The way we express "a hundred [things]", "a thousand [things]", "a million [things]" or "a billion [things]" in Spanish is slightly different to the English way.
Let's see some examples:
One hundred/one thousand
Look at how for both masculine and feminine nouns, the words "cien" and "mil" don't change at all, they are invariable. Also, notice how in Spanish we do not add the indefinite article "un" like you do in English. This is a very common mistake.
It'd be incorrect to say:
un cien pájaros
un mil sillas
However, with:
One million/one billion
Un millón de hombres.
A million men.
Un millón de mujeres.
A million women.
Notice how here, the words "millón" and "billón" don't change either when referring to masculine or feminine nouns, they too are invariable. However, we do need "un" and also "de" before the noun.
A common mistake for English speakers is to omit the "de" as you don't need it in English.
This would be incorrrect:
Un millón hombres
Un billón mujeres
Hundreds/Thousands/Millions/Billions of [noun]
Cientos de barcos salieron a pescar.
Hundreds of boats went out to fish.
Cientos de personas salieron a la calle para celebrar.
Hundreds of people went outside to celebrate.
Despidieron a miles de empleados.
They fired thousands of employees.
La empresa ha tenido miles de quejas.
The company had thousands of complaints.
Ese año facturamos billones de euros.
That year we made billions of euros.
Ese año facturamos billones de libras.
That year we made billions of pounds.
As you can see, there is only one form for both masculine and feminine plural.
Remember:
- cientos de [plural noun] → hundreds of [plural noun]
- miles de [plural noun] → thousands of [plural noun]
- millones de [plural noun] → millions of [plural noun]
- billones de [plural noun] → billions of [plural noun]
Learn more about these related Spanish grammar topics
Examples and resources
Despidieron a miles de empleados.
They fired thousands of employees.
Un billón de hombres.
A billion men.
La empresa ha tenido miles de quejas.
The company had thousands of complaints.
Un millón de mujeres.
A million women.
Un billón de hombres.
A billion men.
Cientos de barcos salieron a pescar.
Hundreds of boats went out to fish.
Un millón de hombres.
A million men.
Ese año facturamos billones de libras.
That year we made billions of pounds.
Cientos de personas salieron a la calle para celebrar.
Hundreds of people went outside to celebrate.
Ese año facturamos billones de euros.
That year we made billions of euros.
Un billón de mujeres.
A billion women.
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