NUMBERS

CARDINAL NUMBERS ORDINAL NUMBERS

st
1 One 1 First
nd
2 Two 2 Second
rd
3 Three 3 Third
4 Four 4th Fourth
th
5 Five 5 Fifth
th
6 Six 6 Sixth
th
7 Seven 7 Seventh
th
8 Eight 8 Eighth
9 Nine 9th Ninth
th
10 Ten 10 Tenth
th
11 Eleven 11 Eleventh
th
12 Twelve 12 Twelfth
th
13 Thirteen 13 Thirteenth
14 Fourteen 14th Fourteenth
15 Fifteen 15th Fifteenth
th
16 Sixteen 16 Sixteenth
th
17 Seventeen 17 Seventeenth
18 Eighteen 18th Eighteenth
th
19 Nineteen 19 Nineteenth
th
20 Twenty 20 Twentieth
st
21 Twenty-one 21 Twenty-first
nd
22 Twenty-two 22 Twenty-second
27 Twenty-seven 27th Twenty-seventh
th
30 Thirty 30 Thirtieth
th
40 Forty 40 Fortieth
th
50 Fifty 50 Fiftieth
th
60 Sixty 60 Sixtieth
70 Seventy 70th Seventieth
th
80 Eighty 80 Eightieth
th
90 Ninety 90 Ninetieth
th
100 One hundred/A hundred 100 Hundredth
101 One hundred and one 101th One hundred and first
1000 One thousand/A thousand 1000th Thousandth
th
10,000 Ten thousand 10,000 Ten thousandth
st
10,001 Ten thousand and one 10,001 Ten thousand and first
th
100,000 One hundred thousand 100,000 One hundred thousandth
100,000,000 One million 1,000,000th One millionth
 HOW TO READ NUMBERS IN ENGLISH

When reading numbers in English, start from the right and add a (,) after every third number:

Trillions Billions Millions Thousands Ones

Hundreds

Hundreds

Hundreds

Hundreds

Hundreds
Ones

Ones

Ones

Ones

Ones
Tens

Tens

Tens

Tens

Tens
5 6 7
Five hundred and
sixty-seven
8 0 3 2 1
Eighty thousand three hundred
and twenty-one.
9 9 4 3 6 5 5 2 8
Nine hundred three hundred five hundred and
and ninety-four and sixty-one twenty
million thousand
1 0 2 3 7 1 1 0 3 4 5
Ten billion two hundred one hundred three hundred
and thirty- and ten and forty-five
seven million thousand
1 1 9 0 0 2 0 9 4 5 0 2 7
One trillion one hundred and twenty million nine hundred twenty-seven
ninety billion and forty-five
thousand

567= five hundred and sixty seven

80, 321= Eighty thousand, three hundred and twenty-one.

994, 365,528= Nine hundred and ninety-four million, three hundred and sixty-one

thousand, five hundred and twenty-eight

10,237,110,345= Ten billion, two hundred and thirty-seven million, one hundred and ten

thousand, three hundred and forty-five

1,190,020,945,027 =One trillion one hundred and ninety billion twenty million nine hundred

and forty-five thousand twenty-seven

 WHERE TO SAY “and” WHEN YOU READ NUMBERS:

Have you ever felt confused about where to say “and” in numbers?

Generally in British English, large numbers with double or single digit figures are connected with
“and” but in American English “and” is not used.

Example: 368- Three hundred and sixty-eight in British English.

Three hundred sixty-eight in American English

There are 3 important points you should know about “and” in numbers

(ˇ is used where to say “and”)

1. “and” is only used in numbers above 100:

1ˇ10= One hundred and ten
3ˇ78= Three hundred and seventy-eight

2. “and” is used after the first digit in every group of 3 numbers (hundreds) that contains tens or
units:
1ˇ55= One hundred and fifty-five
5ˇ91= five hundred and ninety-one

3. For large numbers, say “and” in every group of 3 numbers after the first digit
Don’t say “and” to represent the thousand seperator:

1,5ˇ55= One thousand five hundred and fifty-five

7ˇ26,9ˇ03= Seven hundred and twenty-six thousand, nine hundred and three

2,9ˇ02,3ˇ47= Two million nine hundred and two thousand three hundred and forty-seven

There is no “and” in numbers below because these numbers have no tens or units

1,005= One thousand five

8,200= Eight thousand two hundred

 EXAMPLES

236, 401,238= Two hundred and thirty-six million, four hundred and one thousand, two hundred and
thirty-eight.

6,703, 370= Six million, seven hundred and three thousand, three hundred and seventy.

98, 765= Ninety-eight thousand, seven hundred and sixty-five.

143, 366= One hundred and forty-three thousand, three hundred and sixty-six.

5,010= five thousand ten.

312= three hundred and twelve.

2,500,000= Two million, five hundred thousand.

6, 279= Six thousand, two hundred and seventy-nine.

2, 222= Two thousand, two hundred and twenty-two. 10,956,501= Ten million , nine hundred and
fifty-six thousand, five hundred and one.

EXERCISES:

Write the reading of the numbers given below:

1. 92,000,040:
2. 5,500:
3. 120, 005:
4. 34,230:
5. 67,001:
 0-NOUGHT/ZERO

The spoken form of “0” is

1. Nought in British English and zero in American English .

2. “Oh” is commonly used in BritE, especially for telephone numbers:

My telephone number is 555-0987-00-43 (five five five oh nine eight double oh four three)

3. Use “Oh” when you say the year:

1904 (nineteen oh four)

4. Use “Oh” in the 24 hour clock

09:03 (Nine oh three hours)

5. When talking scientifically, when giving temperatures “0” is pronounced “zero”

Tonight, we’ll have a cold night. The temperature is -5˚ C (five degrees below zero)

6. When giving the scores of most games e.g. football “0” is pronounced “nil” or “nothing”
Arsenal leads the game 2-0 against Leicester City.
(Arsenal leads the game two-nil/nothing….)

7. When giving the scores of a few other games like tennis “0” is pronounced “love”
Federer leads by 2- 0 (Federer leads by two sets to love
 REMEMBER WHEN YOU TALK ABOUT NUMBERS…

1. –teen and –ty:

Be careful when you pronounce “-teen” as in fifteen and “-ty” in fifty. Don’t forget to
pronounce “-teen” like in “teenager”.
2. A hundred/thousand/million:
In ordinary speech “a hundred”, “a thousand” or “ a million” are common instead of “one
hundred/one thousand/one million”. However, “one” is preferable in calculation etc. because
it sounds more accurate.
3. Use commas to separate large numbers:
Separate large numbers with commas, not stops/periods. Commas can be omitted from four
to five figure numbers but commas are important in numbers with five or more figures since
they make the structure of large numbers clear.

4537= Four thousand five hundred and thirty seven

6,568,335= Six million five hundred and sixty-eight thousand three hundred and thirty-five

4. How to use “and”:

In British English “and” is used between hundred and the rest of the number. In American
English “and” is omitted in numbers over 100.

668= Six hundred and sixty-eight →British English

Six hundred sixty-eight→ American English

5. Kings & Rulers:

When writing the names of kings popes etc., use roman numerals and pronounce it with
ordinal numbers
George VI- George the Sixth Pope Jean Paul II- Pope Jean Paul the Second
Murat IV- Murat the Fourth Louis XVI- Louis the Sixteen
6. Dozen:
Dozen means 12 → A dozen of eggs (12 eggs)
Two dozens of colored pencils (24 colored pencils)
7. Add/–ish/or so/thereabouts:
“add” may be used with round numbers over 20 to give an approximate figure
It can cost a hundred add pounds (about £100)/ She’s forty add years old
-ish/or so/thereabouts can be used when giving approximate numbers:
-Meet me sixish -It can cost £1500 or so
- He’s arriving on the 17t or thereabouts (date)
 HOW TO SAY TELEPHONE NUMBERS

Telephone numbers…….

1. are written with gaps between each group of numbers

01 355 4867

2. are pronounced separately

01 355 4867
(oh- one three-five-five four-eight-six-seven)

3. “0” in telephone numbers is pronounced “oh” (zero in AmE)

01 404 7879
(oh-one four-oh-four seven-eight-seven-nine)

4. Double figures are usually given as “double three/ double oh etc…)

01 44-0 55-61
(oh-one double-four-oh double five-six-one)

5. Treble figures are normally spoken as follows

6-22-2
(six two double two)
33-33
(double three double three)

Other large numbers such as bank accounts, passport numbers etc. are usually spoken in the same
way.
 HOW TO SAY DATES

A) DATES

Ordinal numbers are used to say the date. There are different ways to write the date in English:

1. In British English, the date usually begins with the day and follows by the month.
Day/Month/Year → BritE
Ex: 1/12/2021 (the first of December, twenty twenty-one)

BrE: New Year’s Day is on 1st January (the first of January)

Jordan’s birthday is on 3rd June (the third of June)
We are having a party on 16th May (the sixteenth of May)

2. In American English, the date starts with the month and follows by the date.
Month/Day/Year→ AmE
Ex: 12/1/2021 (December, the first, twenty twenty-one)

AmE: New Year’s Day is on January 1 (January the first)

Jordan’s birthday is June 3 (June the third)
We are having a party on May 16 (May the sixteenth)

B) YEAR
1. Separate the year in two parts when you say it:

1923 (19˽523)= Nineteen Twenty-three 1453 (14˽53)= Fourteen Fifty

1984 (19˽84)= Nineteen Eighty-four 1881 (18˽81)= Eighteen Eighty-one

2. Say the years between 2000-2009 as in :

2000= Two thousand 2001= Two thousand one 2008= Two thousand eight

3. From 2010 on, you can say the years in two ways:

2017 = Twenty Seventeen/Two thousand seventeen

2012= Twenty Twelve / Two thousand twelve

C) DECADES

A decade refers to a 10 year period:

1950s (1950-59)= Nineteen Fifties / Fifties ‘60s= Sixties

1560s=Fifteen Sixties 1900-1910=Nineteen hundreds

The decade between 2000-2009 is

BritE→ 00s- Noughties

AmE→ 00s- Oughts

2000s can be read “ Two thousands (McMilan Dictionary)”, “ohs”, “oh ohs”, “double ohs” or

“zeros”. There isn’t a clear consensus to call the 00s.

D) CENTURY
A century refers to every 100 year period
B.C. → Before Christ
A.D. → Anno Domini (In the year of our Lord in Latin. A.D. is not usually necessary except
with the early centuries to avoid possible confusion)

The name of the century is “one ahead” of the way in the years written:
1500-1599= Sixteenth Century 1300-1399= Fourteenth Century

The first year of each century is pronounced as:

1400=Fourteen Hundred 1800-Eighteen Hundred 1900=Nineteen Hundred
 TIME

Test yourself: What do you know about time? Fill the blank in each sentence finding the correct time
word given below:

generation century lap year minute hour day quarter second

weekdays millennium month fortnight weekend decade week

1. A ……………… is the smallest common unit of time.

2. There are 60 seconds in a …………………….
3. There are 60 minutes in an ………………….
4. A …………… is 24 hours.
5. There are 7 days a …………..
6. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday are ……………………..
7. Saturday and Sunday are …………………….. days.
8. There are 2 weeks in a …………………………
9. 28, 29, 30, 31 are days in a ………………….
10. 3 months are in a ……………… of year.
11. There are 365 days or 12 months in a …………….
12. A ………year has 366 days.
13. There are 10 years in a ………………..
14. A…………….has 25 years.
15. A……………… has 100 years
16. In a ………………, there are 1000 years.
 WHAT TIME IS IT?

What time is it?

Do you mind telling me the time?

Can you tell me the time?

What’s the time?

TELLING THE TIME

1. a) O’Clock:
Use o’clock only with the exact hours, never with other times.
A: What time is it?
B: It’s 10 o’clock (10:00)

b) Clock: A clock has two hands; big hand and little hand. Big hand shows the minute, little
hand shows the hour.
2. A.M./P.M:
a.m.(ante meridiem)= before midday p.m. (post meridiem)= after midday
at midnight: 12:00 a.m.
at noon: 12:00 p.m.
3. TIMETABLES WITH 24H CLOCK:
24h clock is generally used for timetables and schedules. These are written and spoken as
follows:

WRITTEN SPOKEN WRITTEN SPOKEN

09:00 Nine hundred hours 21:00 Twenty-one hundred hours
09:03 Nine oh three 21:05 Twenty-one oh five
09:10 Nine ten 21:15 Twenty-one fifteen
09:15 Nine fifteen 21: 45 Twenty-one forty-five
09:30 Nine thirty 21: 50 Twenty-one fifty
09:36 Nine thirty-six 21:55 Twenty-one fifty-five
09:45 Nine forty-five 22:00 Twenty-two hundred hours

Exmp: -Which train do you want to catch?

-I think, I’ll take 10:40 (Ten forty)
4) TELLING TIME USING 12H CLOCK:

HOUR- WORDING BritE HOUR- WORDING AmE

MINUTE (It’s-minute-PAST-hour) MINUTE (It’s-hour-minute)

07:00 It’s seven o’clock 07:00 It’s seven o’clock

07:05 It’s five past seven 07:05 It’s seven oh five
07:10 It’s ten past seven 07:10 It’s seven ten
07:15 It’s (a) quarter past seven 07:15 It’s seven fifteen
07:20 It’s twenty past seven 07:20 It’s seven twenty
07:25 It’s twenty-five past seven 07:25 It’s seven twenty-five
07:30 It’s half past seven 07:30 It’s seven thirty
(It’s-minute-TO-hour)
07:35 It’s twenty-five to eight 07:35 It’s seven thirty-five
07:40 It’s twenty to eight 07:40 It’s seven forty
07:45 It’s (a) quarter to eight 07:45 It’s seven forty-five
07:50 It’s ten to eight 07:50 It’s seven fifty
07:55 It’s five to eight 07:55 It’s seven fifty-five
08:00 It’s eight o’clock 08:00 It’s eight o’clock
 MATHEMATICAL SYMBOLS, FRACTIONS & DECIMALS

+ __ X :
PLUS MINUS MULTIFICATION DIVISION
3+2=5 9-3=6 9x3=27 9:3=3
•Three plus two equals five •9 minus 3 equals 6 •9 multiplied by 3 equals •9 divided by 3 equals 3
•Three and two •9 take away 3 equals 6 27 •9 divided over 3
makes/make five •3 from 9 equals/makes 6 • 9 times 3 is 27 equals 3
•Three and two is/are five •Three nines/nine threes •3 into 9 is/goes 3
are 27
= % 1/2 •
EQUAL PERCENTAGE FRACTIONS DECIMALS
5+4= 9 % ⁄
•5 plus 4 equals 9 • 3%-three percent Each number after the
equal 9 •3½ % -three and a half •½=One half point is said separately:
is equal to 9 percent •2¼ =two and a quarter
•45.987=Forty-five
•3.5%- Three point five •¾ = three quarters
percent point nine eight seven
•3¾=Three and three
quarters