Is there anything more important than learning English numbers? Well, maybe yes… However, English numbers are a very important part of the language. Not only do they allow us to express quantities (how much we want to buy, how much someone owes us, our age, etc.) but they’re also very useful for periods of time. For instance, how would you refer to the year 1945?
The point is that numbers are of vital importance for a language, and it’s also very important learning them properly. Especially when you don’t want people to forget your birthday!
Today we have prepared a simple guide to help you learn how to use English numbers properly. So let’s get started and let’s explore the world of numbers in English.
Confused with Numbers in English?
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English Numbers in a nutshell
Let’s start with basic concepts, the number themselves:
1= One, 2= Two, 3= Three, 4= Four, 5=Five, 6= Six, 7= Seven, 8= Eight, 9= Nine, 10= Ten, 11= Eleven, 12= Twelve, 13= Thirteen, 14= Fourteen, 15= Fifteen, 16= Sixteen, 17= Seventeen, 18= Eighteen, 19= Nineteen, 20= Twenty. From here, everything is just the same. If you want to say 24 then you say twenty-four. Pay close attention to the next ones, instead of having ‘teen’ numbers, you have ‘ty’:
30= Thirty, 40= Forty, 50= fifty, 60= sixty, 70= seventy, 80= eighty, 90= ninety, 100= a hundred.
Giving your Phone Number in English
Usually, when you give your phone number you say number by number, not by pairs but number by number, starting from left to right. Also, the number “0” isn’t called zero, it’s called ‘ow’ (like the letter ‘O’).
Let’s look at our office’s phone number: +33.1.77.47.03.44, you should say:
plus three three one seven seven four seven ‘ow’ three four four.
Talking about Dates and Years in English
When you talk about years, for example when you’re asked about the year you were born you need to divide the year in two. For example ‘1994’ it’s not said as one thousand nine hundred ninety-four, that would be too long and tedious to say, instead, you say nineteen ninety-four.
If you want to talk about a specific date, like 26.10.2003, you should say it’s the twenty-sixth of October two thousand three. So you need to add ‘th’ to the day. Please remember to say first, second, and third for the first 3 days of the month (as well as the twenty-first, twenty-second, twenty-third, and thirty-first).
Talking about Decades in English
Sometimes, especially when talking about music and trends you talk about decades. A decade is a period of ten years, for example, from 1980 to 1989. When you are referring to a decade you put the decade in the plural. The nineties, the eighties, etc. They’re usually written with an apostrophe and an ‘s’ at the end: the 90’s, the 80’s, etc.
Talking about Money in English
When you’re talking about money, you only have to say the number normally, for example, $ 1,050 are one thousand and 50 dollars. However, when there are cents you have to use ‘and’ before you mention them, for example, $2,598.67 would be two thousand five hundred ninety-eight dollars and sixty-seven cents.
Simple Vocabulary of Numbers in English
Advanced Vocabulary of Numbers in English
Test your Numbers in English with Live-English
Numbers often come up in an English conversation. With enough time and practice you’ll get to master the use of numbers when speaking English. If you want to learn faster then take some sessions with one of our native teachers, this way you’ll be able to practice what you’ve learned on this simple guide and also learn some extra tips to help you remember number rules easily!
