When A Number Has A

When a number has a single digit (number) in the "thousands"
group and when the last two digits are 00, people usually say
the number as "___ hundred."
Examples:
written said
1,100 eleven hundred
2,700 twenty-seven hundred
5,900 fifty-nine hundred
7,400 seventy-four hundred
9,200 ninety-two hundred
Native English speakers do not say large numbers this way

if the last three digits are 000:
1,000 = one / a thousand
but 1,100 = eleven hundred (or one thousand one hundred)
6,000 = six thousand
but 6,500 = sixty-five hundred (or six thousand five hundred)
1,900 = nineteen hundred (or one thousand nine hundred)
but 2,000 = two thousand
3,900 = thirty-nine hundred (or three thousand nine hundred)
but 4,000 = four thousand
Introduction
This thread is about how we say numbers in English and how we write them in
words rather than digits. This post explains how to say whole numbers. The next
post goes on to talk about decimal numbers. Further posts about numbers ex-
pressed as fractions and percentages may be added later.
It is work in progress and is based almost entirely on discussions in these forums.
There are significant differences between American English and British English.
These are indicated clearly below. There are also significant regional and other vari-
ations.
Saying numbers is not as difficult as it may seem at first. Get the numbers from 1
to 999 right and the rest is easy. We read numbers in groups of up to three digits
counting in threes from the decimal point leftwards - the groups we mark out with
commas. We actually read the numbers from left to right, of course.
How to read a three-digit number.
001-099
It probably isn’t necessary to explain these.
One, two, three... nineteen, twenty, twenty-one... ninety-nine.
100-999
The numbers 100-199 begin with one hundred... or a hundred...
With large numbers it is usually one hundred ... but in other contexts a
hundred ... is more natural. See a/one hundred
Numbers 200-999 begin with two/three/etc hundred...
What about those three dots after hundred? How do we say the 00-99?
Easy, just the same as in the 001-099 section.
How do we put them together – the hundreds and the 00-99 part?
AE/BE difference.
AE: Many put them together without any joining words. Others use a joining and as
in BE.
103 ... one hundred three OR one hundred and three
119 ... one hundred nineteen [numbers ending with thirteen through nineteen usu-
ally do not have a joining and]
546 ... five hundred forty-six [a joining and is used by a minority of AE speakers for
spoken numbers, and more frequently in writing]
BE: We put them together with a joining and.

103 ... one hundred and three
119 ... one hundred and nineteen
546 ... five hundred and forty-six
Words used after each group of three digits.

When saying large numbers we say them in groups of three, as above, following
each with thousand, million, as appropriate.
ZZZ,WWW,QQQ,YYY,XXX<.>
Starting from the decimal point and moving left, the words used for the groups are:
ZZZ,WWW,QQQ,YYY,XXX – these are units, no additional word is used.
ZZZ,WWW,QQQ,YYY,XXX – thousand
ZZZ,WWW,QQQ,YYY,XXX – million
ZZZ,WWW,QQQ,YYY,XXX – billion
ZZZ,WWW,QQQ,YYY,XXX – trillion
And so on.
The word is always singular, not plural - twenty-three thousand, NOT twenty-
three thousands.
See What comes after trillion? for the names of the –illion groups.
BE speakers (and perhaps others) who persist in the illusion that AE and BE have
different billions should read Meaning of "Billion".
It’s long, but there is a summary in the first post.
Putting it together.
To read a large number we start at the left and read the three-digit groups. The
group at the left, of course, may have only one or two digits.
What do we say to join the groups?
Normally, we don’t use any joining word.
The exception is the last group.
If the last group after the thousands is 1-99 it is joined with and.
For example, 4,001 to 4,099: (four) thousand and one to (four) thousand and
ninety-nine.
But 4,201: four thousand two hundred and one – no and after thousand.
Examples
Optional AE style is given in [brackets in italic]
1,234,567
AE: one million, two hundred [and] thirty-four thousand, five hundred [and] sixty-
seven
BE: one million, two hundred and thirty-four thousand, five hundred and sixty-
seven
1,023,456
AE: one million, twenty-three thousand, four hundred [and] fifty-six
BE: one million, twenty-three thousand, four hundred and fifty-six
1,023,000
AE: one million, twenty-three thousand
BE: one million, twenty-three thousand
1,234,056
AE: one million, two hundred thirty-four thousand [and] fifty-six
BE: one million, two hundred and thirty-four thousand and fifty-six

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When a number has a single digit (number) in the "thousands"

2,700 twenty-seven hundred

5,900 fifty-nine hundred

7,400 seventy-four hundred

9,200 ninety-two hundred

Native English speakers do not say large numbers this way

1,000 = one / a thousand

but 1,100 = eleven hundred (or one thousand one hundred)

6,000 = six thousand

but 6,500 = sixty-five hundred (or six thousand five hundred)

1,900 = nineteen hundred (or one thousand nine hundred)

but 2,000 = two thousand

3,900 = thirty-nine hundred (or three thousand nine hundred)

but 4,000 = four thousand

BE: We put them together with a joining and.

Words used after each group of three digits.

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