Wooden number tiles scattered on a red background with the title English Lesson: Numbers

How To Use Numbers In English

In this lesson, we will take a look at how to use numbers in English. Most of the time, using numbers is easy, but you should be aware of other ways of expressing numbers in the English language.

Sets of Numbers

We can use words to express certain numbers. Here are the most common ones:

  • Oh, nought, nil, zero, love = 0
  • Brace = 2
  • Hat-trick = 3
  • Half a dozen = 6
  • Dozen = 12
  • Baker’s dozen = 13
  • Score = 20
  • Gross = 144
  • Grand, K = 1000

British Slang for Money

  • Quid – one pound (English money)
  • Fiver – five pounds
  • Tenner – ten pounds
  • Pony – 25
  • Ton – 100
  • Monkey – 500

These are common British slang terms for money, though they’re often mistakenly called “Cockney rhyming slang” — they’re not actually rhyming slang, just informal British terms.

Genuine Cockney rhyming slang works differently: it replaces a word with a phrase that rhymes with it, then often drops the rhyming part entirely. A couple of real examples:

  • Dog and bone – phone (“Give me a ring on the dog and bone.”)
  • Plates of meat – feet (“My plates of meat are killing me after that walk.”)

Saying Prices

  • £4.50 – “four pounds fifty”
  • $19.99 – “nineteen ninety-nine” or “nineteen dollars ninety-nine”
  • £0.99 – “ninety-nine pence” or just “ninety-nine p”

Ordinal Numbers

Ordinal numbers show position or order (1st, 2nd, 3rd), rather than quantity. Most just add -th to the number, but there are some irregular spellings to learn:

  • 1st – first
  • 2nd – second
  • 3rd – third
  • 4th – fourth
  • 5th – fifth
  • 8th – eighth
  • 9th – ninth
  • 12th – twelfth
  • 20th – twentieth
  • 21st – twenty-first
  • 30th – thirtieth

We use ordinal numbers all the time in English — for dates (“the 3rd of March”), rankings (“she came 2nd in the race”), and floors of a building (“the office is on the 5th floor”).

Speaking Numbers

There are some special ways to say numbers when we speak:

  • Double 2 = 22
  • Triple 5 = 555
  • Quadruple 7 = 7777

Years

Illustration representing how to say years in English, such as nineteen ninety-nine or twenty twenty-five

When we talk about years in English, we don’t always read the full number! Here are some examples of how to say the years:

  • 1864 (say eighteen sixty-four)
  • 1956 (say nineteen fifty-six)
  • 1999 (say nineteen ninety-nine)
  • 2000 (say two thousand)
  • 2005 (say two thousand and five) (oh-five if we know the context)
  • 2011 (say twenty-eleven or two thousand and eleven) (oh-eleven if we know the context)
  • 2012 (say twenty-twelve or two thousand and twelve) (oh-twelve if we know the context)
  • 2023 (say twenty-twenty-three)
  • 2024 (say twenty twenty-four)
  • 2025 (say twenty twenty-five)
  • 2026 (say twenty twenty-six)

We can shorten 20-number (2003, 2010, etc.) to just oh-number (03, 010, etc.) if we know we are referencing a certain time. For example:

  • Pat: When did you last go to London to see Tommy?
  • Peter: Not long ago, I think it was September oh ten*. (*This would be written as ’10 or 2010)

People say twenty-eighteen more frequently than two thousand and eighteen because it’s shorter and easier to say. Two thousand and eighteen is more formal if you need to use formal language.

Saying Big Numbers

Users of British English and American English say large numbers in slightly different ways:

British English: When we read a big number, we start with the largest part and move down to the smallest. The number 3,423,961 would be read as three million, four hundred and twenty-three thousand, nine hundred and sixty-one. We use the word “and” after the word “hundred” only if it is one hundred and something.

American English: American English is nearly the same, but they don’t use the word “and” at all. The number 3,423,961 would be spoken as three million, four hundred twenty-three thousand, nine hundred sixty-one by Americans.

One last thing to remember is that one billion means one thousand million.

Related Articles:

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you say the year 2000 in English?

“Two thousand” — this is the one major exception to the usual pattern of splitting years into two two-digit numbers.

Is it “twenty twenty-five” or “two thousand and twenty-five”?

Both are correct — “twenty twenty-five” is more common in everyday speech, while “two thousand and twenty-five” is more formal.

Do British and American English write large numbers differently?

The words are nearly identical, but British English adds “and” after “hundred” (three hundred and fifty), while American English typically omits it (three hundred fifty).

What is FunkyEnglish?

FunkyEnglish is a website that helps you improve your English. We offer quick lessons that teach idioms, slang, phrasal verbs and more. Visit our homepage to see our latest articles, or use the menu to find specific content!

Scroll to Top