How to name numbers in English

Cardinal numbers

0	zero | nought | oh
1	one
2	two	20	twenty
3	three	30	thirty
4	four	40	forty (there is no "u")
5	five	50	fifty
6	six	60	sixty
7	seven	70	seventy
8	eight	80	eighty (there is only one "t")
9	nine	90	ninety
10	ten
11	eleven
12	twelve
13	thirteen
14	fourteen
15	fifteen
16	sixteen
17	seventeen
18	eighteen (there is only one "t")
19	nineteen

If a number is in the range 21 to 99, and the second digit is not zero, one should write the number as two words separated by a hyphen.

21	twenty-one
25	twenty-five
32	thirty-two
58	fifty-eight
64	sixty-four
79	seventy-nine
83	eighty-three
99	ninety-nine

In English, the hundreds are perfectly regular, except that the word hundred remains singular regardless of the number preceding it (obviously, one may on the other hand say "Hundreds of people flew in," or the like)

100	one hundred
200	two hundred
300	three hundred
400	four hundred
500	five hundred
600	six hundred
700	seven hundred
800	eight hundred
900	nine hundred

So are the thousands, up to nine thousand.

1,000	one thousand
2,000	two thousand
3,000	three thousand
4,000	four thousand
5,000	five thousand
6,000	six thousand
7,000	seven thousand
8,000	eight thousand
9,000	nine thousand

Starting with 10,000, the numbers become difficult.

10,000	ten thousand
11,000	eleven thousand
12,000	twelve thousand
13,000	thirteen thousand
14,000	fourteen thousand
15,000	fifteen thousand
16,000	sixteen thousand
17,000	seventeen thousand
18,000	eighteen thousand
19,000	nineteen thousand
20,000	twenty thousand
21,000	twenty-one thousand
30,000	thirty thousand
85,000	eighty-five thousand
100,000	one hundred thousand
999,000	nine hundred and ninety-nine thousand
1,000,000	one million

In informal English, exact numbers larger than one million are seldom named, except perhaps for dramatic effect.

There is more than one way of forming intermediate numbers. One way is for when you are counting something. Another way is for when you are using numbers as labels. In British English, the second column method is used much more rarely than in American English.

	"How many marbles do you have?"	"What is your house number?"
101	"A hundred and one."	"One-oh-one." Here, "oh" is used for the digit zero.
109	"A hundred and nine."	"One-oh-nine."
110	"A hundred and ten."	"One-ten."
117	"A hundred and seventeen."	"One-seventeen."
120	"A hundred and twenty."	"One-twenty."
152	"A hundred and fifty-two."	"One-fifty-two."
208	"Two hundred and eight."	"Two-oh-eight."
334	"Three hundred and thirty-four."	"Three-thirty-four."

Note: When writing a check (cheque), the number 100 is always written "one hundred". It is never "a hundred".

Here are some approximate large numbers in American English:

Quantity	Written	Pronounced
1,200,000	1.2 million	one point two million
3,000,000	3 million	three million
250,000,000	250 million	two hundred and fifty million
1,000,000,000	1 billion	one billion (a billion is 1000 times 1 million)
6,400,000,000	6.4 billion	six point four billion
1,000,000,000,000	1 trillion	one trillion (a trillion is 1 million times 1 million)

In traditional British English, 1,000,000,000 is a thousand million or a milliard. The number 1,000,000,000,000 (10¹², or a million to the power of 2) is a billion. Similarly for billiard: 10¹⁵. A trillion in British English is 10¹⁸, or a million to the power of 3 (tri- is a Greek prefix denoting 3, as bi- is 2). This European system is normally used in arithmetic as well.

Often, large numbers are written with half-spaces instead of commas to separate thousands. Thus, a million is 1 000 000. In International English, it can also be a point (.), but then, the decimal point becomes a comma.

Ordinal numbers

Ordinal numbers such as 21^st, 33^rd, etc, are formed by combining a CARDINAL ten with an ORDINAL unit.

21st	twenty-first
25th	twenty-fifth
32nd	thirty-second
58th	fifty-eighth
64th	sixty-fourth
79th	seventy-ninth
83rd	eighty-third
99th	ninety-ninth

Higher ordinals are not usually written in words. They are written using digits and letters as described below. Here are some rules that should be borne in mind. The suffixes -th, -st, -nd and -rd are most often written raised above the number itself (as superscript).

• If the ten's digit of a number is 1, then write "th" after the number. For example: 13th, 19th, 112th, 9311th.

• If the ten's digit is NOT equal to 1, then use the following table:

• For example: 2nd, 7th, 20th, 23rd, 52nd, 135th, 301st.

Dates

The year 2000 is read "two thousand".

Years after 2000 have no set system as of yet for expressing them. A common way of saying 2003 is "two thousand and three".

Note that years are NEVER read as ordinal numbers!

Dates sometimes do not use "st", "nd", etc, after the day of the month; however, it is always pronounced with this suffix.

• Examples:
  • I am writing this example on Jan. 2, 2003 (January second, two thousand and three).
  • The Twin Towers were destroyed on Sept. 11, 2001 (September eleventh, two thousand and one).

In British English, the month comes after the day of the month both when the month is spelt out and otherwise. There is normally no comma before the year. Ordinarily, the ordinal suffix is appended. If month names are shortened, they are not normally followed by a full-stop (thus, Aug (not Aug.) for August). Compare:

• Today is the 29^th January 2004. (Read: Today is the twenty-ninth of January, two thousand and four.)
• The European Union will fully accept its new members on 01/05/2004. (... on the first of May, two thousand and four)

Fractions and decimals

Alternatively, and for greater numbers, one may say for 1/2 "one over two", for 5/8 "five over eight", and so on.

Numbers with a decimal point are usually read as a whole number, then "point", then digits.

• For example:
  • 0.002 is "zero point zero zero two"
  • 3.1416 is "three point one four one six"
  • 99.3 is "ninety-nine point three" (notice the usage of "ninety")

Some English speakers will say nought for the symbol 0. Thus, 0.002 becomes "nought point nought nought two". Sometimes, oh is also used (oh point oh oh two).

Very often, if the whole number is 0, it is not actually said in speech. Thus, "point nought nought two", "point zero zero two" or "point oh oh two".

The decimal point is sometimes in writing placed at the top of the line and sometimes at the centre (0·002), and is sometimes replaced by a decimal comma, especially in International English.

• Fractions together with an integer are read as follows:
  • 1 1/2 is "one and a half"
  • 6 1/4 is read as "six and a quarter"
  • 7 5/8 is "seven and five eighths"

See also English-language numerals.

Whether to use digits or words

According to your friendly neighborhood copy editor and/or English teacher, the numbers zero through nine should be "written out" – meaning instead of "1" and "2", one would write "one" and "two".

Example: "I have two apples." (Correct)

Example: "I have 2 apples." (Incorrect)

After "nine", one can head straight back into the 10, 11, 12, etc.

Example: "I have 28 grapes." (Correct)

Example: "I have twenty-eight grapes." (Incorrect)

The above rules are not always used. In literature, larger numbers might be spelled out (authors getting paid by the word, perhaps?).

Specialised Numbers

When dealing with sport, results are read as in the following examples:

• 1:0 - one nil
• 0:0 - nil nil
• 2:2 - two two (or two to two)
• 2:1 - two one (or two to one)

When stressing nothingness, other terms are used for 0: zero, zilch, nada, null, zip. This is true especially in combination with one another: "You know nothing – zero, nada, zilch!"

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