quinientas

Quinientas is the feminine plural form of the Spanish cardinal number five hundred, used when modifying feminine plural nouns. It agrees in gender with the noun it describes.

In practice, quinientas appears in phrases such as quinientas personas (five hundred people) or quinientas hectáreas (five hundred hectares). When the noun is masculine or of mixed gender, the masculine form quinientos is used, as in quinientos hombres.

Etymology and history: quinientas derives from the Latin quingenti and follows the general pattern in Spanish of agreeing numerals with the gender of the noun. The feminine form develops from standard gender agreement rules that apply to adjectives and numerals in the language.

Usage notes: Quinientas is one of the Spanish numerals that inflect for gender. It is most likely to be found when a feminine plural noun is present. In contemporary usage, quinientos is more common when the gender of the noun is masculine or not specified, while quinientas is reserved for feminine plurals. In many everyday contexts, speakers may default to quinientos unless a feminine noun is clearly involved.

See also: Spanish numerals, gender agreement in grammar, cardinal numbers.