Numbers
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Numbers
“I have often admired the mystical way of Pythagoras, and the secret magic of numbers.”
(Religio Medici)
Everyone speaking English needs to say numbers. Saying numbers usually requires practice. Being
skilled in saying numbers makes it easier for students of management to perform more accurately in
their future everyday work (e.g. in meetings, negotiations, presentations, on the telephone, etc.). This
material should help you review things you have already learned about numbers. Furthermore, it adds
some relevant information on how to say or write more complex numerical expressions.
Cardinal numbers (základné číslovky)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
one
two
three
four
five
six
seven
eight
nine
ten
eleven
twelve
thirteen
fourteen
fifteen
sixteen
seventeen
eighteen
nineteen
20
21
22
25
30
33
37
40
44
48
50
56
60
69
70
75
80
83
90
twenty
twenty-one
twenty-two
twenty-five
thirty
thirty-three
thirty-seven
forty
forty-four
forty-eight
fifty
fifty-six
sixty
sixty-nine
seventy
seventy-five
eighty
eighty-three
ninety
100
101
110
112
195
199
200
256
300
389
400
405
500
600
672
700
800
900
999
a hundred / one hundred
a hundred and one
a hundred and ten
a hundred and twelve
a hundred and ninety-five
a hundred and ninety-nine
two hundred
two hundred and fifty-six
three hundred
three hundred and eighty-nine
four hundred
four hundred and five
five hundred
six hundred
six hundred and seventy-two
seven hundred
eight hundred
nine hundred
nine hundred and ninety-nine
Notice that in British English we use and before the tens in a number.
In American English and is normally omitted.
British English
American English
110
a hundred and ten
a hundred ten
526
five hundred and twenty-six
five hundred twenty-six
831
eight hundred and thirty-one
eight hundred thirty-one
Exercise
Practise saying these numbers.
a 556
b 97
c 823
English for Managers I
d 341
e 748
f 111
g 669
h 82
i 905
j 432
k 333
l 90
Numbers
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Large numbers
When writing numbers greater than 999 we use a comma (,):
1,201 a thousand two hundred and one
14,225 fourteen thousand two hundred and twenty-five
25,000 twenty-five thousand
Note that commas are not used in dates (the year 2005). For more information see POINT 9.
1,000
a thousand / one thousand
5,836
five thousand eight hundred and thirty six
10,000
ten thousand
12,000
twelve thousand
100,000
a hundred thousand / one hundred thousand
254,789
two hundred and fifty-four thousand, seven hundred and eighty-nine (BrE)
two hundred fifty-four thousand, seven hundred eighty-nine (AmE)
1,000,000
a million / one million
3,000,000
three million
500,000,000
five hundred million / half a billion
1,000,000,000
a billion / one billion / a thousand million
2,000,000,000
two billion
3,270,000,000
three billion, two hundred and seventy million
1,000,000,000,000
a trillion / a million million
In the singular, the words hundred, thousand, million or billion are preceded by a or one (for
example we can say a thousand or one thousand). One is a more formal expression and a greater
stress is usually put on this word by speakers than on the word a.
These days, financial statements are usually prepared on a computer. Excel spreadsheets can be set to
insert commas in large numbers but sometimes commas are not used. That means that the number
75,684 appears as 75684 or 75 684. In many scientific books and papers commas are not normally
used but instead spaces are left (2 500 000 – two million, five hundred thousand).
Exercise
Practise saying and writing numbers a – l.
a
26,000,000
b
8,000,000,000,000
c
1,262
d
5,004
e
2,473
f
3,630,005
English for Managers I
Numbers
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g
6,000,000,000
h
2,224,000
i
1,066
j
10,000,001
k
64,975
l
9,897,123
In imprecise numbers, hundreds, thousands, millions or billions take a plural form.
Compare:
The coat cost nine hundred pounds.
The coat cost hundreds of pounds.
2

The antique clock cost thousands of pounds.

The cruiser Queen Mary 2 cost hundreds of millions.

I can give you hundreds of examples.

The article the and the preposition of occur in millions of English sentences.

The company is selling thousands a week.

Some execs earn millions of dollars a year.

During the night 400,000 bats can eat tons of insects.
Decimal points
Unlike the Slovak language, English uses a decimal point (.) for decimals (desatinné čísla).
Compare:
12,001
twelve thousand and one
12.001
3
twelve point oh oh one
The figure 0 (zero)
The figure 0 is usually called nought [no:t] in British English, and zero [zi:rƏu] in American English.
4a The figure 0 in decimals
Before a decimal point we say either nought or zero:
0.7 nought point seven (BrE)
zero point seven (AmE)
After a decimal point we say oh [Əu]:
English for Managers I
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0.02 nought point oh two
0.006 nought point oh oh six
4b The figure 0 in some situations
a Hotel room numbers
I’m on the top floor, room 901.
(nine oh one)
b Bus numbers
You can take the bus No. 802.
(eight oh two)
c Flight numbers
IB 340
(three four oh)
BA 401
(four oh one)
d Years
1905
(nineteen oh five)
e Car registration numbers
BA 307 DM
f Bank account numbers
0200834061
g Temperature
–3C
three degrees below zero (or minus three degrees)
+5C
five degrees above zero (or plus five degrees)
4c The figure 0 in sport
Zero scores in team games are called nil [nil]. We say it e.g. in football scores.
Artmedia Bratislava – Glasgow Rangers: 0 – 0 (nil all)
Juventus Turin – Bayern Munich: 2 – 1 (two one to Juventus)
A: ‘What’s the score?’
B: ‘3 – 0’. (three nil)
Spain won the match 1 – 0 (one nil).
In tennis the word love is used. It is said that this expression comes from the French word l’oeuf that
means ‘the egg’ – the figure 0 looks like an egg.
Forty – love; Agassi to serve.
The score is 15 – 0 (fifteen love).
4
Telephone numbers
We say each figure separately pausing after groups of three or four. When the same digit comes twice
we usually say double. Numbers of area codes are grouped together.
035 442 368 oh three five / double four two / three six eight
0421 2 5349 1122 oh four two one / two / five three four nine / double one double two
043 553 877 oh four three / double five three / eight double seven
041 643 999 oh four one / six four three / nine double nine
English for Managers I
Numbers
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Exercise 1
What’s your phone number? _____________________________
Practise saying it as quickly as possible.
Exercise 2
Write these numbers in full. Show breaks ( / ) between groups.
5
a
(0181) 645 744
b
(0033) 135 786 390
c
(0043) 718 578 88
d
(0192) 553 449
e
(00420) 654 27 389
Decimals
In English all the digits after a decimal point are read separately.
a 10.66
ten point six six (NOT ten point sixty six)
b 0.328
c 6.55
d 3.14159
e 0.002
Prices
If the number after the decimal point is a unit of money, it is read like a normal number.
a €12.70
twelve euros seventy OR twelve euros and seventy cents
b £8.30
eight pounds thirty
c SKK 98.50
ninety-eight crowns fifty OR ninety-eight Slovak crowns fifty
d $46.90
e SFr14.25
British money
There are 100 pence in a pound. Sums of money are named as follows:
1p
one penny (informal one p OR a penny)
5p
five pence (informal five p)
£4.65
four pounds sixty-five OR four pounds and sixty-five pence
English for Managers I
Numbers
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American money
There are 100 cents (¢) in a dollar. Sums of money are named very much as in British English.
However, some coins have special names.

one-cent coins
=
pennies

ten-cent coins
= dimes

five-cent coins
=
nickels

a twenty-five cent coin
= a quarter
6
Calculating
+
–
 or *
 or /
=
20 + 5 = 25
20 – 4 = 16
5 x 4 = 20
10 : 3 = 3.333
7
plus / and / add
minus / subtract / deduct / take away
times / multiplied by
divided by
equals / is
Twenty plus five is twenty-five.
Twenty and five equals twenty-five.
Twenty minus four is sixteen.
Twenty take away four equals sixteen.
Five times four equals twenty.
Five multiplied by four is twenty.
Ten divided by three is three point three recurring.
Square, cube and root
102
ten squared
103
ten cubed
4
10
ten to the power (of) four
106
ten to the power (of) six
The preposition ‘of’ is optional.
√25
8
the square root of 25
Ordinal numbers (radové číslovky)
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th
8th
9th
10th
first
second
third
fourth
fifth
sixth
seventh
eighth
ninth
tenth
English for Managers I
11th
12th
13th
14th
15th
16th
17th
18th
19th
20th
eleventh
twelfth
thirteenth
fourteenth
fifteenth
sixteenth
seventeenth
eighteenth
nineteenth
twentieth
21st
30th
40th
50th
60th
70th
80th
90th
twenty-first
thirtieth
fortieth
fiftieth
sixtieth
seventieth
eightieth
ninetieth
Numbers
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The names of kings and queens are said with ordinal numbers.
9
Henry VIII
Henry the Eighth
Louis XIV
Louis the Fourteenth
Elizabeth II
Elizabeth the Second
Fractions
Fractions are usually like ordinal numbers, however, there are some exceptions:
1
/2
/4
3
/4
1
2 /2
13/4
1
a half
a quarter
three quarters
two and a half
one and three quarters
Complete the table.
1
5
3
2
1
5
61/2
23/4
/3 a third
/5
/8
/8 five eighths
/3
/6
10 Dates
In English we write 20 December but we say the twentieth of December or December the twentieth.
We can write the date using dots (.) or slashes (/): 20.12.05 or 20/12/05.
In British English the day of the month comes first and the month follows, so 21.12.05 is 21 December
2005. On the other hand, in American English, the month comes first, and the day second, so 12.01.05
is December 1, 2005.
11 Years
We write 1997 and 2005 but say nineteen ninety-seven and two thousand and five or twenty oh five.
We write decades as the 1960s or 1980s or just the ‘80s and we say the nineteen sixties or the nineteen
eighties or the eighties. Notice that there is no apostrophe before the s.
Practise saying the following dates:
(1)
31 December 2005 ………………………………………………………………….
(2)
6 January 2006 ……………………………………………………………………..
(3)
25 February 1987 …………………………………………………………………..
(4)
1 August 2004 ……………………………………………………………………...
English for Managers I
Numbers
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(5)
11 September 2001 …………………………………………………………………
(6)
1 May 2002 ………………………………………………………………………...
(7)
30 June 2003 ……………………………………………………………………….
(8)
1 November 1999 ………………………………………………………………….
(9)
4 August 1998 ……………………………………………………………………..
(10) Your birthday: _____________________________________________________
12 Centuries
Note how the names of centuries relate to the years in them.
1501 – 1600
the 16th century
1601 – 1700
the 17th century
1701 – 1800
the 18th century
1801 – 1900
the 19th century
1901 – 2000
the 20th century
13 Numbers as nouns and adjectives
Note that numbers can also function as nouns in both singular and plural.
 a football eleven
 the eighties

a five-pound note

an eight-month waiting list

a ten dollar note

a twenty pound price cut

a five-foot deep hole

a fifty thousand dollar car

a six-mile walk

a ten-minute walk to work

a two-month old baby

an eleven degree fall in temperature

a six-foot tall man

a five pence stamp

a twelve week term

four four-hour lessons
14 Numbers in English Idioms
Idioms are fixed expressions whose meaning is not immediately obvious from looking at the
individual words in the idiom. For example, the expression at the eleventh hour means almost too
late, but we cannot deduce this by only looking at the words. Moreover, Slovak uses a little bit
different phrase(s) (e.g. v hodine dvanástej, or o päť minút dvanásť) to express the same idea. In
addition, while some idioms are fixed in their form, and can be neither changed nor varied, it is
English for Managers I
Numbers
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possible to make grammatical or vocabulary variations in many other idioms. This makes it difficult
for learners of English to study and use idiomatic expressions in suitable situations accurately and
appropriately.
Negotiators reached agreement at the eleventh hour, just in time to avoid bringing production to a
complete standstill.
Idioms below are based on the fact that all of them contain a number or numbers. Read them
and try to find some equivalents in Slovak. Learn them by heart.
1
Thanks a million!
2
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
3
I’m in seventh heaven.
4
Danny: Comenius University is the best university in the whole region.
John: Yes, it’s second to none, isn’t it?
5
Mary: Professor Komornik is the cleverest man I’ve ever met.
Kate: Yes, he’s second to none, isn’t he?
6
The Browns wanted to move next month but their new house is being built very slowly. It
happens this way nine times out of ten.
7
Martin is an adult now so he has to learn to stand on his own two feet.
8
The Queen is a very famous person, but she has always kept both feet on the ground.
9
As George is a very ambitious man, he will never settle for second best.
10
Living in France and working in the United Kingdom gives Frank Peters the best of both
worlds – British salaries and a French lifestyle.
11
We were at sixes and sevens for about a week after we arrived in London.
12
‘Who do you think is to blame – the management or the blue-collar workers?’
‘It’s six of one and half a dozen of the other.’
English for Managers I