How to read ALL NUMBERS in English - BIG NUMBERS, Decimals, Dates, Fractions, Phones, Ordinals

Summary

In this comprehensive lesson, Lucy from 'English with Lucy' teaches how to confidently read and understand numbers in English. The video covers various aspects, including reading large numbers, how to pronounce them correctly, and common pitfalls such as the use of 'zero' vs 'nought'. Lucy also explains how to read phone numbers, football scores, and temperatures, as well as how to form ordinal numbers and handle fractions and decimals. The lesson is filled with examples, helpful tips, and a downloadable PDF study guide to aid further practice and learning.

Takeaways

• 😀 Learning how to read numbers in English can significantly boost confidence, especially with large or complex numbers.
• 😀 Use 'zero' or 'nought' to pronounce the digit '0', but when saying numbers like phone or bank account numbers, 'O' is common.
• 😀 When reading phone numbers, divide them into groups of two or three digits and use 'double' when numbers are repeated (e.g., 'double 362').
• 😀 For temperature, use 'zero' (e.g., 'The temperatures are unlikely to rise above zero').
• 😀 In British English, sports scores are often read with 'nil' (e.g., 'Liverpool beat Man United 1 nil'), while Americans use 'zero' or 'nothing'.
• 😀 Ordinal numbers (e.g., 1st, 2nd, 3rd) indicate order, with most ending in 'th'. Irregular forms include 'first', 'second', and 'third'.
• 😀 Stress shifts in numbers like 13-19 and 30-60 can change based on their placement within a sentence (e.g., 'She's SEVenteen' vs. 'She's got seventeen exAMS').
• 😀 For larger numbers, such as 100, 1,000, and 1,000,000, use 'hundred', 'thousand', and 'million', without adding 's' (except in specific cases).
• 😀 When reading large numbers, remember to add 'and' between hundreds, thousands, or millions and numbers below 100 (e.g., 'one hundred and eleven').
• 😀 Ordinal numbers for dates differ between British and American English (e.g., 'the 6th of February' in Britain vs. 'February 6th' in America).
• 😀 Fractions are read using ordinal numbers (e.g., 'a third', 'two-thirds'), and for decimals, simply read each digit separately (e.g., 'one point seven five').

Q & A

What are some common ways to pronounce the number 0 in English?

The number 0 can be pronounced as 'zero' or 'nought'. When saying numbers one at a time (like phone numbers or bank account numbers), 'zero' is used, while 'nought' is often used for temperature.

How are phone numbers typically read in English?

Phone numbers in English are usually read by saying each digit individually, but the digits are often grouped into chunks of two or three. For example, '704, 8695'. If a number repeats twice, the word 'double' is used, like 'double 362'.

What is the common British English term for football scores?

In British English, football scores are often read using 'nil'. For example, 'Liverpool beat Man United 1 nil'. Americans are more likely to say 'one - zero' or 'one - nothing'.

What’s the difference in stress when pronouncing numbers like 13, 30, 40, etc.?

For numbers like 30, 40, 50, and 60, the stress is placed on the first syllable (e.g., THIR-ty, FORT-y). For numbers like 13, 14, 15, 16, the stress is typically on the '-teen' part of the number (e.g., thir-TEEN, FOUR-teen).

How do we pronounce large numbers like 100 or 1000 in English?

The number 100 is typically pronounced as 'a hundred' or 'one hundred'. Similarly, 1000 is 'a thousand'. These numbers don’t take an 's' in the plural form, except in specific phrases like 'hundreds of thousands'.

When should the word 'and' be included in numbers?

The word 'and' is added between hundreds, thousands, and millions, and numbers below 100. For example, 'one hundred and eleven', 'one thousand and twelve'. It is not used if the number ends in double zeros, like 'one thousand one hundred'.

How do we pronounce numbers like 2000 or 2024 in English?

For years like 2001 to 2009, the full number is read out, like 'two thousand and one'. For years from 2010 onward, both 'two thousand and ten' or 'twenty ten' are acceptable.

What’s the difference between cardinal and ordinal numbers?

Cardinal numbers represent quantity (e.g., one, two, three), while ordinal numbers represent position or order (e.g., first, second, third). Ordinal numbers often end in 'th', with exceptions for 'first', 'second', and 'third'.

How do we form ordinal numbers in English?

Most ordinal numbers are formed by adding 'th' to the cardinal number (e.g., fifth, sixth). However, for numbers like 5 and 12, the 'v' sound changes to 'f', making 'fifth' and 'twelfth'. In casual speech, these can sometimes be pronounced as 'fith' and 'twelth'.

How are fractions expressed in English?

Fractions are expressed using ordinal numbers, like 'a third of a pizza' or 'two-thirds of a pizza'. The word 'of' is usually added before a noun, except when 'half' is used, where 'of' is optional.