How to form numbers in English, from 1 to a billion

How to form numbers in English, from 1 to a billion

Learning these patterns will help you remember the numbers in English!

When you are learning a new language, there seem to be innumerable words! But you can count on us to help. One set of important words in English is vocabulary for numbers. Here are the basics!

Numbers from 1-10 in English

The number one tip for learning the numbers is that you should start small. Here are the words for the numbers 1 through 10.

Digit	English
1	one
2	two
3	three
4	four
5	five
6	six
7	seven
8	eight
9	nine
10	ten

The number words in English do not change with different nouns. For example, you can say I have two pizzas and I have two children. However, if you only have one of something, you might not say one unless you want it to be clear that you have just one. Instead of I have one pizza, you'll more often say I have a pizza. If the noun begins with a vowel, you'll use the form an: I have an eggplant.

Numbers from 10-20 in English

Once you get past 10 in English, there are the slightly odd numbers 11 and 12. The word eleven originally meant "one left over (from ten)" in Old English and twelve meant "two left over."

After the word twelve, English numbers have a rather transparent pattern: quantity above 10 + -teen. For example, 16 is sixteen, or six + -teen (6+10). Notice that the words for 13 and 15 are slightly different from what you'd expect from the pattern-these number words have changed a bit over time!

Digit	English
10	ten
11	eleven
12	twelve
13	thirteen
14	fourteen
15	fifteen
16	sixteen
17	seventeen
18	eighteen
19	nineteen
20	twenty

In English, if you are 20-years-old, you would say I am twenty. If you are older than 12 but younger than 20, you are considered to be a teenager or in your teens.

Numbers from 20-100 in English

For the numbers higher than 20, there are more patterns to look for. For the tens words (30, 40, 50, etc), the English words have the ending -ty (as in thirty for 30 and forty for 40). The other numbers above 20 are compound words: twenty-one for 21 (20+1), twenty-two for 22 (20+2), twenty-three for 23 (20+3), etc.

Digit	English
10	ten
20	twenty
21	twenty-one
22	twenty-two
23	twenty-three
30	thirty
31	thirty-one
40	forty
41	forty-one
50	fifty
51	fifty-one
60	sixty
70	seventy
80	eighty
90	ninety
100	one hundred / a hundred

Just as with one of something, when you have 100 of an item, you can say a hundred instead of one hundred. The use of one hundred is more precise, while a hundred is somewhat vague. For example I have a hundred emails to respond to may mean that you simply have a lot of emails in your inbox.

Numbers from 100 to 1000 in English

For numbers above 100, English sometimes uses the word and to join them, as in one hundred and one Dalmatians for the number 101.

As with 1 and 100, you can say one thousand or a thousand for 1,000. When you use one thousand, you are indicating a precise quantity.

Digit	English
100	one hundred / a hundred
101	one hundred one / one hundred and one
200	two hundred
300	three hundred
400	four hundred
500	five hundred
600	six hundred
700	seven hundred
800	eight hundred
900	nine hundred
1,000	one thousand / a thousand

Numbers from 1,000 to 1,000,000

In English, a comma is placed after the thousands numeral, while many other languages use a period. For example, in English you write There are 22,500 students at the university. If a number is only four digits long, the comma is not required, but it is used sometimes for clarity.

Here are the English words for 1,000 to 1,000,000:

Digit	English
1,000	one thousand / a thousand
1,001	one thousand and one / a thousand and one
1,100	one thousand, one hundred / eleven hundred
1,150	one thousand, one hundred and fifty / eleven hundred and fifty / eleven fifty
2,000	two thousand
3,000	three thousand
10,000	ten thousand
10,100	ten thousand, one hundred
10,150	ten thousand, one hundred and fifty
20,000	twenty thousand
30,000	thirty thousand
100,000	one hundred thousand / a hundred thousand
101,000	one hundred and one thousand
101,100	one hundred and one thousand, one hundred
200,000	two hundred thousand
300,000	three hundred thousand
1,000,000	one million / a million
1,100,000	one million, one hundred thousand / one point one million

More numbers in English

For really large numbers, you might encounter some differences depending on the dialect of English! For the number with nine zeros-1,000,000,000-you'll hear billion in U.S. English but a thousand million in British English. In U.S. English, the number with 12 zeros is a trillion but is called a billion in the U.K…. which, of course, can lead to confusion! Unless you are a scientist or a mathematician, you may just want to use a synonym for a lot for these quantities.

Ordinal numbers in English

In addition to these cardinal numbers, you'll also need ordinal numbers. Ordinal numbers are the way of referring to numbers in a particular sequence or order-for example, first place or eighteenth century.

Most ordinal numbers in English have the ending -th, but there are a few other patterns to know.

• Numbers ending in 1: Any number that ends in one uses the word first for the ordinal number. This comes from the Old English word meaning "foremost." You'll see these numbers abbreviated with the ending -st, like 1st, 21st, and 431st. Note that if the number ends in eleven, you'll instead use -th: 11th, 111th, 3,711th, etc.
• Numbers ending in 2: Any number that ends in two uses the word second for the ordinal number, from the Latin word meaning "following." These are abbreviated with the digit and the ending -nd. Here also, there is an exception: You'll use -th for numbers ending in twelve: 12th, 112th, 812th, etc.
• Numbers ending in 3: Any number that ends in three uses the word third for the ordinal number. These numbers are abbreviated with the digit and the ending -rd. Again, thirteen will be an exception that uses -th: 13th, 113th, 513th, etc.

Ordinal ending	Digit	English
-ist	1st	first
21st	twenty-first
-nd	2nd	second
22nd	twenty-second
-rd	3rd	third
23rd	twenty-third
-th	4th	fourth
5th	fifth
6th	sixth
7th	seventh
8th	eighth
9th	ninth
10th	tenth
11th	eleventh
12th	twelfth
13th	thirteenth
14th	fourteenth
15th	fifteeth
16th	sixteenth
17th	seventeenth
18th	eighteenth
19th	nineteenth
20th	twentieth
24th	twenty-fourth
25th	twenty-fifth

Overview of numbers in English

Here's an overview of the most important number words in English.

Digit	English cardinal number	English ordinal number
1	one	first (1st)
2	two	second (2nd)
3	three	third (3rd)
4	four	fourth (4th)
5	five	fifth (5th)
6	six	sixth (6th)
7	seven	seventh (7th)
8	eight	eighth (8th)
9	nine	ninth (9th)
10	ten	tenth (10th)
11	eleven	eleventh (11th)
12	twelve	twelfth (12th)
13	thirteen	thirteenth (13th)
14	fourteen	fourteenth (14th)
15	fifteen	fifteenth (15th)
16	sixteen	sixteenth (16th)
17	seventeen	seventeenth (17th)
18	eighteen	eighteenth (18th)
19	nineteen	nineteenth (19th)
20	twenty	twentieth (20th)
21	twenty-one	twenty-first (21st)
22	twenty-two	twenty-second (22nd)
23	twenty-three	twenty-third (23rd)
24	twenty-four	twenty-fourth (24th)
30	thirty	thirtieth (30th)
40	forty	fortieth (40th)
50	fifty	fiftieth (50th)
60	sixty	sixtieth (60th)
70	seventy	seventieth (70th)
80	eighty	eightieth (80th)
90	ninety	ninetieth (90th)
100	one hundred / a hundred	(one) hundredth (100th)
101	one hundred one / one hundred and one	(one) hundred and first (101st)
200	two hundred	two hundredth (200th)
300	three hundred	three hundredth (300th)
327	three hundred twenty-seven / three hundred and twenty-seven	three hundred and twenty-seventh (327th)
400	four hundred	four hundredth (400th)
500	five hundred	five hundredth (500th)
600	six hundred	six hundredth (600th)
700	seven hundred	seven hundredth (700th)
800	eight hundred	eight hundredth (800th)
900	nine hundred	nine hundredth (900th)
1,000	one thousand / a thousand	one thousandth (1000th)
4,580	four thousand, five hundred eighty / four thousand, five hundred and eighty	four thousand, five hundred and eightieth (4580th)
10,000	ten thousand	ten thousandth (10,000th)
14,642	fourteen thousand, six hundred forty-two / fourteen thousand, six hundred and forty-two	fourteen thousand, six hundred and forty-second (14,642nd)
100,000	one hundred thousand / a hundred thousand	(one) hundred thousandth (100,000th)
930,021	nine hundred thirty thousand twenty-one / nine hundred thirty thousand and twenty-one	nine hundred thirty thousand and twenty-first (930,021st)
1,000,000	one million / a million	one millionth (1,000,000th)

Now you have about a hundred new words for the numbers in English. So for the millionth time, go study!

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