English: Numbers 0 to 100

Level: A1. Numbers come up every day — prices, times, ages, phone numbers and dates. English numbers follow clear patterns once you learn the first twenty words and the names of the tens.

By the end of this page you can…

…count from 0 to 100, read any two-digit number aloud, tell the teens from the tens by their stress, and avoid the common spelling traps.

The building blocks: 0 to 12

The first thirteen numbers each have their own word and simply must be learned:

Number	Word	Number	Word
0	zero	7	seven
1	one	8	eight
2	two	9	nine
3	three	10	ten
4	four	11	eleven
5	five	12	twelve
6	six

Zero has several spoken forms: zero (neutral), oh (for phone numbers and years: room two-oh-five), nil (football scores), and nought (British, for the digit itself).

The teens: 13 to 19

From 13 to 19, you add -teen to the single digit. Three of them change spelling slightly:

13 thirteen (not threeteen), 15 fifteen (not fiveteen), 18 eighteen (one t).
The rest are regular: 14 fourteen, 16 sixteen, 17 seventeen, 19 nineteen.

The tens: 20 to 90

The tens end in -ty. Watch the three irregular spellings:

Ten	Word	Ten	Word
20	twenty	60	sixty
30	thirty	70	seventy
40	forty	80	eighty
50	fifty	90	ninety

Note forty has no u (unlike four), fifty matches fifteen, and eighty keeps a single t.

Joining tens and units: 21 to 99

For any two-digit number, say the ten first, then the unit, joined by a hyphen in writing:

21 = twenty-one, 35 = thirty-five, 48 = forty-eight, 99 = ninety-nine.

There is no little word between them. English does not say forty and five; that is a common mistake from other languages.

Reaching 100

100 is a hundred or one hundred. Use a hundred in everyday speech (it costs a hundred dollars) and one hundred when you are counting or being precise.

Example sentences

Play each line and say the number aloud. Notice the stress on the teens and tens.

I have two brothers and one sister.

Small numbers for counting people.
There are seven days in a week.

A common everyday fact.
My phone number ends in oh-five.

'Oh' is used for the digit 0 in phone numbers.
She is thirteen years old.

A teen number: stress the end, thir-TEEN.
The bus leaves at thirty past the hour.

A ten: stress the front, THIR-ty.
Fourteen plus four is eighteen.

Teens in a simple sum.
The ticket costs fifteen dollars.

A price with a teen number.
My grandfather is fifty years old today.

A round ten.
Forty people came to the party.

Note the spelling: forty, no u.
The book has twenty-one chapters.

A two-digit number with a hyphen.
I counted thirty-five cars in the car park.

Ten plus unit: thirty-five.
He scored forty-eight points in the game.

Another joined number.
The train has ninety-nine seats.

The highest two-digit number.
That is one hundred per cent correct.

'One hundred' for precise counting.
It cost about a hundred euros.

'A hundred' in relaxed speech.
My address is number sixty-two.

A house number read as a whole.
There are sixty seconds in a minute.

A useful round number.
Please turn to page seventy-three.

Reading a page number aloud.
The speed limit here is eighty.

A ten used alone.
We invited twenty-six guests.

A two-digit number for a count.

Recap card for the English numbers 0 to 100 lesson showing the teens, the tens and how to join them

Quick recap before you practise.

Practice

Numbers 0 to 100 practice

Try each one, then press Check. No sign-up, nothing is sent anywhere — it all runs in your browser.

1 How do you write 48 in words? four-eight fourty-eight forty-eight forty and eight

Show answer

forty-eight — 40 is 'forty' (no u) and you join it to the unit with a hyphen: forty-eight.

2 Which number stresses its FIRST syllable? thirteen thirty fourteen nineteen

Show answer

thirty — The tens (THIR-ty) stress the front; the teens (thir-TEEN) stress the end.

3 Write 35 in words (use a hyphen): ____

Hint: ten first, then the unit

Show answer

thirty-five — Say the ten then the unit, joined: thirty-five.

4 Put the tens in counting order from 20.

Show answer

twenty thirty forty — Counting up: twenty, thirty, forty.

5 Match each number to its word.

15 Match for 15
50 Match for 50
40 Match for 40
90 Match for 90

Show answer

15 → fifteen
50 → fifty
40 → forty
90 → ninety

Watch the spellings: fifteen/fifty, forty (no u), ninety.

How to say it

A few number words trip up English learners — focus on these.

Teens vs tens. Thirteen = thir-TEEN (stress the end); thirty = THIR-ty (stress the front). This stress is the only clue in fast speech.
-th endings. Three and thirty start with a soft th (tongue between the teeth), not a t or s sound.
Forty rhymes with sporty; there is no u sound, unlike four.
Hundred is said “hun-dred”, with the stress on the first part; don’t drop the d.

Quiz

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English: Numbers 0 to 100

By the end of this page you can…

The building blocks: 0 to 12

The teens: 13 to 19

The tens: 20 to 90

Joining tens and units: 21 to 99

Reaching 100

Example sentences

Practice

Numbers 0 to 100 practice

How to say it

Quiz

Numbers 0 to 100 quiz

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