mil millones
/ˌmil miˈʝones/
The English phrase "one billion" is translated into Spanish as mil millones.
What does it mean word for word?
mil millones literally translates to "a thousand millions".
Which one should you use?
Be careful with the term un billón, which is a false friend. In Spanish, un billón refers to a trillion (10^12), not a billion (10^9).
Is it said differently in some regions?
In Latin America, mil millones is the preferred and widely understood choice, while un millardo is mostly used in Spain and some Latin American countries.
How does it change in a sentence?
When using mil millones to modify a noun, you must include the preposition de before the noun, such as in mil millones de dólares.
How do you pronounce it?
/ˌmil miˈʝones/
Did you know?
- The word mil is a direct descendant of the Latin mīlle, which originally described a distance of one thousand paces, or a Roman mile.
- In Spanish, the word billón is part of the 'long scale' system used by most of Europe, whereas the English 'billion' shifted to the 'short scale' system used primarily in the US and UK.
- While mil millones is the standard, the word millardo is a rare attempt to create a single word for a billion to align Spanish more closely with the English 'billion' and French 'milliard'.
Examples in context
- Mil millones de personas hablan inglés.One billion people speak English.Tatoeba #1810577 by Shishir, translation #73452 by CN
- La compañía sufrió una pérdida de mil millones de yen el año pasado.The company suffered a loss of one billion yen last year.Tatoeba #2884268 by cueyayotl, translation #49092 by CK
- mil millones de dólaresOne billion dollarsThis example shows the required use of the preposition de with mil millones.
- La empresa obtuvo ganancias de un millardo de dólares el pasado año.The company obtained profits of one billion dollars last year.
- El proyecto de infraestructura requiere una inversión de mil millones de euros.The infrastructure project requires an investment of one billion euros.
Example conversation
Elena and Alejandro are discussing a city's budget.
- ElenaEl presupuesto es de mil millones de euros.The budget is one billion euros.
- AlejandroEso es muchísimo dinero, Elena.That is a lot of money, Elena.
- ElenaSí, pero es para diez años.Yes, but it is for ten years.
- AlejandroSigue siendo una cifra increíble.It is still an incredible figure.
Sources
- Pronunciation: Wiktionary entry mil millones, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries mil, mil millones, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR, Wiktionary CC BY-SA 4.0.
