numbers

You count with one, two, three. You put things in order with first, second, third, and you use those for dates and floors too.

Counting numbers

• 1–12 have their own words: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve.
• 13–19 end in -teen: thirteen, fourteen … nineteen. The stress is on -teen: thir-TEEN.
• The tens end in -ty: twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, sixty, seventy, eighty, ninety. The stress is at the start: THIR-ty. Forty has no u.
• Between them, use a hyphen: twenty-one, thirty-five.

For hundreds, British English puts and before the last part: 105 is a hundred and five, 2,350 is two thousand three hundred and fifty. Hundred and thousand take no -s after a number.

A comma separates thousands (1,500) and a point is for parts of a number: 2.5 is "two point five".

Order numbers

First, second and third are irregular. The rest add -th: fourth, sixth, tenth. Some change their spelling: fifth, eighth, ninth, twelfth, and twentieth, thirtieth. In writing they're often short: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 21st.

Dates

In Britain, people write 3 May 2026 and say the third of May. In the United States, people write May 3, 2026 and say May third. Short dates differ: 03/05 is 3 May in Britain and March 5 in the US.

Years

Years up to 1999 are said in two pairs: 1998 is nineteen ninety-eight. For 2000 to 2009, say two thousand and five. From 2010, both twenty twenty-six and two thousand and twenty-six are used.

Prices

Write the money sign before the number and say the word after it. £3.50 is three pounds fifty; 80p is eighty p or eighty pence.

Phone numbers

Say a phone number one number at a time. In British English, 0 is often "oh". Two of the same can be "double": 077 is oh double seven.

Common mistakes

• × fourty → forty
• × two hundreds people → two hundred people
• × the 3 of May → the third of May
• × 5£ → £5
• × nineth → ninth