Cardinal Numbers - 1 (one), 2 (two) etc. (Used mainly for counting)
Ordinal Numbers - 1st (first), 2nd (second) etc. (Used mainly for putting things in a sequence)
Cardinal Numbers
Cardinal numbers are normally used when you:
- count things: I have two brothers. There are thirty-one days in January.
- give your age: I am thirty-three years old. My sister is twenty-seven years old.
- give your telephone number: Our phone number is two-six-three, three-eight-four-seven. (481-2240)
- give years: She was born in nineteen seventy-five (1975). America was discovered in fourteen ninety-two
Ordinal Numbers
You can normally create Ordinal numbers by adding -TH to the end of a Cardinal Number.
Ordinal numbers are normally used when you:
- give a date: My birthday is on the 27th of January. (Twenty-seventh of January)
- put things in a sequence or order: Liverpool came second in the football league last year.
- give the floor of a building: His office is on the tenth floor.have birthdays: He had a huge party for his twenty-first birthday.
Fractions and Decimals
We use ordinal numbers (at the end position) to talk about fractions.
1/2 - a half
1/3 - a third
2/3 - two thirds
1/4 - a quarter (a fourth)
3/4 - three quarters (three fourths)
1/5 - a fifth
2/5 - two fifths
1/6 - a sixth
5/6 - five sixths
1/7 - a seventh
1/8 - an eighth
1/10 - a tenth
7/10 - seven tenths
1/20 - a twentieth
47/100 - forty-seven hundredths
1/100 - a hundredth
1/1,000 - a thousandth
Notice that for 1/4, you can say a quarter OR a fourth.
IF we have a whole number with a fraction, we use the word AND between the two parts.
e.g. 2 3/5 = two and a three-fifths
For parts of whole numbers, we use a decimal point (and NOT a comma).
e.g. 2 1/2 (two and a half) = 2.5 (two point five)
If there is more than one number after the decimal point, we say each number individually.
e.g. 3,456.789 = three thousand, four hundred and fifty-six point seven eight nine.
The exception to this rule is when we are talking about dollars and cents (or pound and pence)
e.g. $21.95 = twenty-one dollars, ninety-five (cents). Saying the word cents at the end is optional.
e.g. $21.95 = twenty-one dollars, ninety-five (cents). Saying the word cents at the end is optional.
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