Master English Numbers

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English numbers are mostly regular, but "eleven" and "twelve" stand out as oddities. They come from Old English words meaning "one left over" and "two left over" (after ten), rather than following the "-teen" pattern. These irregular forms survived because they were among the most frequently used words in daily life. English ordinals are also quirky — "first," "second," and "third" bear no resemblance to their cardinal counterparts.

Watch the videos below, then download the Foreign Numbers app and practice what you've learned!

Below are the cardinal and ordinal numbers in English:
Numeral Cardinal Ordinal
0 zero zeroth
1 one first
2 two second
3 three third
4 four fourth
5 five fifth
6 six sixth
7 seven seventh
8 eight eighth
9 nine ninth
10 ten tenth
11 eleven eleventh
12 twelve twelfth
13 thirteen thirteenth
14 fourteen fourteenth
15 fifteen fifteenth
16 sixteen sixteenth
17 seventeen seventeenth
18 eighteen eighteenth
19 nineteen nineteenth
20 twenty twentieth
21 twenty-one twenty-first
30 thirty thirtieth
40 forty fortieth
50 fifty fiftieth
60 sixty sixtieth
70 seventy seventieth
80 eighty eightieth
90 ninety ninetieth
100 one hundred one hundredth
1000 one thousand one thousandth
1000000 one million one millionth
1000000000 one billion one billionth

Number data and information courtesy of Omniglot.