simts / tūkstotis

Hundreds and Thousands

Level 3

For 100 say simts, and for 1000 say tūkstotis. With two or more they go into the plural: divi simti (200), pieci tūkstoši (5000). Short forms like divsimt and divtūkstoš mean the same.

How It Works

1. Hundreds.

  • 100: simts
  • 200: divi simti or divsimt
  • 300: trīs simti or trīssimt
  • 500: pieci simti or piecsimt

2. Thousands.

  • 1000: tūkstotis or tūkstoš
  • 2000: divi tūkstoši or divtūkstoš
  • 10 000: desmit tūkstoši or desmittūkstoš

A million is miljons, and two million is divi miljoni.

3. Building a number. Say the parts from largest to smallest, with no word for and: trīs simti piecdesmit (350), tūkstoš divsimt (1200), divi tūkstoši divdesmit pieci (2025).

4. Years. A year written with a full stop, like 2025. gads, is an ordinal. Only the last word changes, and the thousands and hundreds use the short forms:

  • divtūkstoš divdesmit piektais gads (the year 2025)
  • divtūkstoš divdesmit piektajā gadā (in 2025)
  • tūkstoš deviņsimt deviņdesmitajā gadā (in 1990)

See ordinal numbers and saying the date.

5. The noun that follows. After simts, tūkstotis and their plurals, standard Latvian usually puts the noun in the genitive plural: simts gadu (a hundred years), divi tūkstoši cilvēku (two thousand people). After the short forms, both divdesmittūkstoš dalībnieku and divdesmittūkstoš dalībnieki are correct. See the genitive plural after big numbers. Prices are easy, because eiro never changes: simts eiro, piecsimt eiro.

Examples (6)

  1. Biļete maksā simts eiro.

    The ticket costs a hundred euros.

    Eiro never changes its form.

  2. Šajā skolā mācās trīs simti bērnu.

    Three hundred children go to this school.

    Simts becomes plural simti after trīs, and bērni becomes the genitive plural bērnu.

  3. Koncertā bija divi tūkstoši cilvēku.

    There were two thousand people at the concert.

    Tūkstotis is masculine, so divi, not divas.

  4. Rīgai ir vairāk nekā astoņi simti gadu.

    Riga is more than eight hundred years old.

    Word by Word: To Riga is more than eight hundreds of years.

  5. Es piedzimu divtūkstoš piektajā gadā.

    I was born in 2005.

    A year is an ordinal: only piektajā changes, and the thousand uses the short form divtūkstoš.

  6. Viņa nopirka mašīnu par piectūkstoš eiro.

    She bought a car for five thousand euros.

    Piectūkstoš is the short form, written as one word.

Common Mistakes

  • Using the feminine divas with simti or tūkstoši.

    Šajā skolā mācās divas simti bērnu.
    Šajā skolā mācās divi simti bērnu.

    Simts and tūkstotis are masculine, so the number before them is masculine: divi simti, divi tūkstoši.

  • Keeping simts or tūkstotis in the singular after two or more.

    Koncertā bija divi tūkstotis cilvēku.
    Koncertā bija divi tūkstoši cilvēku.

    After divi, trīs and so on, use the plural: tūkstoši, simti. Or use the short form: divtūkstoš.

  • Saying a year as a counting number in "in the year ...".

    Es piedzimu divtūkstoš pieci gadā.
    Es piedzimu divtūkstoš piektajā gadā.

    A year is an ordinal, so the last word takes a definite ending and agrees with gadā: piektajā.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

simts / tūkstotisLevel 3Hundreds and Thousands

Learn This First

Hundreds and thousands build on the numbers and ordinals.

Words in This Pattern

simtstūkstotistūkstošdivsimt