Numbers& counting inEnglish

Formingand expressingnumbers - written and oral

Index :

Numbers - cardinals

Numbers - ordinals

Fractions and decimals

See also: Expressing the date inEnglish .....

1. Cardinalnumbers

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Cardinal numbers are the numbers that we use forcounting or designating quantity : English-speakers use them every day- one two three fouretc. In terms of grammar, they belong to the category of determiningadjectives.

From 0 to 100 - From zero toa hundred

The number 0is variously expressed as nought (in British English) or zero (in allforms of English) : in the middle of a series ofdigits, it may also be pronounced "oh". Everyone has heard ofJames Bond, also known as 007. That is pronounced "oh-oh-seven" or"double-oh-seven", but never "nought-nought-seven" nor"zero-zero-seven".

Here are the important cardinal numbers between one anda hundred, which can serve as models for other numbers.

1	one	11	eleven	21	twenty-one
2	two	12	twelve	22	twenty-two
3	three	13	thirteen	30	thirty
4	four	14	fourteen	40	forty
5	five	15	fifteen	50	fifty
6	six	16	sixteen	60	sixty
7	seven	17	seventeen	70	seventy
8	eight	18	eighteen	80	eighty
9	nine	19	nineteen	90	ninety
10	ten	20	twenty	100	ahundred

Watch out for spelling: fourteenbut forty.

Numbers from 101 to 999 - three-digit numbers

Important:the examples and rules below illustrate British usage.
In the USA,the word andis normally omitted.
A hyphen (-) is normally used in numbers between 21 and 99, whetherthese stand alone or are part of a larger number.

From these examples, all other three-digit numbers in English can beformed.

101	a hundred and one	365	threehundred and sixty-five
111	a hundred and eleven	480	fourhundred and eighty
121	a hundred and twenty-one	545	fivehundred and forty-five
133	a hundred and thirty-three	644	sixhundred and forty-four
257	two hundred and fifty-seven	799	sevenhundred and ninety-nine

Notes :

The word "hundred", except as a round number (a number ending in 00), is always followedby "and",both in spoken English and in written English when numbers are writtenout aswords.

The word hundrednever takes an "s"as part of a cardinal number.
For numbers between 100 and 199, one normally says "ahundred" and not "onehundred".
The expression "onehundred" is used only to put emphasis on the figure one(i.e. one, not two nor three), or to stress the word.

Example:
I counted one hundredand twenty planes (and not 220 nor 320)

Hundredsin the plural

The words hundred,thousandand millionnever take an sin the plural as cardinal numbers (which are a form of adjective).
They onlytake an swhen used as nounsdesignating an imprecisequantity of hundreds or thousands, etc., followed by of...
Examples

Thereare hundredsof ducks onthe lake.
Thousandsof peoplecrammed into the stadium

These sentences do not say how many hundreds nor how many thousands:the "s"is the only mark of plurality.

Numbers from 1000 to 1,000,000

Apart from round numbers (numbers ending in 00)numbers above 1000 are normally written in figures, not inwords. They are written in words here as a means to show how they areused in spoken English.

1000	a thousand	4656	fourthousand six hundred and fifty-six
1001	a thousand and one	10,000	tenthousand
1086	one thousand and eighty-six	10,148	tenthousand one hundred and forty-eight
1147	one thousand one hundred and forty-seven	65,423	sixty-fivethousand four hundred and twenty-three
1201	one thousand two hundred and one	100,000	A hundredthousand
3600	threethousand six hundred	699,482	Sixhundred and ninety-nine thousand four hundred and eighty-two

Notes

Reminder: these examples and rules reflect usage in British English.
In the USA,the word andis usually omitted.

After 1000, if the word "hundred"does notoccur in the number, it is the word thousandwhich is followed by and.
Apart from round numbers (1000, 7000 etc) there willalways be an andsomewhere in the number.

Examples;1018 = One thousand andeighteen
(or in US English : One thousand eighteen)
43,003 = forty-three thousandand three
56,100 = fifty-six thousand onehundred

Otherwise the word thousandis not followed by and,but the word hundredis.

Examples;1708 = One thousandsevenhundred and eight
25,864 = Twenty-five thousandeight hundred and sixty-four

In numbers from 1100 to 1199, the singlehundred will be pronounced oneand not a.
Four-digit numbers below 2000 (and rarely above) maysometimes also be expressed starting with "eleven hundred", "twelvehundred", etc.

Examples;
1100 = Onethousand one hundred orEleven hundred
22,100 = twenty-twothousand onehundred.
654,122 = Six hundred and fifty-four thousand, onehundred andtwenty-two

The word hundredis always followed by "and"once it is followed by another digit, and even if it occurs more thanonce in the number.
As cardinal numbers, neither hundrednor thousandever take a plural "s". (More)
Whether writing in figures or in words, whith numbersof more than than four digits it is normal to put a comma every threedigits.The comma is optional with four-digit numbers.

Examples;
44,399 Forty-four thousand, three hundred and ninety-nine
637,316 = Six hundred andthirty-seven thousand,three hundred andsixteen.

Numbers greater than a million

The same principles apply.
The number simply starts with a quantity of millions, for example
One million...
or Twenty-fivemillion...
or Eight hundred andtwenty million...
Two billion

Examples;
1,002,018 = One million two thousandand eighteen
1,001,116 = One million one thousand one hundred and sixteen.
736,654,121 = Seven hundred and thirty-six million, six hundred andfifty-four thousand, one hundred and twenty-one

The word hundredis always followed by "and"unless it is round (with "00"), no matter how often it occurs in thenumber.