Numbers

English Numbers
Numbers in English are one of the first things a student will learn when they begin studying the
language. We use numbers all the time every day to talk about the time, quantities of items, dates
and days of the month, temperature and measurements.
English numbers are normally treated as adjectives because they give more information about the
nouns of the sentence. Numbers can also be nouns if they stand alone and do not modify another
noun. For example:
Number as adjective: ‘There are five students in the class’
Number as noun: ‘We went to Greece in 2016‘
Here is a list of numbers in English with the digital format in the first
column, the cardinal format in the second column and the ordinal
format in the third column:
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
NUMBER CARDINAL ORDINAL
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
80 eighty eightieth
90 ninety ninetieth
100 one hundred hundredth
500 five hundred five hundredth
1,000 one thousand, a thousand thousandth
one thousand five hundred, or one thousand five hundredth, or

1,500 fifteen hundred fifteen hundredth
100,000 one hundred thousand hundred thousandth
1,000,000 one million millionth

 Be careful with the number 13 and the number 15. While all the other ‘teen’
numbers in English simply add the word ‘teen’ to the regular number (e.g. four-
teen, six-teen, seven-teen, nine-teen) 13 uses ‘thir’ and 15 uses ‘fif’. For an added
complication, the number 18 only has one ‘t’ (eighteen).
 Expressing zero in English
 The amount of nothing or zero can be expressed in many
different ways in English. This depends on the context of the
sentence.
 It can be expressed as: zero, nothing, nought, o, nil.
 In sport, we usually say ‘nil’ For example the score was 4-0 (four-
nil). However in tennis it is uniquely expressed as ‘love’ (four
games to love).
 ‘O’, pronounced ‘oh’ as in the letter O, is used when talking about
times, years, phone numbers (in Britain) and decimals (in Britain)
 ‘Nought’ is used to talk about the number itself in Britain (but not
in America, where zero is used) and phone numbers (Britain)
 ‘Zero’ is used to talk about the number itself, phone numbers and
decimals. Zero is used more often in America, while in Britain we
often use ‘o’.
 Decimals in English
 Decimals in English are written with a full stop (a ‘decimal point’)
and this point is spoken aloud when reading the numbers. So you
would pronounce 7.5 as ‘seven point five’.
 For decimals that are less than 1, such as 0.5, some
people pronounce the 0 as ‘nought’ (e.g. nought point five) while
some people do not pronounce the 0 and say simply ‘point five’.
DECIMAL PRONOUNCED
0.25 (nought) point two five
0.5 (nought) point five
0.75 point seven five
0.05 point zero five / point o five (Britain)
1.834 one point eight three four
4.91 four point nine one

Fractions in English
Fractions in English are expressed with the ‘numerator’ on the top and
the ‘denominator’ on the bottom, separated by a line, which indicates
the top number is a fraction of the bottom number.
The top number (numerator) is a cardinal number and the bottom

number (denominator) is an ordinal number. The bottom number is
pluralised if the top number is bigger than 1.
The exceptions to these rules are when the bottom number is 2 or 4. If

the bottom number is 2, this is called a half (not a ‘second’) and if the
bottom number is a 4, this is called a quarter (not a ‘fourth’).
Of course, in mathematics, some fractions are the same as others. For
example, 3/6 (three sixths) is the same as 1/2 (one half) because three
is exactly half of six.
If both numbers are the same, this is a ‘whole’. For example 4/4 is four
quarters, which is equal to one whole.
FRACTION PRONOUNCED
1/4 one quarter / a quarter
1/2 one half / a half
3/4 three quarters
2/5 two fifths
7/8 seven eighths
5/6 five sixths

Percentages in English
Percentages in English are pronounced exactly as they look. Percentages
are written with the % symbol, which is pronounced ‘percent’ (meaning
per hundred).
PERCENTAGE PRONOUNCED
1% one percent
30% thirty percent
45% forty-five percent
100% one hundred percent

500% five hundred percent
10.5% ten point five percent
83.74% eighty-three point seven four percent

Measurements in English
Measurements are simple in English because you only need to read out
the number followed by the unit of measurement. For example, five
metres sixty-three centimetres.
Notice that British English spelling uses the ‘re’ ending,

while American English spelling uses ‘er’ at the end of the words for
‘metre’ and kilometre’.
Imperial and metric measurements
In Britain, we often use imperial measurements (e.g. pounds and
ounces for weight, and feet and miles for distance), whereas in America,
they usually only use the metric measurements (e.g. grams and
kilograms for weight and kilometres and metres for distance). For
example, the road signs in Britain will use miles not km.
MEASUREMENT PRONOUNCED
75km seventy-five kilometers
60km/h sixty kilomatres per hour
25mph twenty-five miles per hour
6ft six feet
2in two inches
30cm thirty centimetres
5ml five mililitres
4tbsp four tablespoons
2tsp two teaspoons
1.2kg one point two kilograms
2.5lbs two point five pounds / two and a half pounds
6oz six ounces

Temperature in English
When we use English numbers to talk about temperature, the numbers
are always combined with the unit Fahrenheit or Centigrade (Celsius).
If the temperature is above zero degrees it is pronounced simply as the
number. If the temperature is below zero degrees the word ‘minus’ is
pronounced before the number.
We use the symbol ⁰ followed by the temperature scale to express
temperature. So ⁰C expresses ‘degrees Celsius’ and ⁰F expresses
‘degrees Fahrenheit’.
These days, Celsius is used much more often than Fahrenheit, so we

don’t always mention the scale in speech. It tends to be obvious which
scale is being used from the numbers given. (For reference, 32⁰F is
equal to 0⁰C).
For example:
20⁰C twenty degrees Celsius
-5⁰C minus five degrees Celsius
70⁰F seventy degree Fahrenheit

-3⁰C minus three
0⁰C zero degrees
Years and Dates in English

Using numbers in English when talking about dates is always an
important area of study for students as it is very useful in a day-to-day
context.
Reading dates with years in a foreign language can

feel intimidating because they can be long, big numbers. In English, we
usually say a date as two numbers. So 1980 would be ‘nineteen eighty’.
After the year 2000 we say either twenty to start the number or we also
say two-thousand and then say ‘and’ before the last part of the date. So
2017 can be ‘twenty seventeen’ or ‘two-thousand and seventeen’.
When using English numbers for dates, we also often say the
year before the date to make it clear, especially if it is a millennium or a
year before one thousand.
Dates
For talking about dates in English, we say the ordinal number followed
by ‘of’ and the month, followed by the year.
For example: 3rd September 1959 would be pronounced ‘the third of

September nineteen fifty-nine’. We don’t write the word ‘of’ and
sometimes we write the cardinal number not the ordinal. For example:
3 September 1959, or just use the numbers 03/09/1959 or 3/9/59.

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English Numbers

Number as adjective: ‘There are five students in the class’

Number as noun: ‘We went to Greece in 2016‘

NUMBER CARDINAL ORDINAL

100 one hundred hundredth

500 five hundred five hundredth

1,000 one thousand, a thousand thousandth

one thousand five hundred, or one thousand five hundredth, or

100,000 one hundred thousand hundred thousandth

1,000,000 one million millionth

0.25 (nought) point two five

0.5 (nought) point five

0.75 point seven five

0.05 point zero five / point o five (Britain)

1.834 one point eight three four

4.91 four point nine one

The top number (numerator) is a cardinal number and the bottom

The exceptions to these rules are when the bottom number is 2 or 4. If

1/4 one quarter / a quarter

1/2 one half / a half

3/4 three quarters

2/5 two fifths

7/8 seven eighths

5/6 five sixths

30% thirty percent

45% forty-five percent

100% one hundred percent

10.5% ten point five percent

83.74% eighty-three point seven four percent

Notice that British English spelling uses the ‘re’ ending,

75km seventy-five kilometers

60km/h sixty kilomatres per hour

25mph twenty-five miles per hour

6ft six feet

2in two inches

30cm thirty centimetres

5ml five mililitres

4tbsp four tablespoons

2tsp two teaspoons

1.2kg one point two kilograms

2.5lbs two point five pounds / two and a half pounds

6oz six ounces

These days, Celsius is used much more often than Fahrenheit, so we

-5⁰C minus five degrees Celsius

70⁰F seventy degree Fahrenheit

Years and Dates in English

Reading dates with years in a foreign language can

For example: 3rd September 1959 would be pronounced ‘the third of

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