The numbers

The numbers in English

Cardinal and ordinal numbers

1. Cardinal numbers

Cardinal numbers say how many people or things there are, like one, two, three, four, five, etc.

Ex. There are five books on the desk. These are ten of my classmates.

1 one	2 two	3 three	4 four	5 five	6 six	7 seven	8 eight	9 nine	10 ten
11 eleven	12 twelve	13 thirteen	14 fourteen	15 fifteen	16 sixteen	17 seventeen	18 eighteen	19 nineteen	20 twenty
21 twenty- one	22 twenty- two	23 twenty- three	24 twenty- four	25 twenty- five	26 twenty- six	27 twenty- seven	28 twenty- eight	29 twenty- nine	30 thirty
31 thirty- one	32 thirty- two	33 thirty- three	34 thirty- four	35 thirty- five	36 thirty- six	37 thirty- seven	38 thirty- eight	39 thirty- nine	40 forty
41 forty- one	42 forty- two	43 forty- three	44 forty- four	45 forty- five	46 forty- six	47 forty- seven	48 forty- eight	49 forty- nine	50 fifty
51 fifty- one	52 fifty- two	53 fifty- three	54 fifty- four	55 fifty- five	56 fifty- six	57 fifty- seven	58 fifty- eight	59 fifty- nine	60 sixty
61 sixty- one	62 sixty- two	63 sixty- three	64 sixty- four	65 sixty- five	66 sixty- six	67 sixty- seven	68 sixty- eight	69 sixty- nine	70 seventy
71 seventy- one	72 seventy- two	73 seventy- three	74 seventy- four	75 seventy- five	76 seventy- six	77 seventy- seven	78 seventy- eight	79 seventy- nine	80 eighty
81 eighty- one	82 eighty- two	83 eighty- three	84 eighty- four	85 eighty- five	86 eighty- six	87 eighty- seven	88 eighty- eight	89 eighty- nine	90 ninety
91 ninety- one	92 ninety- two	93 ninety- three	94 ninety- four	95 ninety- five	96 ninety- six	97 ninety- seven	98 ninety- eight	99 ninety- nine	100 one hundred

Specifics:

For numbers bigger than 20,

👉Use a hyphen between compound numbers.

Number	word
21	twenty-one
33	thirty-three
55	fifty-five

Numbers bigger than 100

👉Use a hyphen between compound numbers and the word and.

👉Use either the definite article a or one for 100.

Number	word
121	a/one hundred and twenty-one
333	three hundred and thirty-three
555	five hundred and fifty-five

Numbers bigger than 1,000

👉Use a hyphen between compound numbers and the word and.

👉Use either the definite article a or one for 1,000.

👉Separate three digits with a comma (,) - 10,000.

Number	word
1,121	a/one thousand one hundred and twenty-one
3,333	three thousand three hundred and thirty-three
5,555	five thousand five hundred and fifty-five

2. Ordinal numbers

An Ordinal Number is a number that tells the position of something in a list, such as 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th etc. Ordinal numbers are also used when you need to rank something.

Ex. I finished first at the exam, Mary was second and John was third.

Specifics:

👉Add th to the cardinal number to form the ordinal number: six - sixth

👉Add the last two letters of the written word to the figure. - 4th

👉The ordinal numbers 1st - first, 2nd - second and 3rd - third are irregular.

👉Be careful with the spelling of the words for 5th, 8th, 9th, 12th and the words ending in -y.

Ordinal number	word	translation
1st	first	първи
2nd	second	втори
3rd	third	трети
4th	fourth	четвърти
5th	fifth	пети
6th	sixth	шести
7th	seventh	седми
8th	eighth	осми
9th	ninth	девети
10th	tenth	десети
11th	eleventh	единадесети
12th	twelfth	дванадесети
13th	thirteenth	тринадесети
14th	fourteenth	четиринадесети
15th	fifteenth	петнадесети
16th	sixteenth	шестнадесети
17th	seventeenth	седемнадесети
18th	eighteenth	осемнадесети
19th	nineteenth	деветнадесети
20th	twentieth	двадесети
21st	twenty-first	двадесет и първи
22nd	twenty-second	двадесет и втори
23rd	twenty-third	двадесет и трети
24th	twenty-fourth	двадесет и четвърти
25th	twenty-fifth	двадесет и пети
26th	twenty-sixth	двадесет и шести
27th	twenty-seventh	двадесет и седми
28th	twenty-eighth	двадесет и осми
29th	twenty-ninth	двадесет и девети
30th	thirtieth	тридесети
40th	fortieth	четиридесети
50th	fiftieth	петдесети
60th	sixtieth	шестдесети
70th	seventieth	седемдесети
80th	eightieth	осемдесети
90th	ninetieth	деветдесети
100th	hundredth	стотен
101st	hundred and first	сто и първи
152nd	hundred and fifty-second	сто петдесет и втори
1000th	thousandth	хиляден
1 000 000th	millionth	милионен
1 000 000 000th	billionth	милиарден