The cardinal numbers [one, two, three, etc.] are adjectives referring to quantity, and the ordinal numbers [first, second, third, etc.] refer to distribution.
Test your knowledge
Number Cardinal Ordinal 1 one first 2 two second 3 three third 4 four fourth 5 five fifth 6 six sixth 7 seven seventh 8 eight eighth 9 nine ninth 10 ten tenth 11 eleven eleventh 12 twelve twelfth 13 thirteen thirteenth 14 fourteen fourteenth 15 fifteen fifteenth 16 sixteen sixteenth 17 seventeen seventeenth 18 eighteen eighteenth 19 nineteen nineteenth 20 twenty twentieth 21 twenty-one twenty-first 22 twenty-two twenty-second 23 twenty-three twenty-third 24 twenty-four twenty-fourth 25 twenty-five twenty-fifth 26 twenty-six twenty-sixth 27 twenty-seven twenty-seventh 28 twenty-eight twenty-eighth 29 twenty-nine twenty-ninth 30 thirty thirtieth 31 thirty-one thirty-first 40 forty fortieth 50 fifty fiftieth 60 sixty sixtieth 70 seventy seventieth 80 eighty eightieth 90 ninety ninetieth 100 one hundred hundredth 500 five hundred five hundredth 1,000 one thousand thousandth 1,500 one thousand five hundred, or fifteen hundred one thousand five hundredth 100,000 one hundred thousand hundred thousandth 1,000,000 one million millionth
Examples- There are twenty-five people in the room.
- He was the fourteenth person to win the award.
- Six hundred thousand people were left homeless after the earthquake.
- I must have asked you twenty times to be quiet.
- He went to Israel for the third time this year.
Reading decimals
Read decimals aloud in English by pronouncing the decimal point as "point", then read each digit individually. Money is not read this way.
Written Said 0.5 point five 0.25 point two five
0.73
point seven three
0.05
point zero five
0.6529
point six five two nine
2.95
two point nine five
Reading fractions
Read fractions using the cardinal number for the numerator and the ordinal number for the denominator, making the ordinal number plural if the numerator is larger than 1. This applies to all numbers except for the number 2, which is read "half" when it is the denominator, and "halves" if there is more than one.
Written Said 1/3 one third 3/4 three fourths 5/6 five sixths 1/2 one half 3/2 three halves
Pronouncing percentages
Percentages are easy to read aloud in English. Just say the number and then add the word "percent".
Written Pronounced 5% five percent 25% twenty-five percent 36.25% thirty-six point two five percent 100% one hundred percent 400% four hundred percent
Reading sums of money
To read a sum of money, first read the whole number, then add the currency name. If there is a decimal, follow with the decimal pronounced as a whole number, and if coinage has a name in the currency, add that word at the end. Note that normal decimals are not read in this way. These rules only apply to currency.
Written Spoken 25$ twenty-five dollars 52€ fifty-two euros 140₤ one hundred and forty pounds $43.25 forty-three dollars and twenty-five cents [shortened to "forty-three twenty-five" in everyday speech] €12.66 twelve euros sixty-six ₤10.50 ten pounds fifty
Pronouncing measurements
Just read out the number, followed by the unit of measurement, which will often be abbreviated in the written form.
Written Spoken 60m sixty meters 25km/h twenty-five kilometers per hour 11ft eleven feet 2L two liters 3tbsp three tablespoons 1tsp one teaspoon
Pronouncing years
Reading years in English is relatively complicated. In general, when the year is a four digit number, read the first two digits as a whole number, then the second two digits as another whole number. There are a few exceptions to this rule. Years that are within the first 100 years of a new millenium can be read as whole numbers even though they have four digits, or they can be read as two two-digit numbers. Millennia are always read as whole numbers because they would be difficult to pronounce otherwise. New centuries are read as whole numbers of hundreds. We do not use the word "thousand", at least not for reading years within the past 1000 years.
Years that have just three digits can be read as a three digit number, or as a one digit number followed by a two-digit number. Years that are a two digit number are read as a whole number. You can precede any year by the words "the year" to make your meaning clear, and this is common for two and three digit years. Years before the year 0 are followed by BC, pronounced as two letters of the alphabet.
Interestingly, these rules apply to reading street addresses as well.
Written Spoken 2014 twenty fourteen or two thousand fourteen 2008 two thousand eight 2000 two thousand 1944 nineteen forty-four 1908 nineteen o eight 1900 nineteen hundred 1600 sixteen hundred 1256 twelve fifty-six 1006 ten o six 866 eight hundred sixty-six or eight sixty-six 25 twenty-five 3000 BC three thousand BC 3250 BC thirty two fifty BC
How to say 0
There are several ways to pronounce the number 0, used in different contexts. Unfortunately, usage varies between different English-speaking countries. These pronunciations apply to American English.