Why do you need numerals in English and how to use them correctly?

Numerical - one of the first topics that take place in the study of a foreign language. The reasons are clear: you can apply this knowledge right away. Children begin to count toys and other items, and adults exchange phone numbers, plan their time and pay for purchases. Important dates are, all kinds of measurements, mathematical actions. Certainly, numerals in English are an important part of everyday speech.

What can numeral be?

Starting this topic, it is necessary, first of all, to memorize the quantitative numerals. In English, as in Russian, they denote a certain number of subjects and answer the question "How much?" (How many?). Among them are simple and composite numbers. The first number includes numbers from 1 to 20 and dozens. Compound numbers are considered as 25, 67, 172, etc.

In addition to quantitative, there are also ordinal numerals, which allow you to answer the question "Which account, which?". For example: He is not a winner, but he is the second (second). Applying them in a speech, one should use a definite article or another word indicating membership (John's second wife / My first teacher).

For the formation of ordinal numbers, the corresponding numeric numeral is taken and the suffix -th is added, although there are a few exceptions. So, the following ordinal numerals in English need to be memorized: the first, the second, the third. Minor spelling changes are characteristic of the fifth (fifth), the ninth (9th), the twelfth (12th).

Working with tens (20, 30, 40) and converting them into ordinal numbers, you should replace the final vowel -y with the alphabetic combination -ie-, to which the suffix -th (the thirtieth, the eightieth) is added.

The first ten

Numbers from 1 to 9 are the main ones for memorization, with their help hundreds, thousands, and also compound numerals in English are formed. They all have a simple foundation, but their pronunciation and writing sometimes causes some difficulty for the students.

To the same group are the digits 0 and 10. The number "ten" as a measure of measurement was known many centuries ago, when people had only fingers for counting. Until now, when teaching children the account, most parents resort to the finger method.

The number 0 can be pronounced in several ways. The first, standard - zero. It is used for temperature, counting in most sports games, for counting down. There are other ways to designate this number. For example, in situations where it is important to call each digit separately, the word oh ['ɔu] is used. In the British version of English there is also the word nil [nil], used in sports.

11-19 and dozens

Almost all numerals entering the second dozen have a characteristic suffix -teen. The exceptions are 11 and 12 (eleven, twelve). Etymologists believe that these names appeared in those days when people could only count with the help of their fingers and began to use the expressions "one stayed" and "two left", preserved in the language up to our days.

Numerals 13 - 19 contain a stem taken from the corresponding numbers of the first ten, and the suffix -teen (for example, fourteen - 14). In three forms there are small changes in spelling: 13 - thirteen, 15 - fifteen, 18 - eighteen. With a simple enumeration, one should emphasize the first syllable, but if the noun is next, the second becomes the stressed syllable. This important rule should be observed with the goal that the speech does not confuse numbers that end in -teen and -ty.

Dozens always end in the -ty (twenty, eighty) suffix. These are simple numerals in English. The table presented above gives an idea of the change in the basis and suffixes, about exceptions and incorrect forms of words.

Composite numbers

As in any language, dozens and units are used in compound numbers, hundreds and thousands. Numbers from 21 to 99 should be written through a hyphen (fifty-four, sixty-nine).

After 100 dozens are joined with the help of the union and. If there are no tens, but there are units, a similar rule applies. The hundreds are denoted by the word hundred, thousands - thousand, million - million, billion - billiard. When the number (two hundred, five million) is specified exactly, the word stands in the singular. If an undefined number is implied, the ending -s is added to the numerator (for example, thousands of dollars - thousands of dollars).

Help to memorize and practice these numerals in English language exercises for addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Arithmetic symbols correspond to the following words: plus (+), minus (-), times or multiplied by (x), divided by (/), equals (=).

47x16-52 = 700 (Forty-seven times sixteen minus fifty-two equals seven hundred)

Features of the pronunciation of dates

Studying numerals in the English language, one can not bypass the writing of dates. All the years until 1999 inclusive, when pronouncing, it should be divided into dozens, for example, 1988 will sound like nineteen eighty-eight. Dates of the new millennium can be called differently. 2000 is two thousand or twenty hundred. The following years, respectively, two thousand and one or twenty oh-one (2001). Since 2010, dozens are again used (twenty ten, twenty seventeen), although we can say two thousand and ten.

To write the date, both quantitative and ordinal numerals are used. In this speech, Englishmen use only ordinal, necessarily with a definite article.

Today is the twentieth of July, twenty sixteen. (Today is July 20, 2016 goals)

If it is necessary to clarify on which day the event occurred, it is necessary to put the preposition ON before the date (My birthday is on 2 ^nd April). Before the year is put preposition IN (He was born in 2009).

Knowledge of numerals is also useful to navigate in time. It's 17.10 (pronounced seventeen ten).

The use of numerals in everyday situations requires an excellent knowledge of this topic. It is worth taking some time to practice to easily pay for purchases, communicate and exchange information in English.