How to Write and Read Big Numbers in English —Step-by-Step?

Need to know how to write big numbers in English so to become fluent on them? You’re on the right place. Big numbers follow a simple structure:

Millions + thousands + hundreds + tens + ones

Once you learn this pattern, you can read and write any number — even into the millions. Note, like we did with the previous post, the English numbers here appear with Portuguese translation.

Part 2: Big Numbers

LESSON 1: Big Numbers (Thousand → Billion).— PT “Números Maiores (1.000 → 1.000.000.000)”

1. Thousands — Milhares

2. Numbers between the Thousands. — PT “Números entre os Milhares”

To write big numbers use this pattern: thousands + hundreds + tens + ones — PT Para escrever números maiores, use este padrão: “milhares + centenas + dezenas + unidades”

3. Hundreds of thousands. — PT “Centenas de milhares”

4. One million. — PT “Um milhão”

This is the next big number after 999,999. — PT “Este é o próximo grande número depois de 999.999.”

Lesson 2: Spelling Rules for Big Numbers in English. —PT “Regras de Ortografia para Números Maiores”

1. Use hyphen for 21–99. — PT “ Regra 1: Use hífens para 21–99”.

2. No hyphens for hundreds or thousands. — PT “Regra 2: Sem hífens para centenas ou milhares”

3. The use of “and” is optional. — PT “Regra 3: O uso de “And” é opcional”

— American English: One hundred twenty five

— British style: One hundred and twenty five

4. No “s” in plural. — PT “Regra 4: Sem s no plural”

Exception: hundreds meaning “centenas” in portuguese.

 “Hundreds of people were around” —PR “centenas de pessoas estavam por perto.”

The same can be applied for“Tens”. Exemple: tens of people → dezenas de pessoas

These 4 rules partly help write English numbers correctly.

Lesson 3: Big Numbers in Real Life — How to Use Them? — PR “Números Maiores na Vida Real” Como usá-los passo a passo.

Age → Idade

“She is one hundred two years old.” — PT “Ela tem cento e dois anos de idade.”

Money →Dinheiro

“This phone costs three hundred fifty dollars.” — PT ““Este telefone custa trezentos e cinquenta dólares.”

Population →População

“My town has fifty thousand people.” — PT “A minha cidade tem cinquenta mil habitantes.”

Distance →Distância

“The city is one hundred twenty kilometers away. — PT ““A cidade fica a cento e vinte quilômetros de distância.”

Work →Trabalho

We need three thousandcopies. — PT “Precisamos de três mil cópias.”

Time → Tempo

The video has one million views. — PT “O vídeo tem um milhão de visualizações.”

Lesson 4: How to Write Numbers in Words and Digits in English from Thousand to Billion?

Practice Exercises:

Before we go father with big numbers, let’s review the basic ones (1 to 1000 ) by doing the following three tasks:

A. In your notebook, write the numbers in words — PT “Escreva os números por extensor no seu bloco de notas

B. Write the numbers in digits. — PT “Escreva os números em algarismos”

C. Choose the correct answer. — PT “Escolha a resposta correta.”

D. Translate into Your own Language. — PT “Traduza para o inglês”

For faster mastering these numbers practice using them with real life English vocabulary.

Lesson 5: English Numbers Explained for Beginners from 1 Million to 1 Billion. — PT “Números de 1 Milhão a 1 Bilhão”

How to read big numbers in English?

Here is how:

1,000,000

As we said earlier 1,000,000 is the next number after 999,999. — PT “Este é o número seguinte após 999.999.” So we say:

10,000,000 — PT “10.000.000?”

100,000,000 — PT “100.000.000”

1,000,000,000 — PT “1.000.000.000”

One billion is the next number after 999,999,999. — PT “Um bilhao é o número seguinte após 999.999.999.”

Lesson 6: How to Read Big Numbers? — PT “Como Ler Números Maiores?

How to Read Numbers like 1,234,567 in English?

 As we said earlier, reading numbers in English follow this pattern:

Millions + thousands + hundreds + tens + ones. — PT “milhões + milhares + centenas + dezenas + unidades”

 Example

1,234,567

Full reading — Leitura completa

One million two hundred thirty four thousand five hundred sixty seven —
PT “um milhão duzentos e trinta e quatro mil quinhentos e sessenta e sete”.

More examples on How to Read Big Numbers in English: Step by Step

Lesson 7: Spelling Rules for Big Numbers. — PT “Regras de Ortografia para Números Maiores”

Rule 1: No s —PT “Regra 1: Sem s”

 “In English, million and thousand do not take an ‘s’ when used before nouns. — PT “Em inglês, million e thousand não recebem “s” quando usados antes de substantivos”.

Example: Thousand people attended the meeting.

Rule 2: Use hyphens for 21–99.  — PT “Regra 2: Use hífens para 21–99”

Do the same even inside big numbers this way:

45,678
→ forty-five thousand six hundred seventy eight — PT “quarenta e cinco mil seiscentos e setenta e oito”.

Rule 3: “And” is optional. — PT “And” é opcional

American English:

One million two hundred fifty thousand

British English:

One million two hundred and fifty thousand

Both are correct depending on the country. — PT “Ambos estão corretos; dependendo do país”.

Rule 4: Group numbers in threes. — PT “Regra 4: Agrupe os números em trios”.

“Different countries use different separators, but the structure (millions–thousands–hundreds) is always the same.”

Lesson 8: Big Numbers in Real Life. — PT “Números Maiores na Vida Real”

Money — Dinheiro

The company made two million dollars last year.— PT “A empresa faturou dois milhões de dólares no ano passado.”

The house costs five hundred thousand dollars.—PT “A casa custa quinhentos mil dólares.”

Population — População

My city has three million people.—PT “Minha cidade tem três milhões de habitantes.”

Distance — Distância

The sun is one hundred fifty million kilometers away. — PT “O sol está a cento e cinquenta milhões de quilômetros de distância.”

Social media — Redes sociais

 “The channel has one billion views. —  PT “O canal tem um bilhão de visualizações.”

Work — Trabalho

We produced three million units this year. — PT “Produzimos três milhões de unidades este ano.”

To practice these numbers use them with essential verbs or vocabulary builder. Practice helps build confidence.

Lesson 9: English Numbers from 1,000 to 1 billion — Practice Exercises

A. Write the numbers in words in your Note book. — PT “Escreva os números por extenso no seu bloco de notas”

B. Write the numbers in digits — PT “Escreva os números em algarismos”

C. Choose the correct answer — PT “Escolha a resposta correta”

Lesson 10: Ordinals (Millionth to Billionth). —PT “Ordinais: De Milionésimo a Bilionésimo”

Examples

This is all we had to say about the numbers. What next, now that you know how to write and read basic and big numbers in English? — Here is what: Practice using them in your everyday life. Use them together with English vocabulary and verbs you’ve gone though earlier on this site. Only by practicing you can build confidence in English.

Thank you for reading this post.

I’m Sabino Manuel the creator of “English Journey: Start Speaking with Confidence – One Step at a Time”.