Numbers & counting in English

Forming and expressing numbers in written and spoken language

Index :

Numbers - cardinals

Numbers - ordinals

Fractions and decimals

See also:  Expressing the date in English .....

1. Cardinal numbers

Cardinal numbers are the numbers that we use for counting or designating quantity : English-speakers use them every day - one two three four etc.   In terms of grammar, they belong to the category of determining adjectives.

From 0 to 100 - From zero to a hundred

The number 0 is variously expressed as nought (in British English) or zero (in all forms of English) : in the middle of a series of digits, it may also be pronounced "oh".  Everyone has heard of James 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 and a hundred, which can serve as models for other numbers.

Key numbers from 0 to 100 as numerals and as written words

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	a hundred

Watch out for spelling:  fourteen but  forty.

Numbers from 101 to 999 - three-digit numbers

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

Key three-figure numbers from 100 to 999 as numerals and as written words

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

Notes :

The word "hundred" , except as a round number (a number ending in 00), is always followed by "and", both in spoken British English and in written English when long numbers are written out as words.

The word hundred never takes an "s" as part of a cardinal number.
For numbers between 100 and 199, one normally says "a hundred" and not "one hundred".
The expression "one hundred" is used only to put emphasis on the figure one (i.e. one, not two nor three), or to stress the word.

Numbers from 1000 to 1,000,000

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

Large numbers between a thousand to a million as numerals and as written words

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

Notes

• After 1000, if the word "hundred" does not occur in the number, it is the word thousand which is followed by and. 
• Apart from round numbers (1000, 7000 etc) there will always be an and somewhere in the number.

Otherwise the word thousand is not followed by and, but the word hundred is.

• In numbers from 1100 to 1199,  the single hundred will be pronounced one and not a.
• Four-digit numbers below 2000 (and rarely above) may sometimes also be expressed starting with "eleven hundred", "twelve hundred", etc.

• The word hundred is always followed by "and" once it is followed by another digit, and even if it occurs more than once in the number.
• As cardinal numbers, neither hundred nor thousand ever take a plural "s". (More)
• Whether writing long numbers in English, whether in figures or in words, it is normal to put a comma every three digits.The comma is optional with four-digit numbers.

Numbers greater than a million

The same principles apply.
The number simply starts with a quantity of millions, for example
One million...
or Twenty-five million...
or Eight hundred and twenty million...
Two billion
The word hundred is always followed by "and" unless it is round (with "00"), no matter how often it occurs in the number.

Other points to remember:

Figures can be expressed differently when they refer to dates and telephone numbers, or when they are after a decimal point.

► Going further: Numbers used as pronouns:  See Indefinite & gender-neutral pronouns

Index :

Numbers - cardinals

Numbers - ordinals

Fractions and decimals