Numbers in English

A0–A1 · BeginnerEnglish Basics

Learn how to read, say and write the most common numbers in English.

What you'll learn

  • Numbers from 0 to 20
  • Tens and two-digit numbers
  • Hundreds and thousands
  • Common number patterns

0 to 10

These are the numbers everything else builds on — learn them first.

0
zero
1
one
2
two
3
three
4
four
5
five
6
six
7
seven
8
eight
9
nine
10
ten

11 to 20

A few of these don't follow a clean pattern — they're marked Irregular below. Learn those first, since the rest are easier to guess once you know the pattern.

11
elevenIrregular
12
twelveIrregular
13
thirteenIrregular
14
fourteen
15
fifteenIrregular
16
sixteen
17
seventeen
18
eighteenIrregular
19
nineteen
20
twenty

eleven, twelve, thirteen, fifteen and eighteen are irregular — not every "teen" number is built the same predictable way.

Tens

The round numbers from 20 to 100.

20
twenty
30
thirty
40
forty
50
fifty
60
sixty
70
seventy
80
eighty
90
ninety
100
one hundred

Spelling to remember: it's forty — not "fourty", even though the number four has a "u".

Two-digit numbers

Combine a ten and a one with a hyphen: tens + ones.

twenty+one→twenty-one

Use a hyphen in every written compound number from twenty-one to ninety-nine.

21twenty-one
32thirty-two
45forty-five
58fifty-eight
67sixty-seven
74seventy-four
86eighty-six
99ninety-nine

Hundreds

100
one hundred
200
two hundred
300
three hundred
500
five hundred
900
nine hundred

Important: after an exact number, use hundred — not "hundreds".

200 = two hundred — not two hundreds

Here is how 105 and 250 are said in American and British English. Americans often say 'and' too; both forms are understood.

105

Americanone hundred five

Britishone hundred and five

250

Americantwo hundred fifty

Britishtwo hundred and fifty

One thousand

1,000one thousand
1,100one thousand one hundred
1,500one thousand five hundred

Teen vs -ty

These pairs are easy to mix up when listening: words ending in -teen (13, 14, 15…) versus the round tens ending in -ty (30, 40, 50…).

13 — thirteen
vs
30 — thirty
14 — fourteen
vs
40 — forty
15 — fifteen
vs
50 — fifty
16 — sixteen
vs
60 — sixty
17 — seventeen
vs
70 — seventy
18 — eighteen
vs
80 — eighty
19 — nineteen
vs
90 — ninety

-teen words are stressed on the second part; -ty words are stressed on the first part. If audio is available, listen closely to the stress — that's the clearest difference.

Real life

"I have two brothers."

"The room is number twelve."

"It costs twenty dollars."

"There are thirty students."

"The hotel has one hundred rooms."

Practice

Exercise 1 · Match the number to the word

0 / 4 matched

Exercise 2 · Write the number

Write the number: "twenty-three"

Write the number: "forty-five"

Write the number: "seventy"

Write the number: "ninety-nine"

Exercise 3 · Choose the correct spelling

Which spelling is correct for 40?

Exercise 4 · Build the number

Write in words: 30 + 6 = ?

Write in words: 50 + 2 = ?

Write in words: 80 + 9 = ?

Exercise 5 · Teen or -ty?

Which word means 13?

Which word means 15?

Which word means 18?

Quick challenge

Five quick questions to check what stuck.

Question 1 / 5

Score: 0/0

14 = ?

You learned

  • 0–20 have important basic forms to learn.
  • Tens include twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, etc.
  • 21–99 normally use tens + ones.
  • 100 is one hundred.
  • 1,000 is one thousand.