people at the concert.



Then why is the following the opposite?


Ciento is invariable and doesn't have to agree with the noun it accompanies, for example:

Ciento treinta y cinco mil casas


One hundred and thirty-five thousand houses



Asked 5 months ago
SilviaNative Spanish expert teacher in KwiziqCorrect answer

Hola J H

The agreement of numbers with nouns in Spanish can indeed be a bit tricky. When 'hundreds' are used as adjectives, they must agree in gender with the noun they accompany. For example, "Había veinte mil trescientas personas en el concierto". In this sentence, "trescientas" agrees with "personas" (a feminine noun), so it takes the feminine form.

However, the number "ciento" is an exception to this rule. It remains invariable and does not agree in gender with the noun it accompanies. This is true for "ciento" itself and for numbers derived from "ciento". For example, "Ciento treinta y cinco mil casas". In this sentence, "ciento" remains the same regardless of the gender of "casas" (a feminine noun).

To summarize, hundreds like "doscientas" and "trescientas" agree in gender with the noun they describe, while "ciento" is invariable and does not change to match the gender of the noun.

I hope this clarifies the difference!

Saludos

Silvia

Jessica H. asked:

When do 'hundreds' agree with the noun?

If the following is true:


Bear in mind that used as adjectives, the hundreds must agree with the noun they accompany: 

Había veinte mil trescientas personas en el concierto.


There were twenty thousand three hundred people at the concert.



Then why is the following the opposite?


Ciento is invariable and doesn't have to agree with the noun it accompanies, for example:

Ciento treinta y cinco mil casas


One hundred and thirty-five thousand houses



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