After learning numbers in Chinese, French, and Japanese, you will learn about English numbers today! In fact, English numbers are easy yet tricky. Let’s get started!
Cardinal Numbers vs Ordinal Numbers
We use the cardinal numbers to count, while the ordinal numbers to show the order, rank, position, or sequence. Basically, we just need to add ‘th’ to the cardinal numbers to form ordinal numbers, except 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 9, and 12.
Level One: 1 to 10 – the basic numbers you must know!
| Arabic | Cardinal | Ordinal |
| 0 | zero | zeroth |
| 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 |
Level Two: 11 to 19 – a bit irregular, but still understandable!
| Arabic | Cardinal | Ordinal |
| 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 |
Level Three: 20-99 – note the pattern.
| Arabic | Cardinal | Ordinal |
| 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 |
| 40 | forty | fortieth |
| 50 | fifty | fiftieth |
| 60 | sixty | sixtieth |
| 70 | seventy | seventieth |
| 80 | eighty | eightieth |
| 90 | ninety | ninetieth |
| 91 | ninety-one | ninety-first |
| 98 | ninety-eight | ninety-eighth |
| 99 | ninety-nine | ninety-ninth |
Do you notice that you need to write down the hyphen (-) from 21 to 99?
Level IV: 100 – Under 1,000,000
| Arabic | Cardinal | Ordinal |
| 100 | one hundred | hundredth |
| 200 | two hundred | two hundredth |
| 300 | three hundred | three hundredth |
| 1,000 | one thousand | thousandth |
| 4,000 | four thousand | four thousandth |
| 10,000 | ten thousand | ten thousandth |
| 50,000 | fifty thousand | fifty thousandth |
| 100,000 | one hundred thousand | hundred thousandth |
| 600,000 | six hundred thousand | six hundred thousand |
‘One’ can be substituted by ‘a’ from here. Thus:
one hundred = a hundred
one thousand = a thousand
In UK and US English numbers, we use comma (,) to separate every three digits.
Level V: 1,000,000 and Beyond
| Arabic | Cardinal | Ordinal |
| 106 | one million | millionth |
| 107 | ten million | ten millionth |
| 108 | hundred million | hundred millionth |
| 109 | one billion | billionth |
| 1010 | ten billion | ten billionth |
| 1012 | one trillion | trillionth |
| 1015 | one quadrillion | quadrillionth |
| 1018 | one quintillion | quintillionth |
| 1021 | one sextillion | sextillionth |
| 1024 | one septillion | septillionth |
| 1027 | one octillion | octillionth |
| 1030 | one nonillion | nonillionth |
| 1033 | one decillion | decillionth |
| 1036 | one undecillion | undecillionth |
| 1039 | one duodecillion | duodecillionth |
| 1042 | one tredecillion | tredecillionth |
| 1045 | one quattuordecillion | quattuordecillionth |
| 1048 | one quindecillion | quindecillionth |
| 1051 | one sexdecillion | sexdecillionth |
| 1054 | one septendecillion | septendecillionth |
| 1057 | one octodecillion | octodecillionth |
| 1060 | one novemdecillion | novemdecillionth |
| 1063 | one vigintillion | vigintillionth |
| 10100 | one googol | googolth |
Level VI: ‘hundred and’ for UK English, while ‘hundred’ for US English
| Arabic | UK English | US English |
| 101 | one hundred and one | one hundred one |
| 102 | one hundred and two | one hundred two |
| 110 | one hundred and ten | one hundred ten |
| 136 | one hundred and thirty-six | one hundred thirty-six |
| 288 | two hundred and eighty-eight | two hundred eighty-eight |
| 999 | nine hundred and ninety-nine | nine hundred ninety-nine |
| 1,010 | one thousand and ten | one thousand ten |
| 2,018 | two thousand and eighteen | two thousand eighteen |
| 3,996 | three thousand nine hundred and ninety-six | three thousand nine hundred ninety-six |
| 6,003 | six thousand and three | six thousand three |
| 12,345 | twelve thousand three hundred and forty-five | twelve thousand three hundred forty-five |
| 111,111 | one hundred and eleven thousand one hundred and eleven | one hundred eleven thousand one hundred eleven |
| 1,008,000 | one million eight thousand | one million eight thousand |
The Incredible Zero
Beside zero, there are several ways to describe the number ‘0’. For instances:
The letter ‘o’ are used to spell the number as in room numbers, years, bank accounts, and telephone numbers.
On the other hand, British often use ‘nought’ instead of ‘zero’.
Below Zero
For the numbers below zero – negative numbers, the numbers are preceded by the ‘minus’. Therefore:
-5 → minus five.
-20 → minus twenty.
Decimal Numbers
We use ‘point’ to pronounce the decimal point (.)
After the decimal points, we read each digit of the number individually.
0.2 → zero point two.
0.05 → zero point zero five.
0.667 → zero point six six seven.
1.2385 → one point two three eight five.
Fraction Numbers
Structure: cardinal number for numerator + hyphen (-) + ordinal number for denominator.
1/4 → one fourth (also known as a quarter).
1/8 → one eighth.
For the plural numerators, we add ‘s’ on the ordinal numbers.
2/3 → two thirds.
3/4 → three fourths (also known as three quarters).
When the number ‘2’ is the denominator, we use ‘half’ (singular) or ‘halves’ (plural).
1/2 → one-half.
5/2 → five-halves.
If the number consisting of a whole number with a fraction number, we use ‘and’ between them.
2 3/4 → two and three-fourths.
8 39/100 → eight and thirty-nine-hundredths.
Percentages
We form the percentages by simply adding the ‘percent’ behind the numbers. Thus:
10% → ten percent.
25% → twenty-five percent.
49.75% → forty-nine point seven five percent.
100% → one hundred percent.
Grand or K
We can shorten the ‘thousand’ into ‘grand’ or ‘K’. Note that this rule applies for the number with exact on the thousands. For examples:
8,000 → eight grand or eight K.
20,000 → twenty grand or twenty K.
9,900 → nine grand nine hundred or nine K nine hundred.
Years
For saying years in English, divide the years into two digits-two digits. Therefore:
1996 → nineteen ninety-six.
2018 → twenty eighteen.
2036 → twenty thirty-six.
However, for years from 2000 to 2009, we need to say the full number.
2000 → two thousand.
2002 → two thousand and two.
2009 → two thousand and nine.
Quiz Time
Cool! Let’s do these exercices to ensure you fully understand to English numbers!
- 369
- 2,468
- -100
- 0.125
- 3 5/8
Answers:
- Three hundred and sixty-nine (UK) or three hundred sixty-nine (US).
- Two thousand four hundred and sixty-eight (UK) or two thousand four hundred sixty-eight (US).
- Minus one hundred.
- Zero point one two five.
- Three and five-eighths.
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