Cómo decir quinientos, setecientos y novecientos correctamente

How do you say 500 in Spanish?

Most Spanish hundreds follow one pattern: doscientos (200), trescientos (300), cuatrocientos (400). So beginners guess “cincocientos” for 500 — but that is wrong. The word is quinientos. It does not start with cinco and it does not even end in -cientos. It is one of only three hundreds that break the pattern, so it is worth memorising on its own.

The other two odd ones are setecientos (700, not “sietecientos”) and novecientos (900, not “nuevecientos”). A small memory help: quinientos echoes quince, setecientos echoes setenta, and novecientos echoes noventa. Every other hundred is regular.