Mata Kuliah : Praktik Bahasa Inggris I

Pertemuan : 2
Dosen Pengampu : Ikhwan Wahidin S.S., S.Pd., M.Pd.

NUMBERS
A. Cardinal and Ordinal Number

The cardinal numbers (one, two, three, etc.) are adjectives referring to quantity, and the ordinal
numbers (first, second, third, etc.) refer to distribution.

Number Cardinal Ordinal

1 one first

2 two second

3 three third

4 four fourth

5 five fifth

6 six sixth

7 seven seventh

8 eight eighth

9 nine ninth

10 ten tenth

11 eleven eleventh

12 twelve twelfth

13 thirteen thirteenth

14 fourteen fourteenth
Number Cardinal Ordinal

15 fifteen fifteenth

16 sixteen sixteenth

17 seventeen seventeenth

18 eighteen eighteenth

19 nineteen nineteenth

20 twenty twentieth

21 twenty-one twenty-first

22 twenty-two twenty-second

23 twenty-three twenty-third

24 twenty-four twenty-fourth

25 twenty-five twenty-fifth

26 twenty-six twenty-sixth

27 twenty-seven twenty-seventh

28 twenty-eight twenty-eighth

29 twenty-nine twenty-ninth

30 thirty thirtieth

31 thirty-one thirty-first

40 forty fortieth

50 fifty fiftieth

60 sixty sixtieth
 Number Cardinal Ordinal

70 seventy seventieth

80 eighty eightieth

90 ninety ninetieth

100 one hundred hundredth

500 five hundred five hundredth

1,000 one thousand thousandth

one thousand five hundred, or one thousand five

1,500
fifteen hundred hundredth

100,000 one hundred thousand hundred thousandth

1,000,000 one million millionth

Examples

 There are twenty-five people in the room.

 He was the fourteenth person to win the award.
 Six hundred thousand people were left homeless after the earthquake.
 I must have asked you twenty times to be quiet.
 He went to Israel for the third time this year.

B. Reading decimals

Read decimals aloud in English by pronouncing the decimal point as "point", then read each digit
individually. Money is not read this way.

Written Said
0.5 point five
0.25 point two five
0.73 point seven three
0.05 point zero five
0.6529 point six five two nine
 Written Said
2.95 two point nine five

C. Reading fractions

Read fractions using the cardinal number for the numerator and the ordinal number for the
denominator, making the ordinal number plural if the numerator is larger than 1. This applies to
all numbers except for the number 2, which is read "half" when it is the denominator, and
"halves" if there is more than one.

Written Said
1/3 one third
3/4 three fourths
5/6 five sixths
1/2 one half
3/2 three halves

D. Pronouncing percentages

Percentages are easy to read aloud in English. Just say the number and then add the word
"percent".

Written Pronounced
5% five percent
25% twenty-five percent
36.25% thirty-six point two five percent
100% one hundred percent
400% four hundred percent

E. Reading sums of money

To read a sum of money, first read the whole number, then add the currency name. If there is a
decimal, follow with the decimal pronounced as a whole number, and if coinage has a name in
the currency, add that word at the end. Note that normal decimals are not read in this way. These
rules only apply to currency.

Written Spoken
25$ twenty-five dollars
 Written Spoken
52€ fifty-two euros
140₤ one hundred and forty pounds
forty-three dollars and twenty-five cents (shortened
$43.25
to "forty-three twenty-five" in everyday speech)
€12.66 twelve euros sixty-six
₤10.50 ten pounds fifty

F. Pronouncing measurements

Just read out the number, followed by the unit of measurement, which will often be abbreviated
in the written form.

Written Spoken
60m sixty meters
25km/h twenty-five kilometers per hour
11ft eleven feet
2L two liters
3tbsp three tablespoons
1tsp one teaspoon

G. Pronouncing years

Reading years in English is relatively complicated. In general, when the year is a four digit
number, read the first two digits as a whole number, then the second two digits as another whole
number. There are a few exceptions to this rule. Years that are within the first 100 years of a new
millenium can be read as whole numbers even though they have four digits, or they can be read
as two two-digit numbers. Millennia are always read as whole numbers because they would be
difficult to pronounce otherwise. New centuries are read as whole numbers of hundreds. We do
not use the word "thousand", at least not for reading years within the past 1000 years.

Years that have just three digits can be read as a three digit number, or as a one digit number
followed by a two-digit number. Years that are a two digit number are read as a whole number.
You can precede any year by the words "the year" to make your meaning clear, and this is
common for two and three digit years. Years before the year 0 are followed by BC, pronounced
as two letters of the alphabet.

Interestingly, these rules apply to reading street addresses as well.

 Written Spoken
2014 twenty fourteen or two thousand fourteen
2008 two thousand eight
2000 two thousand
1944 nineteen forty-four
1908 nineteen o eight
1900 nineteen hundred
1600 sixteen hundred
1256 twelve fifty-six
1006 ten o six
866 eight hundred sixty-six or eight sixty-six
25 twenty-five
3000 BC three thousand BC
3250 BC thirty two fifty BC

H. How to say 0

There are several ways to pronounce the number 0, used in different contexts. Unfortunately,
usage varies between different English-speaking countries. These pronunciations apply to
American English.

Pronunciation Usage
Used to read the number by itself, in reading decimals,
zero 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

Examples

Written Said

Three point zero four plus two point zero two makes five point
3.04+2.02=5.06
zero six.

There is a 0% chance of rain. There is a zero percent chance of rain.

 Written Said

The temperature is -20⁰C. The temperature is twenty degrees below zero.

You can reach me at 0171 390 You can reach me at zero one seven one, three nine zero, one
1062. zero six two

I live at 4604 Smith Street. I live at forty-six o four Smith Street

He became king in 1409. He became king in fourteen o nine.

I waited until 4:05. I waited until four o five.

The score was 4-0. The score was four nil.

Taken from https://www.ef.com/wwen/english-resources/english-grammar/numbers-english/