Numerals

The cardinal numbers (one, two, three, four…) are used to refer to quantity and the ordinal numbers (first, second, third, fourth…) are used to describe an order type.

CARDINAL NUMBERS AND ORDINAL NUMBERS

1	one	1st – first
2	two	2nd – second
3	three	3rd – third
4	four	4th – fourth
5	five	5th – fifth
6	six	6th – sixth
7	seven	7th – seventh
8	eight	8th – eighth
9	nine	9th – ninth
10	ten	10th – tenth
11	eleven	11th – eleventh
12	twelve	12th – twelfth
13	thirteen	13th – thirteenth
14	fourteen	14th – fourteenth
15	fifteen	15th – fifteenth
16	sixteen	16th – sixteenth
17	seventeen	17th – seventeenth
18	eighteen	18th – eighteenth
19	nineteen	19th – nineteenth
20	twenty	20 – twentieth
21	twenty-one	21st – twenty-first
22	twenty-two	22nd – twenty-second
23	twenty-three	23rd – twenty-third
24	twenty-four	24th – twenty-fourth
25	twenty-five	25th – twenty-fifth
26	twenty-six	26th – twenty-sixth
27	twenty-seven	27th – twenty-seventh
28	twenty-eight	28th – twenty-eighth
29	twenty-nine	29th – twenty-ninth
30	thirty	30th – thirtieth
31	thirty-one	31st – thirty-first
40	forty	40th – fortieth
50	fifty	50th – fiftieth
60	sixty	60th – sixtieth
70	seventy	70th – seventieth
80	eighty	80th – eightieth
90	ninety	90th – ninetieth
100	one hundred	100th – hundredth
500	five hundred	500th – five hundredth
1.000	one thousand	1.000th – one thousandth
1.500	one thousand five hundred, or fifteen hundred	1.500th – one thousand five hundredth
100.000	one hundred thousand	100.00th – one hundred thousandth
1.000.000	one million	1.000.000th – one millionth

Use the word zero when reading decimals, percentages, phone numbers and some expressions.

Letter ‘o’ is used to read years, times or addresses.

Nil is used to refer to sports scores

Nought is old-fashioned English and it’s rarely used. Some teachers use it to teach math.

zero	Used to read the number by itself, in reading decimals, percentages, and phone numbers, and in some fixed expressions.
o (the letter name)	Used to read years, addresses, times and temperatures
nil	Used to report sports scores
nought	Not used in the USA

DECIMALS

FRACTIONS

MEASUREMENTS

PERCENTAGES

9%	nine percent
28%	twenty-eight percent
47.25%	forty-seven point two five percent
100%	one hundred percent
500%	five hundred percent

YEARS

2017

2006

2000

1905

1900

860

2000BC

twenty seventeen or two thousand seventeen

two thousand six

two thousand

nineteen o eight

nineteen hundren

eight hundred sixty or eight sixty

two thousand BC