English Numbers
Whole Numbers | Ordinal Numbers | Fractions | Sums
Interesting Numbers | Letters as Numbers | What to say
Whole Numbers also known as Cardinal Numbers - used for
counting
Symbol Word Pronounce It
0 Nought 0
1 One 1
2 Two 2
3 Three 3
4 Four 4
5 Five 5
6 Six 6
7 Seven 7
8 Eight 8
9 Nine 9
10 Ten 10
11 Eleven 11
12 Twelve 12
13 Thirteen 13
14 Fourteen 14
15 Fifteen 15
16 Sixteen 16
17 Seventeen 17
18 Eighteen 18
19 Nineteen 19
20 Twenty 20
21 Twenty-one ... 21
30 Thirty 30
40 Forty 40
50 Fifty 50
60 Sixty 60
70 Seventy 70
80 Eighty 80
90 Ninety 90
100 One hundred 100
101 One hundred and one ... 101
102 One thousand 1,000
1,000,000 One million 1,000,000
1,000,000,000,000 One billion 1,000,000,000,000
Ordinal Numbers - used for ranking
Pronounce
In figures In words
It
1st the first 1st
2nd the second 2nd
3rd the third 3rd
4th the fourth 4th
5th the fifth 5th
6th the sixth 6th
7th the seventh 7th
8th the eighth 8th
9th the ninth 9th
10th the tenth 10th
11th the eleventh 11th
12th the twelfth 12th
13th the thirteenth 13th
14th the fourteenth 14th
15th the fifteenth 15th
16th the sixteenth 16th
17th the seventeenth 17th
18th the eighteenth 18th
19th the nineteenth 19th
20th the twentieth 20th
21st the twenty-first ...
22nd the twenty-second ...
23rd the twenty-third ...
24th the twenty-fourth ...
25th the twenty-fifth ...
26th the twenty-sixth ...
27th the twenty-seventh ...
28th the twenty-eighth ...
29th the twenty-ninth ...
30th the thirtieth 30th
40th the fortieth 40th
50th the fiftieth 50th
60th the sixtieth 60th
70th the seventieth 70th
80th the eightieth 80th
90th the ninetieth 90th
100th the hundredth 100th
101st the hundred and first ...
1000th the thousandth 1000th
Ordinal numbers are often used in fractions:-
Fractions
Symbol Word Pronounce It
1 1
/8 One eighth /8
1
/5 One fifth
1 1
/4 One quarter /4
3 3
/4 Three quarters /4
1 1
/3 One third /3
2
/3 Two thirds
1 1
/2 One half /2
Sums
Symbols Word (common term in brackets) Pronounce It
+ Plus (And) +
- Minus (Take away) -
x Multiplied by (Times) x
÷ Divided by ÷
= Equals (Is) =
. Point .
% Percent %
One plus six minus two multiplied by two
divided by two point five equals four
(((1 + 6) - 2) x
or 1 + 6 - 2 x 2 ÷ 2.5=4
2) ÷ 2.5=4
One and six take away two times two divided by
two point five is four
10% 100=10 Ten percent of one hundred equals ten. 10% 100=10
What to say
We often say "a" instead of "one".
For example when we have the numbers 100 or 1/2 we say "A hundred" or "A
half".
For example:
11/2 - "One and a half."
When pronouncing decimals we use the word point to represent the dot. The
numbers following the dot are pronounced separately.
For example:
When you have the number 1.36 we say "One point three six."
Interesting Numbers
~0~
What could possibly be interesting about nothing?
It's the number of ways you can say 0 in English.
When we use it For example:-
0 = oh after a decimal point 9.02 = "Nine point oh two."
in bus or room Rooom 101 = "Room one oh one."
numbers Bus 602 = "Bus six oh two."
in phone numbers 9130472 = "Nine one three oh four seven two."
in years 1906 = "Nineteen oh six."
0=
before a decimal point 0.06 = "Nought point oh six."
nought
0 = zero in temperature -10°C = "10 degrees below zero."
US English for the
0 = "Zero"
number
Chelsea 2 Manchester United 0 = "Chelsea two
0 = nil in football
Manchester United nil."
0 = love in tennis 20 - 0 = "Twenty love."
~ 12 ~
The number 12 is often represented as a dozen and the number 6 as a half dozen.
For example:
12 eggs= "A dozen eggs."
6 eggs = "Half a dozen eggs."
~ 13 ~
A dozen is 12, but a baker's dozen is 13, because in the past bakers who were
caught shortchanging customers could be liable to severe punishment, so they used
to add an extra bread roll to make up the weight.
~ 100 ~
A century is 100. The roman numeral for 100 is C, for centum.
One hundred is the basis of percentages (literally "per hundred"). 100% is the full
amount of something.
~ 1 billion ~
When is a billion not a billion?
In British English billion traditionally means a million million = 1,000,000,000,000
= 1012
In American English billion means a thousand million = 1,000,000,000 = 109
The American billion has become standard in technical and financial use.
However, to avoid confusion it is better to use the terms "thousand million" for 109
and "million million" for 1012.
Milliard " is French for the number 109. It is not used in American English but is
sometimes, but rarely, used in British English.
Letters as Numbers
~k~
The letter k is often used to denote a thousand. So, 1k = 1,000.
If you see a job advertised and it offers a salary of £12k it means £12,000.00.
~m~
The letter m is often used to denote a million. So, 1m = 1,000,000.
If you see a job advertised and it offers a salary of £12m, apply for it!
~ bn ~
The letters bn denote a billion. So, 1bn is usually 1,000,000,000 (see above).
If you see a job advertised and it offers a salary of £12bn, it's probably a missprint.
The following table shows the names of numbers. These numbers are sometimes called
cardinal numbers. You can see from the numbers in this table how to form all other
numbers.
Cardinal Numbers /числителни бройни/
0 zero, oh, nought, nil, love,
26 twenty-six
nothing
27 twenty-seven
1 one
28 twenty-eight
2 two
29 twenty-nine
3 three
30 thirty
4 four
40 forty (no "u")
5 five
50 fifty
6 six
60 sixty
7 seven
70 seventy
8 eight
80 eighty
9 nine
90 ninety
10 ten
100 a/one hundred
11 eleven
101 a hundred and one
12 twelve
110 a hundred and ten
13 thirteen
120 a hundred and twenty
14 fourteen
200 two hundred
15 fifteen
1,000 a/one thousand
16 sixteen
1,001 a thousand and one
17 seventeen
1,010 a thousand and ten
18 eighteen
2,000 two thousand
19 nineteen
10,000 ten thousand
20 twenty
11,000 eleven thousand
21 twenty-one
100,000 a/one hundred thousand
22 twenty-two
1,000,000 a/one million
23 twenty-three
2,000,000 two million
24 twenty-four
1,000,000,000 a/one billion
25 twenty-five
Note: In the past British speakers used "billion" to mean a million million.
However, nowdays they usually use it to mean a thousand million (a milliard),
like American speakers.
Expressing Numbers in English
:: If a number is in the range 21 to 99, and the second digit is not zero, we
should write the number as two words separated by a hyphen:
25 twenty-five
57 fifty-seven
89 eighty-nine
:: Numbers over 100 are generally written in figures. However if you want to
say them aloud or want to write them in words rather than figures you put 'and'
in front of the number expressed by the last two figures. For example:
203 two hundred and three (AmE: two hundred three)
622 six hundred and twenty-two (AmE: six hundred twenty-two)
:: Numbers between 1000 and 1,000,000 is usually said or written in words as:
1,803 one thousand, eight hundred and three (AmE: one thousand,
eight hundred three)
1,963 one thousand, nine hundred and sixty-three (AmE: one thousand,
nine hundred sixty-three)
2,840 two thousand, eight hundred and forty (AmE: two thousand,
eight hundred forty)
Four-figure numbers ending in 00 can also be said or written as a number of
hundreds. For example, 1800 can be said or written as "eighteen hundred"
:: If the number 1963 is being used to identify something, it is said as "one nine
six three". We always say each figure separately like this with telephone
numbers. If a telephone number contains a double number, we use the word
"double":
561 6603 five six one [pause] double six 'oh' three (AmE: five six one
[pause] six six 'oh' three)
:: Saying years. We normally say a year in two parts. In the case of years
ending in "00", we say the second part in "hundred":
1058 ten fifty-eight
1706 seventeen hundred and six (or 'seventeen oh six')
1865 eighteen sixty-five
1900 nineteen hundred
There are two ways of saying years ending in "01" to "09" before 2000. For
example: "1901" can be said as "nineteen oh one" or "nineteen hundred and
one". The year 2000 is read "two thousand", 2006 "two thousand and six"
(AmE: two thousand six). Post-2010 dates are often said as normal (2010 would
be "twenty ten").
:: Flight numbers. We pronounce a flight number in two parts or digit-by-digit.
For example:
110 one ten (or 'one one oh')
1248 twelve forty-eight
2503 twenty-five oh three
3050 three oh five oh (or 'three zero five zero', 'thirty fifty')
:: Expressing millions.
1,412,605 one million four hundred (and) twelve thousand six hundred
(and) five
2,760,300 two million seven hundred (and) sixty thousand three hundred
Remember: The British use 'and' before tens and ones but the Americans
usually leave the 'and' out.
Ways of expressing the number 0
0 = zero
0 = nil in
in football temperatur
and other es to refer 0 = nought 0 = oh (or
sports, for to freezing in zero)
0 = oh
scores of 0 0 = love point (0° mathemati for flight
for telephone
(AmE: in tennis Celsius, 0° cs (AmE: numbers
numbers
zero or Fahrenheit zero)
nothing) )
Notes:
1. We use zero to express some numerical values such as temperatures, taxes,
and interest rates.
2. We can pronounce "0" like the letter "o", when we are reading out numbers
figure by figure (e. g. telephone number, flight number, credit card number, etc.)
Fractional numbers /дроби/
British English nought point
five
½ a half 0.5
American English zero point
five
2½ two and a half 2.5 two point five
British English nought point
two five
¼ a quarter 0.25
American English zero point
two five
British English nought point
three quarters
seven five
¾ American English also three 0.75
American English zero point
fourths
seven five
Writing full stops and commas in numbers
Use a full stop (.) to separate the main part of a number from the decimal part.
3.062 means 'three point nought six two'.
Say point to refer to the full stop. You can use a comma (,) in large numbers to
separate the hundreds, thousands, and millions. 3,062 means 'three thousand
and sixty-two'. In British English, spaces are sometimes used instead of
commas (3 062).
Remember: Speakers of some other languages use (,) and (.) in the opposite
way - the commas for the decimals and the points for thousands, millions, etc.