How to Read Numbers in English
There are probably many English learners who can read numbers up to the thousands, but numbers higher than that can get tricky.
We're here to help! This time, we'll share some handy tips for reading numbers in English, including decimals, fractions and very large numbers you may sometimes see or read about in the news.
How to Read Basic Numbers
First, let's look at the basics of numbers 0 –100.
Once you know how to read numbers from 0 to 20 and 100, the rest are easy to remember because they follow a pattern.
0 – 10
0 – 10, of course, is the most basic set of numbers, so be sure to have these completely memorized.
11 – 19
Except for 11 (eleven) and 12 (twelve), notice that the rest of the numbers end in "-teen."
This is where we get the words "teen" and "teenager," which refer to boys and girls between the ages of 13 and 19.
20 – 90
After ten itself, each unit of ten ends in -ty: 20 (twenty), 30 (thirty), 40, 50, 60, 70, 80 and 90.
Be careful not to write 40 as "fourty" — the correct spelling is "forty" (with no "u").
100 – 999
The unit of measure for three digits is "hundred." Note that there is generally no "s" when reading these numbers; so 200 is read "two hundred," 300 is "three hundred," etc. This is also true for bigger numbers with more digits ("thousand," "million", etc.).
However, "s" is added in expressions like "hundreds of ~" and "thousands of ~," as in the following examples.
- They live hundreds of miles away from us.
- There are thousands of fans in the stadium.
- The tourist area is visited by millions of travelers every year.
How to Read Numbers with Many Digits
For large numbers, every set of three digits means moving to a new unit.
Thousands
If there are three digits to the right of the comma, the number is in the thousands.
1,000 → one thousand
10,000 → ten thousand
100,000 → one hundred thousand
Note that especially in the US, there is often no comma after the first digit for numbers between 1000 and 9999. For example, you may see either 4,500 or 4500. However, both of these numbers are read in the same way: "four thousand five-hundred."
Related article: Should You Learn British English or American English?
Millions
If there are six digits after the comma, the number is in the millions.
1,000,000 → one million
10,000,000 → ten million
100,000,000 → one hundred million
Billions
Numbers in the billions have nine digits after the comma, three more digits than numbers in the millions.
1,000,000,000 → one billion
10,000,000,000 → ten billion
100,000,000,000 → one hundred billion
Let's review:
Number + three digits = thousand
Number + six digits = million
Number + nine digits = billion
Once you've memorized that, you can quickly read numbers just by looking at the number to the left of the comma.
You won't usually need to count higher than the billions, but there are rare cases with even bigger numbers. For example, in October 2024, the Russian government fined Google an incredible $2.5 decillion! Read about it in our Daily News English lesson here.
How to Read Numbers with Decimals
Next, let's look at how to read decimals and fractions, which are often used in mathematics and business.
Note that in the following examples, the period (".") is pronounced "point."
5.34 → five point three four
28.59 → twenty-eight point five nine
You don't have to say the first zero if the number begins with "0."
0.03 → zero point zero three / point zero three
How to Read Fractions
Fractions have two parts: a "numerator" (the number on the top or to the left of the line) and a "denominator" (the number on the bottom or to the right).
Denominators are what are called "ordinal numbers." Ordinal numbers are used to express order or rank, as in "first," "second," "third," etc. (The official name for regular numbers like "one," "two," "three," etc. is "cardinal numbers.")
For more information on ordinal numbers, check out the following article: How to Correctly Say the Date in English
| Cardinal number | Ordinal number |
| 1 | first |
| 2 | second |
| 3 | third |
| 4 | fourth |
| 5 | fifth |
| 6 | sixth |
| 7 | seventh |
| 8 | eighth |
| 9 | ninth |
| 10 | tenth |
| 20 | twentieth |
| 30 | thirtieth |
| 40 | fortieth |
| 50 | fiftieth |
| 60 | sixtieth |
| 70 | seventieth |
| 80 | eightieth |
| 90 | ninetieth |
| 100 | hundredth |
Now that we have reviewed ordinal numbers, let's look at how to read fractions.
2/3 → two-thirds
The numerator is read as the cardinal (regular) number "two," and the denominator is read as the ordinal number "third." In this case, 1/3 represents one of three parts. So because we have two of them, "third" is plural — "two-thirds."
5/8 → five-eighths
Here, too, "5/8" represents five of eight parts, so "eighth" is the plural "eighths."
What about when the denominator is two or four? Things are a little different.
1/2 → one-half
Note that this is read as "one-half," not "one-second."
1/4 → one-fourth / one-quarter / a quarter
3/4 → three-fourths / three-quarters
The plural "s" is added to quarter ("three-quarters") since the fraction represents three parts of a total of four.
Larger fractions are sometimes expressed using "over." In this case, both the numerator and denominator are read as cardinal numbers.
39/75 → thirty-nine over seventy-five
How to Read Phone Numbers
The simplest way to read phone numbers is one by one. Remember that the hyphens are not read aloud.
It's best to leave a pause at each comma to make it easier for the other person to understand.
- (516) 345-4142 → Five one six, three four five, four one four two
"0" can be read as "zero" or "oh."
- (906) 705-9005 → Nine zero six, seven zero five, nine zero zero five
- (906) 705-9005 → Nine oh six, seven oh five, nine oh oh five
People often combine the last four numbers, reading them as two sets of two digits.
- (516) 345-4142 → Five one six, three four five, forty-one, forty-two
- (674) 441-2970 → Six seven four, four four one, twenty-nine, seventy
How to Read Room Numbers
The way to read a room number depends on the number of digits it contains.
One digit
Room 5 → Room five
Two digits
Room 15 → Room fifteen
Three digits
Room 103 → Room one oh three
Room 316 → Room three one six / Room three sixteen
Four digits
Room 1102 → Room eleven oh two
This can also be read as "one one zero two," but "eleven oh two" is more common and natural.
Room 1521 → Room fifteen twenty-one
Again, "one five two one" is also OK, though it is less common.
Wrap-Up
This article has covered various ways to read numbers, so it may take time for you to get comfortable using them all. But that's OK — take advantage of opportunities to practice in your conversations and they will gradually become more natural to you.
When you're ready for more tips on reading and saying numbers in English, check out the following articles:
