English Numbers: Learning to Count from 1 to 100

Basic Numbers (1-20)

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

30 – Thirty

40 – Forty

50 – Fifty

60 – Sixty

70 – Seventy

80 – Eighty

90 – Ninety

Pattern for Numbers 21-99

After twenty, English numbers follow a consistent pattern:

  • Tens are formed with special words: twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, sixty, seventy, eighty, ninety
  • For numbers between tens (like 21, 22, etc.), combine the ten with a hyphen and the single digit:
    • 21 = twenty-one
    • 35 = thirty-five
    • 48 = forty-eight
    • 67 = sixty-seven
    • 92 = ninety-two

Common Mistakes to Avoid

  1. Remember that “forty” is spelled without a “u”
  2. Use hyphens when writing compound numbers (twenty-one, not twenty one)
  3. The word “and” is not used between tens and ones in American English

Practice Examples

Let’s look at how to write and say some numbers:

  • 25: twenty-five
  • 38: thirty-eight
  • 52: fifty-two
  • 74: seventy-four
  • 99: ninety-nine

Special Case: 100

100- One Hundred

One hundred is written without a hyphen. When referring to exactly 100, you can say either “a hundred” or “one hundred.”

Pronunciation Tips

  • Stress is usually on the first syllable of each number
  • In compound numbers (21-99), both parts are stressed:
    • TWEN-ty-FIVE
    • THIR-ty-EIGHT
    • NINE-ty-NINE