Spanish vocabulary · Beginner
500 in Spanish: Quinientos, Quinientas, and How to Use Them
Quinientos · noun · kee-NYEHN-tohs
500 in Spanish is quinientos. It is one of the few Spanish numbers that changes for gender: quinientos before masculine nouns (quinientos pesos) and quinientas before feminine nouns (quinientas personas).
Four syllables: kee-NYEHN-tohs. The ñ produces a palatal nasal, like the ny in 'canyon.' Stress is on the third syllable.
El vuelo cuesta quinientos dólares.
The flight costs five hundred dollars.
500 in Spanish: Quick Reference
Below are the most common Spanish words for 500, with pronunciation and regional usage notes.
| Spanish | English | Pronunciation | Region / Register |
|---|---|---|---|
| quinientos | 500 | kee-NYEHN-tohs | Default, widely understood |
| quinientas | 500 | feminine form, used with feminine nouns |
How Native Speakers Use Quinientos
Real example sentences across three contexts you'll actually run into.
Talking about money
Me cobraron quinientos pesos por la reparación.
They charged me five hundred pesos for the repair.
Pesos is masculine, so quinientos keeps its default -os ending.
Using the feminine form
Vinieron quinientas personas al concierto.
Five hundred people came to the concert.
Personas is feminine, so the number changes to quinientas.
Compound numbers above 500
El edificio tiene quinientos veinte apartamentos.
The building has five hundred and twenty apartments.
For numbers above 500, simply add the smaller number after quinientos: quinientos veinte, quinientos treinta y uno, etc.
Avoid These Mistakes When Using Quinientos
Forgetting the gender agreement
Incorrect: Hay quinientos páginas en el libro.
Correct: Hay quinientas páginas en el libro.
Páginas is feminine, so the number must be quinientas. This gender rule applies to all hundreds from 200 to 900.
Writing it as cincocientos
Incorrect: cincocientos
Correct: quinientos
Unlike seiscientos (600) or setecientos (700), 500 is not formed from cinco + cientos. It has its own root: quinientos, from the Latin quingenti.
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Common Questions About 500 in Spanish
- How do you say 500 in Spanish?
- 500 is quinientos (kee-NYEHN-tohs) before masculine nouns and quinientas before feminine nouns. It is one of the few numbers in Spanish that changes for gender.
- Why does 500 have a feminine form?
- All Spanish hundreds from 200 to 900 agree in gender with the noun they modify: doscientos/doscientas, trescientos/trescientas, quinientos/quinientas, etc. This is a grammatical feature inherited from Latin.
- How do you say 501 in Spanish?
- 501 is quinientos uno (or quinientas una before a feminine noun). There is no 'y' between the hundred and the unit — that only occurs between tens and units (e.g., quinientos veintiuno).