How to Say BIG NUMBERS in English
Hi.
I’m Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com.
Four thousand two hundred, forty-two hundred,
four grand?
What?
Let’s talk about it.
There are a lot of situations when you need
to use big numbers or when you need to understand
when other people use big numbers.
By big numbers I mean any number over 100.
When you’re talking about hotel rooms, money,
phone numbers, counting items, if this is
a big number, there are different ways that
we can talk about those numbers.
So I want to make sure you can understand
them clearly and accurately and use them yourself.
For all of these big numbers that we’re about
to talk about, they can be a little bit tricky
sometimes to hear the first time.
So native speakers also will often ask for
clarification.
So if you don’t understand a number, it’s
okay to say each individual number like three,
two, five, seven, nine.
That’s totally fine.
Native speakers will sometimes do that for
clarification if they haven’t heard accurately.
But I want you to be able to hear accurately
the first time, so let’s start by talking
about our first set of numbers.
How can we say this number?
One hundred and twelve or one hundred twelve?
Both are okay.
You can add and or you can take out and, one
hundred twelve, one hundred and twelve, or
you might say a hundred twelve.
A hundred twelve.
For things specifically like hotel rooms,
you might also hear one twelve.
Do you see how this splits the number?
One twelve.
There are a lot of other ways that we can
say big numbers, so let’s go on to our next
section.
Two hundred and five or two hundred five?
This is the simplest way to say this number.
For all of these numbers, I’ll be starting
out with the simple option.
You can use the simple option in almost any
situation to talk about money, hotel rooms,
phone numbers, counting items, but there are
also some specified, specific ways that we
use big numbers in different situations.
Maybe you’re not going to feel comfortable
using those right away, but when other people
say them, I want you to be able to understand
what they mean.
What about this, two-O-five?
Here you’re just saying each individual number
two, O, five.
Instead of saying zero, we often say O. And
we use this in specific situations.
Your hotel attended to might say, “Go to room
two-O-five,” or you might use it for a model
number on an electronic item, model two-O-five.
We not use this though for counting.
You wouldn’t say there are two-O-five books
on the shelf.
Instead, we’d use that simple way, there are
two hundred five or two hundred and five books
on the shelf.
So do you see how that second kind of specific
way is used in different situations, but it’s
not used for counting?
There’s a lot to digest in this lesson today
that we’re going to be talking about, a lot
of specific situations for different numbers.
My goal, first of all, if this is the first
time you’ve ever heard these types of things,
is for you to just simply open your mind to
all of these new ways to say numbers.
Feel free to go back and review this lesson,
and you can also just understand them before
you use them yourself.
All right, let’s go to the next one, two hundred
ten, two hundred and ten.
Like I mentioned, these simple ways of saying
big numbers you can use in any situation.
I’m in room two hundred ten.
I have the model number two hundred ten.
In the year two hundred ten.
No problem.
We can use this.
But you will also hear people say two-ten,
separating these two numbers, two-ten.
Your hotel room is number two-ten.
You might say that as part of your phone number,
two-ten, five, eight, nine, three, twenty-two.
Okay, great.
You’re using that as part of a phone number.
This concept works for pretty much any number
under 1,000.
You could say one fifteen, seven fifty, nine
eighty-nine.
Do you see how we’re separating those numbers
under 1,000?
What happens when we get to above 1,000?
You can use it in a simple way, one thousand
seven hundred.
You can you use this in almost any situation,
one thousand seven hundred, or you could say
seventeen hundred.
What’s happening here?
We’re separating this again, but instead of
using the word thousand, we’re using the word
hundred and seventeen, seventeen hundred.
This is extremely common in almost every situation.
The year seven hundred.
I paid seventeen hundred dollars for the service.
Seventeen hundred.
This is really commonly used for eleven hundred
to nineteen hundred.
Above that, we’re not really going to use
this hundred concept.
We don’t really say twenty-two hundred.
It’s not really used as much.
So for the teens, like 11, 12, 13, 14, 15,
16, 17, 18, 19 hundred, you can use this for
the thousands.
There is one word that we use specifically
for money.
So you could say one thousand seven hundred
dollars, you could say seventeen hundred dollars,
or the specific expression grand.
Grand means 1,000.
So if you said one grand, it means $1,000
specifically for money, or you could say 20
grand.
That’s $20,000.
You could say 400 grand and that’s $400,000.
So you will definitely hear this expression,
grand, used only for money, and you can just
substitute the word grant for 1,000.
And in your mind, that will help you to figure
out how much money they’re talking about.
What about this number?
You could say simply one thousand seven hundred
and one or one thousand seven hundred one
and leaving out the word and, or you could
say seventeen-O-one.
Here we’re separating the numbers, seventeen-O-one.
You’re saying those final ones kind of by
themselves, O-one.
This is common for hotel rooms, versions on
an electronic product, years, in the year
seventeen-O-one, or you might see this for
phone numbers.
This is common in those situations, or we
could say seventeen hundred and one.
Seventeen hundred and one.
This is used when we’re talking about items.
There were seventeen hundred and one books
on the shelf.
Seventeen hundred and one.
What about this number, 1,785?
You could use this in a lot of situations,
or specifically you could say seventeen eighty-five.
Here we’re separating this.
It’s common for hotel rooms, you’re staying
in room seventeen eighty-five, or we could
use this for dates, in the year seventeen
eighty-five.
You could use it for versions of a product
or for phone numbers, or you could say seventeen
hundred eighty-five.
This is commonly used for money.
How much does that cost?
Well, seventeen hundred eighty-five dollars.
Seventeen hundred eighty-five dollars.
What about this number?
Now that we’re not in the teens like 1785,
those types of numbers, now that we’re above
that, it gets a little bit simpler.
How can we say this number?
Simply three thousand.
Three thousand.
Can you say thirty hundred?
No.
No.
You cannot say thirty hundred.
You could only say this, like I mentioned
before, below 19.
So nineteen hundred ninety-nine is the last
number that we use with hundred, nineteen
hundred ninety-nine.
But now that we’re above that, 3,000 it’s
just three thousand.
Simple.
What about this, three thousand and one or
three thousand one?
Or we can separate it and say thirty-O-one.
This is specifically used for hotel rooms,
versions of products, years, in the year thirty-O-one,
will humans be around?
We’ll see.
Talk about years, phone numbers, these really
specific situations.
But note that we do not use this for money.
You would not say, “I spent thirty-O-one dollars
yesterday.”
We would not use that.
Instead, you just use the simple version,
three thousand one dollars.
Three thousand one.
What about this number, three thousand three
hundred and thirty?
Or could cut out and say three thousand three
hundred thirty.
We can use this in almost any situation, money,
hotel rooms, dates.
Use it for all of that, or we could separate
it and say thirty-three thirty.
In the year thirty-three thirty.
You could use it for hotel rooms, phone numbers,
versions of products, thirty-three thirty.
But remember, we don’t use this one for money.
We only use that first one for money when
we’re talking about numbers bigger than 1,999.
So we can say, “I spent three thousand three
hundred thirty dollars on this product.”
What about numbers bigger than just four digits?
I have some good news, numbers bigger than
four digits just have one way that we can
say them.
It’s very simple, but let’s practice it together
because there’s going to be a test at the
end of this lesson.
40,000.
This is the only way to say this number, forty
thousand.
Unless we’re talking about money, remember
you can say 40 grand.
That’s going to be the exception to all of
these, but we’re going to just focus on that
simple one, forty thousand.
What if we want to grow that number a little
bit?
You could say forty-two thousand three hundred
seventy-eight, one hundred thousand.
Simple, clear, one hundred thousand, or one
hundred twelve thousand four hundred seventy-three,
two million one hundred ninety thousand three
hundred eighty-two.
What about the population of the earth?
This is an extremely large number.
Perfect for today’s lesson.
Well, at the moment, the population of planet
earth is seven billion, seven hundred eighty-six
million, two hundred thirty-eight thousand,
and sixty-two.
All right, we just talked about a lot of big
numbers, a lot of different ways that we can
talk about these big numbers.
As you can see, there are a lot of options.
So it’s time to take a little test to review
what you’ve learned.
Imagine that you’re back in elementary school
and you have a number and you need to write
out how to spell that number.
But this time, thankfully, you’re not going
to have to take your test paper home to your
mom, so less stress.
I’m going to show you a sentence with a number
in it, and then I’m going to show you two
options.
I want you to choose which option is going
to be best for spelling out and saying that
number.
Sentence number one, I made cookies.
Should you say I made one hundred thirty-two
cookies, or should you say I made thirteen
two cookies?
Which one’s the most natural in this situation?
We’re talking about items, cookies.
We’re not talking about money.
We’re not talking about hotel rooms.
This is just an item.
I’ll give you three seconds.
Three, two, one.
I made one hundred thirty-two cookies.
We’re simply saying the simple answer here,
one hundred thirty-two cookies.
We’re not going to split 13-2 for counting
items in this situation.
Sentence number two, your hotel room is?
What’s a natural way to say this number.
Your hotel room is 1,200 or your hotel room
is 1200.
Think about that for a moment.
Hotel rooms often use specific situations
here, specific types of numbers.
I’ll give you three seconds.
Three, two, one.
Your hotel room is twelve hundred.
Wonderful.
Number three, he was born in?
What’s the best way to say this date?
He was born in one thousand eight hundred
fifty-four, or he was born in eighteen fifty-four?
Should you say this number in the simple way,
or should you split this?
Three, two, one.
He was born in eighteen fifty-four.
For dates, it’s really common to split it
into two sections, eighteen fifty-four.
Number four, she spent on her vacation.
She spent five thousand three dollars on her
vacation, or she spent fifty-O-three dollars
on her vacation.
Which one feels the most correct to you?
Even if you don’t remember the specific date,
which one feels correct?
Follow your heart.
Three, two, one.
She spent five thousand three dollars on her
vacation.
We do not split numbers, like fifty-O-three
dollars, when we’re talking about ones that
are big numbers.
This can be confusing because at least for
dollars, we have dollars and cents.
So if you said, “She spent fifty-O-three,”
this kind of feels like she spent fifty dollars
and three cents.
But instead, she spent five thousand dollars
and three, five thousand and three dollars.
So this is quite different.
Instead, for money, we’re going to just use
that simple version and say, “She spent five
thousand three dollars on her vacation.”
Number five, my phone number is?
How can we say this phone number?
My phone number is five hundred seventy-four
sixty-two, or my phone number is five hundred
seven thousand four hundred sixty-two?
Which one’s the most natural?
Three, two, one.
The answer is, my phone number is five hundred
seventy-four sixty-two.
We often separate numbers and phone numbers.
It just kind of helps us to visualize the
number easier.
So we’re going to separate that into small
segments, seventy-four, sixty-two.
There are about people in my city.
How can we say this number correctly?
We’re talking about a population of people.
We’re just counting these items or these people.
Should you say ninety-two thousand four hundred
fifty-two, or should you say ninety-two million
four hundred fifty-two?
Which one is the most correct?
How many commas do you see here?
There’s only one which means it needs to be,
there are ninety-two thousand four hundred
fifty-two people in my city.
The first comment is a thousand.
The second comma is a million.
The third one is billion, and there are not
92 billion people in my city.
Great work with this lesson.
I know there was a lot of information today,
but numbers are essential, especially big
numbers.
You want to make sure you hear them accurately,
and I want to make sure you can use them as
well.
So I have a challenge for you.
In the comments, can you write this number
out correctly?
There are a couple different ways to write
it correctly, so test yourself, practice a
little bit, read some of the other comments,
and see some of the other ways that you can
say this number correctly.
Well, thank you so much for learning English
with me.
Good luck saying big numbers in English, and
I’ll see you again next Friday for a new lesson
here on my YouTube channel.
Bye.
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Thanks so much.
Bye.