Numbers in English

The cardinal numbers (one, two, three, etc.) are adjectives referring to quantity, and the ordinal
numbers (first, second, third, etc.) refer to distribution.

Number Cardinal Ordinal

1 one first
2 two second
3 three third
4 four fourth
5 five fifth
6 six sixth
7 seven seventh
8 eight eighth
9 nine ninth
10 ten tenth
11 eleven eleventh
12 twelve twelfth
13 thirteen thirteenth
14 fourteen fourteenth
15 fifteen fifteenth
16 sixteen sixteenth
17 seventeen seventeenth
18 eighteen eighteenth
19 nineteen nineteenth
20 twenty twentieth
21 twenty-one twenty-first
22 twenty-two twenty-second
23 twenty-three twenty-third
24 twenty-four twenty-fourth
25 twenty-five twenty-fifth
26 twenty-six twenty-sixth
27 twenty-seven twenty-seventh
28 twenty-eight twenty-eighth
29 twenty-nine twenty-ninth
30 thirty thirtieth
31 thirty-one thirty-first
40 forty fortieth
50 fifty fiftieth
60 sixty sixtieth
70 seventy seventieth
 Number Cardinal Ordinal
80 eighty eightieth
90 ninety ninetieth
100 one hundred hundredth
500 five hundred five hundredth
1,000 one thousand thousandth
1,500 one thousand five hundred, or fifteen hundred one thousand five hundredth
100,000 one hundred thousand hundred thousandth
1,000,000 one million millionth

Examples

 There are twenty-five people in the room.

 He was the fourteenth person to win the award.
 Six hundred thousand people were left homeless after the earthquake.
 I must have asked you twenty times to be quiet.
 He went to Israel for the third time this year.

Ordinal numbers are used when speaking about the day of the month, or a position in a group.
Most numbers end in 'th', except "first", "second", and "third" of every ten numbers:

1st first
2nd second
3rd third
5th fifth
8th eighth
17th seventeenth
21st twenty-first
46th forty-sixth
100th one-hundredth
1000th one thousandth

Examples:

 His birthday is May fifth.

 She is third in line, behind the guy in the cap.
 I greeted her first, as she had been waiting the longest.
How to Say Numbers in the Hundreds
Say numbers in the hundreds by beginning with numerals one through nine followed by
"hundred". Finish by saying the last two digits:

 350 – three hundred fifty

 425 – four hundred twenty-five
 873 - eight hundred seventy-three
 112 - one hundred twelve

NOTE: British English takes "and" following "hundred." American English omits "and:"

How to Say Numbers in the Thousands

The next group is the thousands. Say a number up to 999 followed by "thousand." Finish by
reading the hundreds when applicable:

• 15,560 – fifteen thousand five hundred sixty

• 786,450 – seven hundred six thousand four hundred fifty

• 342,713 - three hundred forty-two thousand seven hundred thirteen

• 569,045 - five hundred sixty-nine thousand forty-five

How to Say Numbers in the Millions

For millions, say a number up to 999 followed by "million." Finish by saying first the thousands
and then the hundreds when applicable:

 2,450,000 – two million four hundred fifty thousand

 27,805,234 - twenty-seven million eight hundred five thousands two hundred thirty-four
 934,700,000 – nine hundred thirty-four million seven hundred thousand
 589,432,420 - five hundred eighty-nine million four hundred thirty-two thousand four
hundred twenty

For even larger numbers, first use billions and then trillions in a similar manner to millions:

 23,870,550,000 - twenty-three billion eight hundred seventy million five hundred fifty
thousand
 12,600,450,345,000 - twelve trillion six hundred billion four hundred fifty million three
hundred forty-five thousand

Reading decimals
Read decimals aloud in English by pronouncing the decimal point as "point", then read each digit
individually. Money is not read this way.

Written Said
0.5 point five
0.25 point two five
0.73 point seven three
0.05 point zero five
0.6529 point six five two nine
2.95 two point nine five

 2.36 - two point three six

 14.82 - fourteen point eight two
 9.7841 -nine point seven eight four one

3.14159 - three point one four one five nine

Reading fractions

Read fractions using the cardinal number for the numerator and the ordinal number for the
denominator, making the ordinal number plural if the numerator is larger than 1. This applies to
all numbers except for the number 2, which is read "half" when it is the denominator, and
"halves" if there is more than one.

Written Said
1/3 one third
3/4 three fourths
5/6 five sixths
1/2 one half
3/2 three halves

 3/8 - three-eighths
 5/16 - five-sixteenths
 7/8 - seven-eighths
 1/32 - one thirty-second

Exceptions to this rule are:

  1/4, 3/4 - one-quarter, three quarters
 1/3, 2/3 - one third, two-thirds
 1/2 - one-half

Read numbers together with fractions by first stating the number followed by "and" and then the
fraction:

 4 7/8 - four and seven-eighths

 23 1/2 - twenty-three and one-half

Pronouncing percentages

Percentages are easy to read aloud in English. Just say the number and then add the word
"percent".

Written Pronounced
5% five percent
25% twenty-five percent
36.25% thirty-six point two five percent
100% one hundred percent
400% four hundred percent

 37% - thirty-seven percent

 12% - twelve percent
 87% - eighty-seven percent
 3% - three percent

Reading sums of money

To read a sum of money, first read the whole number, then add the currency name. If there is a
decimal, follow with the decimal pronounced as a whole number, and if coinage has a name in
the currency, add that word at the end. Note that normal decimals are not read in this way. These
rules only apply to currency.

Written Spoken
25$ twenty-five dollars
52€ fifty-two euros
140₤ one hundred and forty pounds
$43.25 forty-three dollars and twenty-five cents (shortened to "forty-three twenty-five" in
Written Spoken
everyday speech)
€12.66 twelve euros sixty-six
₤10.50 ten pounds fifty

When you see a price such as $60, read the currency first then the number: Sixty dollars.

If the amount includes cents, express the dollar amount first, followed by the cents:

 $43.35 - forty-three dollars and thirty-five cents

 $120.50 - one hundred twenty dollars and fifty cents

Native speakers often just say the dollar number and then the cents number and drop "dollars"
and "cents"

 $35.80 - thirty-five eighty

 $175.50 - one hundred seventy-five fifty

Pronouncing measurements

Just read out the number, followed by the unit of measurement, which will often be abbreviated
in the written form.

Written Spoken
60m sixty meters
25km/h twenty-five kilometers per hour
11ft eleven feet
2L two liters
3tbsp three tablespoons
1tsp one teaspoon

Pronouncing years

Reading years in English is relatively complicated. In general, when the year is a four digit
number, read the first two digits as a whole number, then the second two digits as another whole
number. There are a few exceptions to this rule. Years that are within the first 100 years of a new
millenium can be read as whole numbers even though they have four digits, or they can be read
as two two-digit numbers. Millennia are always read as whole numbers because they would be
difficult to pronounce otherwise. New centuries are read as whole numbers of hundreds. We do
not use the word "thousand", at least not for reading years within the past 1000 years.

Years that have just three digits can be read as a three digit number, or as a one digit number
followed by a two-digit number. Years that are a two digit number are read as a whole number.
You can precede any year by the words "the year" to make your meaning clear, and this is
common for two and three digit years. Years before the year 0 are followed by BC, pronounced
as two letters of the alphabet.

Interestingly, these rules apply to reading street addresses as well.

Written Spoken
2014 twenty fourteen or two thousand fourteen
2008 two thousand eight
2000 two thousand
1944 nineteen forty-four
1908 nineteen o eight
1900 nineteen hundred
1600 sixteen hundred
1256 twelve fifty-six
1006 ten o six
866 eight hundred sixty-six or eight sixty-six
25 twenty-five
3000 BC three thousand BC
3250 BC thirty two fifty BC

How to say 0

There are several ways to pronounce the number 0, used in different contexts. Unfortunately,
usage varies between different English-speaking countries. These pronunciations apply to
American English.

Pronunciation Usage
Used to read the number by itself, in reading decimals, percentages, and phone
zero
numbers, and in some fixed expressions.
o (the letter
Used to read years, addresses, times and temperatures
name)
nil Used to report sports scores
nought Not used in the USA

Examples

Written Said
Three point zero four plus two point zero two makes five point
3.04+2.02=5.06
zero six.
There is a 0% chance of rain. There is a zero percent chance of rain.
The temperature is -20⁰C. The temperature is twenty degrees below zero.
You can reach me at 0171 390 You can reach me at zero one seven one, three nine zero, one
1062. zero six two
 Written Said
I live at 4604 Smith Street. I live at forty-six o four Smith Street
He became king in 1409. He became king in fourteen o nine.
I waited until 4:05. I waited until four o five.
The score was 4-0. The score was four nil.

Important Numerical Expressions

Here is how to say a number of important numerical expressions in English.

 Speed: 100 mph (miles per hour). Read speed as numbers: One hundred miles per hour

 Weight: 42 lb. (pounds). Read weight as numbers: forty-two pounds

 Telephone numbers: 212-555-1212. Read telephone numbers in individual
numbers: two one two five five five one two one two
 Dates: 12/04/65. Read dates month, day, year in the U.S.
 Temperature: 72° F (Fahrenheit). Read temperature as "degrees +number": seventy-two
degrees fahrenheit
 Height - 6'2''. Read height in feet and then inches: six feet two inches
 Score - 2-1. Read scores as "number + to + number": Two to one