Numeral adjectives in English
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Sign up for freeNumber adjectives are used to show the precise countable number of things and people. They can show quantity, order, and position of nouns. Unlike quantity adjectives, they can be used only with countable nouns.
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Cardinal numbers are numbers used to directly refer to a quantity of something and ones we use on a daily basis in our speech when talking about the exact quantity of something.
Number | Written form numbers |
---|---|
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 |
List: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20
Number | Written form numbers |
---|---|
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 |
List: 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30
All remaining numbers with an ending different than zero follow the same structure as the one with twenty.
Number | Written form numbers |
---|---|
40 | Forty |
50 | Fifty |
60 | Sixty |
70 | Seventy |
80 | Eighty |
90 | Ninety |
100 | One hundred |
List: 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100
Number | Written form numbers |
---|---|
100 | One hundred |
200 | Two hundred |
300 | Three hundred |
400 | Four hundred |
500 | Five hundred |
600 | Six hundred |
700 | Seven hundred |
800 | Eight hundred |
900 | Nine hundred |
1.000 | One thousand |
List: 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, 900, 1000
Forming hundreds follow the same structure as the table with twenty above. However, at the front, you add what amount of a hundred it is + and.
Number | Written form numbers |
---|---|
1000 | One thousand |
2000 | Two thousand |
3000 | Three thousand |
4000 | Four thousand |
5000 | Five thousand |
6000 | Six thousand |
7000 | Seven thousand |
8000 | Eight thousand |
9000 | Nine thousand |
10 000 | Ten thousand |
100 000 | One hundred thousand |
1 000 000 | One million |
1 000 000 000 | One billion |
Percentages in a text are written by first writing the exact numerical value of it and adding the word percent after it, which can also be substituted for the % symbol.
Ordinal numbers are used to show us how something or someone is ranked on a list and what their exact position is. They are only used to refer to a position but not a quantity which is what we use cardinal numbers for. Majority of the ordinal numbers follow the same structure with the exception from the written version of 1 to 4 as we can see from the table below.
Ordinal number | Written form |
---|---|
1st | First |
2nd | Second |
3rd | Third |
4th | Fourth |
5th | Fifth |
6th | Sixth |
7th | Seventh |
8th | Eighth |
9th | Ninth |
10th | Tenth |
11th | Eleventh |
12th | Twelfth |
13th | Thirteenth |
14th | Fourteenth |
15th | Fifteenth |
16th | Sixteenth |
17th | Seventeenth |
18th | Eighteenth |
19th | Nineteenth |
20th | Twentieth |
21st | Twenty-first |
30th | Thirtieth |
40th | Fortieth |
50th | Fiftieth |
60th | Sixtieth |
70th | Seventieth |
80th | Eightieth |
90th | Ninetieth |
100th | One hundredth |
Ordinal numbers and their written form are rather specific thus it is important to pay attention to ensure the correct form is written.
1. The most special cases are the first three numbers:
First | Twenty-first | Fifty-first | Two hundred and first |
Second | Twenty-second | Sixty-second | Three hundred and second |
Thid | Twenty-third | Sixty-third | Four hundred and twenty-third |
As we can see from the table the form for first, second, and third remains a constant regardless of where it is used in a positional manner.
2. The case of 11, 12, 13: While the ending number of them is the same as the one we discussed in the first example they are exception to the rule and always needs to be written in one specific way.
The main diffrence between the two is that cardinal numbers directly refer to a quantity whereas ordinal numbers only refer to a position but not quantity.
However, the two work hand in hand as excluding the exception all of the other ordinal numbers are formed by adding the suffix -th to the cardinal number.
Cardinal number | Ordinal number |
---|---|
Seven | Seventh |
Nine | Ninth |
Twenty-four | Twenty-fourth |
Thirty-five | Thirty-fifth |
1 Ordinal numbers in English | Ordinal numbers definition, categories, chart, examples, exercises |