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How to name numbers in English

Here are examples of how to name numbers in informal English.

Table of contents

1 Cardinal numbers

2 Ordinal numbers

3 Dates

4 Fractions and decimals

Cardinal numbers

0	zero
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, you 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.

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, people very rarely name exact numbers larger than one million, except 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.

	"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:

The number 100 is always written "one hundred". It is never "a hundred".

Here are some approximate large numbers in 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)

Ordinal numbers

Here are some ordinal numbers.

0th	zeroth (very rarely used)
1st	first
2nd	second	20th	twentieth
3rd	third	30th	thirtieth
4th	fourth	40th	fortieth
5th	fifth	50th	fiftieth
6th	sixth	60th	sixtieth
7th	seventh	70th	seventieth
8th	eighth (only one "t")	80th	eightieth
9th	ninth (note spelling)	90th	ninetieth
10th	tenth
11th	eleventh
12th	twelfth (note spelling)
13th	thirteenth
14th	fourteenth
15th	fifteenth
16th	sixteenth
17th	seventeenth
18th	eighteenth
19th	nineteenth

Ordinal numbers such as 21st, 33rd, 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 usually are not written in words. They are written using digits and letters, as described below. Here are some rules you should remember. If you are Japanese, please read this.

If the tens' digit of a number is 1, then write "th" after the number. For example: 13th, 19th, 112th, 9311th.
If the tens' digit is NOT equal to 1, then use the following table:

If the units' digit is:	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
write this after the number	th	st	nd	rd	th	th	th	th	th	th

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

Dates

Years before 2000 are read as follows:

1066	ten sixty-six
1492	fourteen ninety-two
1500	fifteen hundred
1502	fifteen oh two (note the "oh" for zero)
1776	seventeen seventy-six
1990	nineteen ninety

The year 2000 is read "two thousand".

Years after 2000 have no set system as of yet for expressing them. I call the year 2003 "two thousand and three".

Note that years are NEVER read as ordinal numbers!!

Dates usually do not use "st", "nd", etc., after the day of the month; however, it is always pronounced with the "st" or whatever.

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).

Fractions and decimals

Here are some common fractions:

1/16	one-sixteenth
1/10 or 0.1	one-tenth
1/8	one-eighth
2/10 or 0.2	two-tenths
1/4	one-quarter or one-fourth
3/10 or 0.3	three-tenths
1/3	one-third
3/8	three-eighths
4/10 or 0.4	four-tenths
1/2	one-half
6/10 or 0.6	six-tenths
5/8	five-eighths
2/3	two-thirds
7/10 or 0.7	seven-tenths
3/4	three-quarters or three-fourths
8/10 or 0.8	eight-tenths
7/8	seven-eighths
9/10 or 0.9	nine-tenths
15/16	fifteen-sixteenths

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 I used the word "ninety")

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"