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Unit 03
Numbers
Cardinal, ordinal, and everyday use
Two Main Types
Numbers are essential in daily communication — from phone numbers to prices, years, and quantities. English numbers come in two main types:
| Type | Example | Use |
|---|---|---|
| Cardinal numbers | one, two, three, four | Counting, quantity |
| Ordinal numbers | first, second, third | Order, ranking, dates |
Cardinal Numbers 1–20
Learn these by heart — they're the foundation of all bigger numbers.
- 1–10: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten
- 11–20: eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty
- Notice: 13–19 all end in -teen. Don't confuse "thirteen" (13) with "thirty" (30)!
Tens & Compound Numbers
- Tens: twenty (20), thirty (30), forty (40 — no U!), fifty (50), sixty (60), seventy (70), eighty (80), ninety (90)
- 21–99: Always use a hyphen: twenty-one, thirty-five, ninety-nine
- Never add -s: ❌ two hundreds → ✅ two hundred. Same for thousand, million.
Thirteen or Thirty? Listen to the Stress
-teen and -ty numbers sound very similar. The difference is the stress (the strong part of the word) and the clear final sound:
| Number | Say it | Number | Say it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13 | thirTEEN | 30 | THIRty |
| 14 | fourTEEN | 40 | FORty |
| 15 | fifTEEN | 50 | FIFty |
| 16 | sixTEEN | 60 | SIXty |
| 19 | nineTEEN | 90 | NINEty |
Hundreds, Thousands, Millions, Billions
British English uses "and" before the last two digits: one hundred and twenty-five. American English often omits it: one hundred twenty-five.
Use commas in writing for thousands separators: 1,200,000 = one million two hundred thousand.
| Number | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | one hundred | There are one hundred students. |
| 1,000 | one thousand | I have two thousand followers. |
| 10,000 | ten thousand | She earns ten thousand lira. |
| 1,000,000 | one million | That video got one million views. |
| 1,000,000,000 | one billion | The company is worth two billion dollars. |
Ordinal Numbers
Examples: My birthday is on the 14th of May. / She finished second in the race. / Our office is on the 12th floor.
| Number | Word | Abbreviation |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | first | 1st |
| 2 | second | 2nd |
| 3 | third | 3rd |
| 4 | fourth | 4th |
| 5 | fifth | 5th |
| 8 | eighth (one t!) | 8th |
| 9 | ninth (no e!) | 9th |
| 12 | twelfth (-ve → -f) | 12th |
| 20 | twentieth | 20th |
| 21 | twenty-first | 21st |
Talking About Years
Modern rule: For years after 2010, "twenty twenty-four" is more common than "two thousand twenty-four".
| Year | Pronunciation |
|---|---|
| 1990 | nineteen ninety |
| 1987 | nineteen eighty-seven |
| 2000 | two thousand |
| 2008 | two thousand (and) eight |
| 2024 | twenty twenty-four |
| 2026 | twenty twenty-six |
Hundred or Hundreds?
- After a number, hundred / thousand / million never take -s: three hundred people, two million views.
- Without a number, we use the plural + of to mean "a lot": hundreds of people, thousands of books, millions of stars.
- a hundred = one hundred. "A" is more common in everyday speech: a hundred lira, a thousand times.
Decimals, Fractions & Percentages
| Type | Symbol | Spoken Form |
|---|---|---|
| Decimal | 3.14 | three point one four |
| Decimal | 0.5 | (zero/nought) point five |
| Fraction | ½ | a half / one half |
| Fraction | ¼ | a quarter / one quarter |
| Fraction | ⅔ | two thirds |
| Percentage | 50% | fifty percent |
| Percentage | 3.5% | three point five percent |
Phone Numbers, Prices & Addresses
- Phone numbers: 0530 889 5767 → "oh five three oh, eight eight nine, five seven six seven". "0" is pronounced "oh" in spoken phone numbers.
- Prices: $12.50 → "twelve dollars fifty" (informal). The currency name is usually said once.
- Addresses: 221B Baker Street → "two twenty-one B Baker Street". 1600 Pennsylvania Ave → "sixteen hundred Pennsylvania Avenue".
- Long numbers in speech: 1,200,000 → "one million two hundred thousand", or in finance: "1.2 million".
Examples
Subject
Verb
Auxiliary
Object
Adjective
Adverb
Preposition
Hover over any word to see its role.
subjectIverbamadjectivetwenty-fiveobjectyears old
↳ Age — compound number with hyphen
subjectMy officeverbisprepositiononobjectthe twelfth floor
↳ Ordinal — floor number
subjectSheverbwas bornprepositionin nineteen ninety
↳ Year — split into two pairs
subjectThe totalverbisobjecttwelve dollars fifty
↳ Price — natural spoken form
Common Mistakes
Fourty people came.
→
Forty people came.
40 is spelled "forty" — no U! Don't copy from "four".
One hundreds students
→
One hundred students
Never add -s after a number to hundred / thousand / million.
My room is on the twelve floor.
→
My room is on the twelfth floor.
Use ORDINAL form for floors: 12 → twelfth (12th).
He was born in nineteen hundred ninety.
→
He was born in nineteen ninety.
For 1990, split the digits: "nineteen ninety", not "nineteen hundred ninety".
She finished twenth.
→
She finished twentieth.
Twenty → twentieth (add -ieth, not -th).
I have ten dollar.
→
I have ten dollars.
Currency words DO take plural -s after a number (unlike "hundred/thousand").
Today is the nineth of June.
→
Today is the ninth of June.
9 → ninth: drop the "e" of "nine".
The price is 3,5 euros.
→
The price is 3.5 euros (three point five).
English uses a point for decimals, not a comma.
Hundred of people came.
→
Hundreds of people came.
Without a number before it, use "hundreds of".