Cardinal Numbers 

Expressing numbers in English can be confusing to both students and those listening. Make sure you understand how to express numbers in spoken English by following these rules.

Cardinal Numbers in English Language

What Are Cardinal Numbers?

Cardinal numbers are numbers used to represent the quantity or count of things, people, or objects. They are used for counting and measuring, and are the most basic type of numbers.

How to Say Numbers: 0-10

The following table shows how the cardinal numbers between 1 and 10 are expressed:

Numbers

Wrtitten Form

0

zero

1

one

2

two

3

three

4

four

5

five

6

six

7

seven

8

eight

9

nine

10

ten

Number 0

The number 0 has many names:

zero

When we talk about the number itself or when we are reading percentages and decimals, we say zero.

Example

How to Read

.02

point-zero-two

0.8%

zero-point-eight percent

a number greater than or equal to 0.

greater than or equal to zero.

1.

oh

'Oh' is another name for the number 0. It is used when saying phone numbers, years, addresses, temperatures, time, etc.

Example

How to Read

Address

709 Main St

seven-oh-nine Main Street

Time

4:05

four-oh-five

Phone number

555-4307

five-five-five-four-three-oh-seven

Temperature

306F

three-oh-six Fahrenheit

nil

Nil is used in sports scores.

Example

Germany sent Spain home after a 4-nil victory.

nought

Nought is the British English equivalent of zero. It is used instead of zero in several ways.

Example

A million is 1 with 6 noughts after it.

love

'Love' is the name of the number zero in tennis scores.

How to Say Numbers: 11-20

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Eleven, twelve, and twenty have individual forms. But other numbers from 14 to 19 have a similar pattern. Please note the peculiarities of spelling. Let's get to it:

cardinal number + teen

four + teen → fourteen

six + teen → sixteen

seven + teen → seventeen

nine + teen → nineteen

Exceptions in spelling:

1.

three + teen → thirteen

2.

five + teen → fifteen

3.

eight + teen → eighteen

Numbers

Written Form

11

eleven

12

twelve

13

thirteen

14

fourteen

15

fifteen

16

sixteen

17

seventeen

18

eighteen

19

nineteen

20

twenty

How to Say Numbers: The Tens

The tens have special names which you should memorize, however, they have a pattern. Please note the exceptions in spelling. Let's get to it:

cardinal number + ty

six + ty → sixty

seven + ty → seventy

nine + ty → ninety

Exceptions in spelling:

three + ty → thirty

four + ty → forty

five + ty → fifty

eight + ty → eighty

Numbers

Written Form

30

thirty

40

forty

50

fifty

60

sixty

70

seventy

80

eighty

90

ninety

How to Say Numbers: 21-99

After 20, use the tens (twenty, thirty, etc.) followed by numbers one through nine.
Hyphenate all compound numbers between twenty-one and ninety-nine.

Numbers

Written Form

21

twenty-one

22

twenty-two

23

twenty-three

24

twenty-four

25

twenty-five

26

twenty-six

27

twenty-seven

28

twenty-eight

29

twenty-nine

Look at some more examples:

33 → thirty-three

98 → ninety-eight

54 → fifty-four

76 → seventy-six

42 → forty-two

How to Say Numbers: Three-digit Numbers

For 100, we can either use the definite article 'a' or 'one'.

one hundred

a hundred

For three-digit numbers, use the following pattern:

numbers one through nine + hundred + (and) + cardinal numbers

Numbers

Written Form

255

Two hundred fifty-five

813

Eight hundred thirteen

309

Three hundred and nine

476

Four hundred seventy-six

507

Five hundred seven

684

Six hundred eighty four

799

Seven hundred ninety-nine

Warning

Do not pluralize 'hundred,' 'thousand, etc.

Example

300 → three hundred (Not 'three hundreds')

4,000 → four thousand (Not 'four thousands')

How to Say Numbers: Four-digit Numbers

Four-digit numbers are formed using any digits from 0-9, but the number should begin with digit 1 or a number greater than 1. To write numbers beyond 1,000 (one thousand) you can follow the same pattern as the three-digit numbers:

Tip!

When writing four-digit numbers, we use a comma to separate the thousands place from the hundreds place. This is because the comma indicates the end of the first period (ones) and the beginning of the second period (thousands). For example, 3210 is written as 3,210.

Numbers

Written Form

3,467

three thousand four hundred sixty-seven

7,843

seven thousand eight hundred forty-three

3,485

three thousand four hundred eighty-five

1,209

one thousand two hundred nine

4,581

four thousand five hundred eighty one

5,673

five thousand six hundred seventy-three

How to Say Numbers: Five-digit Numbers

In math, every digit in a number has a place value. Place value is the value of a digit in a number on the basis of its position in the number. Understanding the place value of digits in numbers helps in writing numbers in their expanded form.

Tens of thousands

Thousands

Hundreds

Tens

Ones

2

4

5

6

8

In 24568:

2 is in ten thousands place and its place value is 20,000

4 is in thousands place and its place value is 4,000

5 is in hundreds place and its place value is 500

6 is in tens place and its place value is 60

8 is in ones place and its place value is 8

How to Say Numbers: Six-digits and Higher

The International numeral system is used worldwide in which we count in the order of ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, ten thousands, hundred thousands, millions, and so on. In this place value chart, the numbers are grouped into periods of ones, thousands, millions, and so on, and they are separated by a comma every 3 digits, starting from the right side.

places

number of digits

Millions

hundred millions

9

ten millions

8

millions

7

Thousands

hundred thousands

6

ten thousands

5

thousands

4

Ones

hundreds

3

tens

2

ones

1

2,450,000 – two million four hundred fifty thousand

27,805,234 - twenty-seven million eight hundred five thousands two hundred thirty-four

934,700,000 – nine hundred thirty-four million seven hundred thousand

589,432,420 - five hundred eighty-nine million four hundred thirty-two thousand four hundred twenty

Names of Large Numbers

Million

Billion

Trillion

Quadrillion

Quintillion

Sextillion

Septillion

Octillion

Nonillion

Decillion

Comments

(2)
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Apr 2024
Your examples in the table for the three-digit numbers have numerous errors in written form, missing the text "and". Please correct them.
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Apr 2024
Hi Team, kindly ignore this feedback. I just realized there is another note stating it is no longer necessary to use 'and' when spelling out three-digit numbers or more.
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