For a quick review of the full forms of English numbers, you can check out the English cardinal numbers cheat sheet!
English Articles
How to use and say numbers in English sentences?
By: Erin Kuester Thu Sep 12 2024
Cardinal numbers are numbers that we use for counting or describing a quantity of things. These numbers can be written using a symbol (1, 2, 3...) or a word (one, two, three...).
If you’ve read our post on how to form cardinal numbers in English, then you already know how to say the “full forms” of cardinal numbers. However, in real life, we often say the same number in different ways, depending on what we are trying to accomplish. For example, the following sentences all use the number 1870, but it’s pronounced differently each time:
Doing math → One thousand eight hundred and seventy plus two.
Giving a date → He was born in eighteen seventy.
Giving an address → I live at one eight seven zero State Street.
In this post, we’ll go through the different ways that you can read English cardinal numbers in different situations. We’ll talk about how to use numbers to count, to do math, and to name and label things (years, addresses, phone numbers, etc.). Let’s have a look!
Tip
Ready to learn how to use cardinal numbers? Let’s jump in and get started!
Table of Contents
How to count things using numbers in English?
Cardinal numbers are most commonly used for counting things or describing quantities. Here are two rules to follow:
The cardinal number always goes before the nounNo definition set for nounLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. that you are counting.
If the number is more than one, the noun must be plural.
For example:
cardinal numbernoun
Amber has three dogs and one cat.
There are 25 students in that class.
Important
Some nouns are mass nouns, which are uncountable. We never use cardinal numbers before mass nouns.
Cardinal numbers should also appear before the adjectives in English.
cardinal numberdescriptive adjective
Amber has three large dogs and one black cat.
There are 25 new students in that class.
Cardinal numbers can sometimes be determinersNo definition set for determinersLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. in English. This means that you do not need an article or similar word if you have a number:
✅I saw a / the cat.
❌I saw cat.
✅I saw one cat.
However, numbers are not always determiners, since they can also be used after a determiner:
The three large dogs are great danes.
These three large dogs are great danes.
Her three large dogs are great danes.
Tip
Check out our mini-post on English determiners to learn more about this special class of words!
Let’s look now at the special grammar we use to measure someone’s age, to count money, and to measure quantities!
How to say someone’s age in English?
There are two main ways to say someone’s age in English:
- be
number of years
Barack Obama was forty-seven when he became president of the United States.
In the US you must be twenty-five or older to rent a car.
- be
number of years
years oldMy mom is sixty-three years old.
I will be twenty-two years old when I finish college.
Tip
Watch out for this common mistake!
❌He has 27 years.
✅He is 27.
✅He is 27 years old.
How to count money in American English?
In American English, we count money using dollars and cents.
When speaking formally we say it like this:
number
dollarsandnumber
cents$3.50 → "three dollars and fifty cents"
But it is more common to just say it like this:
number
number
$3.50 → "three fifty"
Remember, you can only use and when you use units like dollars and cents:
❌I bought a used book for seven and ninety-nine ($7.99).
Tip
Here are two more helpful words for describing an amount of money in America.
Buck(s): A common slang term for dollars. Usually only for round numbers of money.
✅three bucks = $3.00
❌three bucks and forty-five cents
❌three bucks forty-five
Grand: A slang term for a thousand dollars ($1,000). Only use grand for round numbers. It is also always singular.
✅five grand = $5,000
❌five grand and fifty dollars
❌five grands
Only use the word for a coin (e.g. penny, nickel, dime, quarter) if you are talking about the physical coins.
✅I found a nickel on the ground.
❌This ice cream costs two dollars and three nickels.
Tip
Here are the different values of coins in America:
penny → 1 cent
nickel → 5 cents
dime → 10 cents
quarter → 25 cents
half-dollar (rare) → 50 cents
dollar coin / silver dollar / golden dollar (rare) → 100 cents = 1 dollar
Outside the US?
In other countries we use different currencies (e.g. pound(s) or euro(s)...), but the rules are similar:
€3.50 → “three euros and fifty cents” / “three fifty”
How to measure things in American English?
We also use cardinal numbers to measure length, volume, and weight. We do this by counting different unit words (ex: mile, cup, liter, grams, etc.).
unit word
Every day I drive fourteen miles from my house to my office.
When my dog was a puppy, she weighed nine pounds but now she weighs twenty-seven pounds!
This recipe calls for three cups of flour.
In the United States, we usually use the imperial system of unit words, not the metric system:
Imperial system | Metric system | |
|---|---|---|
Length | inch, foot, yard, mile, acre | millimeters, centimeters, meters, kilometers |
Weight / Mass | ounce, pound, ton | milligrams, grams, kilograms |
But we measure volume with a special American system.
US volume measurement | Equivalent to… |
|---|---|
1 tablespoon (= tbsp) | ½ fluid oz. |
1 teaspoon (= tsp) | ⅓ tablespoon |
1 cup | 16 tablespoons |
1 pint | 2 cups |
1 quart | 2 pints / 4 cups |
1 gallon | 4 quarts |
How to give measurements in feet and inches?
If someone is 6 feet + 2 inches tall you can describe their height in a few ways:
✅6 feet 2 inches
❌6 feet 2
✅6 foot 2 inches (rare)
✅6'2"
✅6 foot 2
✅"six two"
How to read math out loud in English?
We almost always use cardinal numbers to do math and statistics. Here are some of the grammar rules to remember when you’re reading math out loud in English:
When you are doing math with big numbers we don’t usually use the word “and” and we often leave out the words hundred, thousand, and million too:
789 - 642
✅“seven eighty-nine minus six forty-two”
✅“seven hundred eighty-nine minus six hundred forty-two”
✅“seven hundred and eighty-nine minus six hundred and forty-two”
In American English we read the symbol ‘=’ as is or equals. We always use the singularNo definition set for singularLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. form of the verb:
3 + 4 = 7
✅“three plus four equals seven”
✅“three plus four is seven”
❌"three plus four equal / are seven"
→ In British English you will usually hear: “three and four are seven”
To read a decimal number (e.g. 3.62) out loud, read the period (decimal) as “point.” After you say “point,” say the numbers that follow as single digits in order. Read any 0’s as “zero.”
3.62
✅“three point six two”
❌“three point sixty-two”
87.039
✅“eighty-seven point zero three nine”
Tip
English speaking countries usually use a decimal point (.) rather than a comma (,) to create numbers like these.
Give percentages (e.g. 25%) with simple cardinal numbers then the word percent
✅The group of friends left a twenty-five percent (25%) tip on their meal.
✅My job is eighty percent (80%) teaching.
In a fraction, usually only the top number (the “numerator”) is a cardinal number. The bottom number is (a) an ordinal number or (b) a special word just for fractions (e.g. quarter).
¾
cardinal numberordinal numberfraction word✅"three fourths"
✅"three quarters"
❌"three fours"
However it is possible to read a fraction as X over Y too. When you read a fraction this way, both numbers are cardinal numbers:
¾
cardinal number✅"three over four"
How to name and label things with English numbers?
We also use cardinal numbers to name and label things. When we use numbers as a name or a label, we don’t always say them the same way that we say other kinds of cardinal numbers. How you say it depends on what kind of thing you’re naming or labeling, and sometimes there is more than one right way to read numbers like these.
In English, we use cardinal numbers to name:
to name years (e.g. 1999)
to name centuries and decades (e.g. the 1990s)
to give buildings addresses (e.g. 1500 S. State Street)
in phone numbers (e.g. (146) 784-3996)
as ID numbers for roads, people, documents, and more.
Now let’s see the rules for each type of number label!
How to say the year in English?
We name years (such as 1991, 1066, 1400) with cardinal numbers. When pronouncing the name of a year, we read the first two numbers as a two-digit number, and then read the last two numbers together too.
first two numbers
last two numbers
2016 → twenty sixteen
1773 → seventeen seventy-three
When there is a 0 (zero) in the third slot, we say it as oh not as zero.
1902 → nineteen “oh” two
When both of the last numbers are 0’s, we read the date as first two numbers + hundred
1700 → seventeen hundred
There are more tricks and exceptions to use when saying years. To learn more about these exceptions and to learn more about how to talk about dates, have a look at our post on how to talk about calendar dates in English.
Important
In American English, we use the cardinal number when writing the day, month, and year, but when reading a date out loud, we use an ordinal number for the day of the month:
cardinal numberordinal number
08/09/2022
August 9, 2022
"August ninth, twenty twenty-two"
How to name centuries and decades in English?
You can use cardinal numbers to name periods of time like centuries (100 years) or decades (10 years). Here is how:
the
starting year
plural -s
the 1700s
→ 1700-1799
the 1980s
→ 1980-1989
We usually read the starting year of time periods out loud just like years.
the 1700s = "the seventeen hundreds"
the 1980s = "the nineteen eighties" (sometimes just "the eighties")
There are a few exceptions and tricks for naming centuries and decades, which you can learn about in our post on how to talk about calendar dates in English!
How to say an address in English?
We use cardinal numbers to give addresses, such as 3765 River Street. There are a few different ways to read these addresses out loud:
Read the individual numbers in order: “three seven six five River Street”
For 4-digit addresses, you can use the first two + last two number format: “thirty-seven sixty-five River Street”
If the address includes 0, you can say it as "oh" or zero:
4902 River Street
✅four nine zero two River Street
✅four nine "oh" two River Street
✅forty-nine zero two River Street
→ this is rare!✅forty-nine "oh" two River Street
How to read phone numbers in English?
In American English, we read phone numbers out loud only as single digits in order. You can say 0 as zero or as “oh.”
We usually read off phone numbers in four chunks. If a phone number is (111) 234 - 5608, we say it as:
one one one (pause) two three four (pause) five six (pause) oh eight.
How to read ID numbers out loud in English?
Cardinal numbers are used to create identification numbers (ID numbers) that name things (e.g. forms, roads, players on a team, model numbers) or that just are uniquely identifying (e.g. passport numbers, driver’s license numbers, zip codes). Here are a few things to keep in mind when you are reading an ID number out loud.
If they’re two digits or less, read them like a cardinal number.
Route 66: “Route sixty-six"
Player 27: “Player twenty-seven"
Form 18: “Form eighteen"
Motel 6: “Motel six"
If they’re three or four digits, we usually read them as first two digits + last two digits, but you can sometimes read each digit individually. Usually we use “oh” instead of zero.
Route 101: “Route one “oh” one"
Model 211: “Model two eleven"
Form 1099: “Form ten ninety-nine"
If they’re over four digits, read them as a series of numbers. Use either zero or "oh" for zero. Often with very long numbers we will read them in chunks of three, but this is not a strict rule:
License Number 789502301:
My license number is seven eight nine, five zero two, three oh one.
Zip Code 11802:
His zip code is one one eight oh two.
What are some common rules for numbers as names or labels?
You may have noticed that there are few rules we usually follow when we use cardinal numbers to name something, so here are a couple things to remember:
Numbers under three digits that name things are read like cardinal numbers.
Numbers over two digits that name things are not usually read like cardinal numbers.
For most label numbers, you can say “oh” for 0, instead of “zero.”
It’s common to say 4-digit numbers for naming things as: first two digits + last two digits (1450 = fourteen fifty).
When we name things with long numbers, we often just read the numbers off in order (14678 = one four six seven eight).
Summary
In this post, we discussed that cardinal numbers are used for…
Counting and quantifying things
Basic counting
Describing someone’s age using the verb be
Saying money amounts ($3.50 = “three fifty" or "three dollars and fifty cents")
Measuring things by counting unit words (imperial or metric)
Doing math
Naming and labeling things like…
Years
Periods of time (centuries and decades)
Addresses
Phone numbers
Other ID numbers (roads, people, forms, government IDs, model numbers, zip codes etc.)
If you’re feeling comfortable with using cardinal numbers in English, check out these activities to practice using numbers in conversation!
