{"id":1828,"date":"2012-08-26T09:00:22","date_gmt":"2012-08-26T13:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/?p=1828"},"modified":"2014-10-14T02:39:17","modified_gmt":"2014-10-14T06:39:17","slug":"numbers-review-part-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/numbers-review-part-i\/","title":{"rendered":"Numbers Review – Part I"},"content":{"rendered":"

Numbers are often some of the first words language learners are taught in a new language.\u00a0 This doesn’t necessarily mean that learning numbers is easy.\u00a0 In fact most people continue to count instinctively in their native language even after obtaining a high level of fluency in a second language.\u00a0 Numbers always just seem to be easier for us to remember and use in our native language.<\/p>\n

Over the next three posts I will present a review of some topics related to numbers in English.\u00a0 I hope this will help to get you thinking and practicing your numbers in English.\u00a0 If you can find ways to practice using English numbers in your everyday life, for example when you are out shopping try to think about how to say the price of something in English, or if you go to the gym and you are counting the number of time you lift a weight, or if you get money out from the bank, this will really help your number fluency.\u00a0 There are many of way you can practice using English numbers everyday.\u00a0 Over time, with practice, using numbers in English will come more and more naturally to you.<\/p>\n

The English counting system is a base-10 number system in which all numbers between 1 and 9 are repeated over and over again.\u00a0 (I mention this because there are other counting systems that are not base-10.)\u00a0 Because English is a base-10 system it means learning the numbers between 1 and 9 is essential in order to learn to count in English.\u00a0 There are two types of numbers in English ‘ordinal’ and ‘cardinal.’\u00a0 Below is a table with the numbers 0-10 written in these two forms.\u00a0 What is the difference between these two types of numbers?\u00a0 Cardinal numbers are used to talk about quantity.\u00a0 These numbers answer the questions ‘How many?’ and they are are also used for simple counting.\u00a0 Ordinal numbers are used to talk about a thing’s position in a series in relation to other things, such as in a race, ‘first<\/em> place, second<\/em> place, and third<\/em> place.’\u00a0 These ordinal numbers are used to talk about the order of the race finishers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\n

Cardinal<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Ordinal<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

0<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

zero, oh, nil<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

—-<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

1<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

one<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

1st<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

first<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

2<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

two<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

2nd<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

second<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

3<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

three<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

3rd<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

third<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

4<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

four<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

4th<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

fourth<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

5<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

five<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

5th<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

fifth<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

6<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

six<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

6th<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

sixth<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

7<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

seven<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

7th<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

seventh<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

8<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

eight<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

8th<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

eighth<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

9<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

nine<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

9th<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

ninth<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

10<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

ten<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

10th<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

tenth<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Even though English is a base-10 system there are of course a few exceptions to this system.\u00a0 As any English learner knows there is no number ‘one-teen’ or ‘two-teen’, we say “eleven<\/em>” and “twelve<\/em>” in English, and then begin counting again in the base-10 system with “thirteen”, “fourteen”, etc.\u00a0 Why is this?\u00a0 Well, before Napoleon’s France adopted the decimal system most people based their counting systems on a base-12 system, including the English speaking world.\u00a0 A base-12 system might be considered more difficult to work with today, but it is in fact more flexible than a base-10 system, which is why so many societies used a base-12 system in the past.\u00a0 (For example: Ten can be divided by itself, five and two, where as twelve, can be divided by itself, six, four, three and two; giving two more possibilities including thirds and quarters which are very useful in everyday life.)\u00a0 Napoleon thought a base-10 system was better though and that changed how much of Europe viewed numbers from then forward.\u00a0 The names of the modern day number “eleven” and “twelve” in English come from the Old Norse\u00a0 language (which used a base-12 system)\u00a0 “eleven<\/em>” was ‘elleve’ and “twelve<\/em>” was ‘tolv’.<\/p>\n

The following table looks at ordinal and cardinal numbers in the teens (numbers 11-19), as well as a few numbers in the twenties (20-29), thirties (30-39), forties (40-49), fifties, (50-59), sixties (60-69), seventies (70-79), eighties (80-89), and nineties (90-99).\u00a0 This should help you see the pattern of this base-10 system.\u00a0 Tomorrow we will turn our attention to number higher than 99!<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\n

Cardinal<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Ordinal<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

11<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

eleven<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

11th<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

eleventh<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

12<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

twelve<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

12th<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

twelfth<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

13<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

thirteen<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

13th<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

thirteenth<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

14<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

fourteen<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

14th<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

fourteenth<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

15<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

fifteen<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

15th<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

fifteenth<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

16<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

sixteen<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

16th<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

sixteenth<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

17<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

seventeen<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

17th<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

seventeenth<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

18<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

eighteen<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

18th<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

eighteenth<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

19<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

nineteen<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

19th<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

nineteenth<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

20<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

twenty<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

20th<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

twentieth<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

21<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

twenty-one<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

21st<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

twenty-first<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

30<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

thirty<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

30th<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

thirtieth<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

32<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

thirty-two<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

32nd<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

thirty-second<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

40<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

forty<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

40th<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

fortieth<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

43<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

forty-three<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

43rd<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

forty-third<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

50<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

fifty<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

50th<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

fiftieth<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

54<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

fifty-four<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

54th<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

fifty-fourth<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

60<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

sixty<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

60th<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

sixtieth<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

65<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

sixty-five<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

65th<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

sixty-fifth<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

70<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

seventy<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

70th<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

seventieth<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

76<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

seventy-six<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

76th<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

seventy-sixth<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

80<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

eighty<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

80th<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

eightieth<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

87<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

eighty-seven<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

87th<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

eighty-seventh<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

90<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

ninety<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

90th<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

ninetieth<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

98<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

ninety-eight<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

98th<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

ninety-eighth<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Numbers are often some of the first words language learners are taught in a new language.\u00a0 This doesn’t necessarily mean that learning numbers is easy.\u00a0 In fact most people continue to count instinctively in their native language even after obtaining a high level of fluency in a second language.\u00a0 Numbers always just seem to be…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":85,"featured_media":1831,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[135139,135370],"tags":[3138,7492,111,3330],"class_list":["post-1828","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english-language","category-english-vocabulary","tag-cardinal","tag-number","tag-numbers","tag-ordinal"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1828","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/85"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1828"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1828\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4458,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1828\/revisions\/4458"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}