Thread: Pronouncing big numbers

I didn't see an "English for Americans, Britons, Canadians, Austrailians, etc." but this seemed pretty close.

Would you pronounce a number like 146 like:

a: one hundred forty six

b: one hundred and forty six


I hear many people interject an "and" in there, and sometimes saying a number without saying "and" can sound quite unnatural.

I was taught that the use of "and" is quite wrong in cases like your example above, as the use of an "and" indicates a decimal (e.g. you would say "one hundred fifty dollars and forty cents" but not "one hundred and fifty dollars and forty cents") Then again, it is possible I was taught incorrectly.

I remember quite clearly my first grade teacher Mrs.Schultz smacking us on the backs of our heads when we said 'and' in a number. A whole lesson was devoted to teach us 'the correct' way of saying a number.
146 would in her terms be one hundred forty six. That to me at least sounds correct, but the beatings may have helped with that
I do throw the 'and' in all the time, both sound pretty normal.

Originally Posted by Линдзи

(e.g. you would say "one hundred fifty dollars and forty cents" but not "one hundred and fifty dollars and forty cents") Then again, it is possible I was taught incorrectly.

Hehe, That sound completely normal to me, but I do live in a pretty hick and grammaticaly indifferent state. My neighbor Billybob might even ask "Kain you borree me a hun'red aind fourty seeks duhllers?"

One hundred and forty six is standard in British English. Couldn't bear to omit it, myself. Talk about divided by a common language or however it goes.

I would never, never, NEVER *ahem* say "One hundred fourty six" that sounds completely wrong. I disagree with the teacher who hit people, because the "and" is not just inserted because it is lazy, common, incorrect usage, but because you always insert an "and" after a hundred, just like in French a ten-one always has an and:

"trente-et-un" correct (assuming it has hyphens - i'm not imagining that am I?)
"trente un" incorrect.

Discuss

Given that the subject of the thread is 'pronouncing' .. I think we should also mention:
In British English, we say 'a hundred and forty six' but the 'and' is almost always reduced to 'n'. You can also say 'one hundred 'n' forty six' but that's less common.
But when it comes to a thousand you generally have to say 'one thousand three hundred' not 'a thousand three hundred', but you *can* say 'a thousand' instead of 'one thousand'. There are a lot of little 'rules' like this, although they're not super-important.

doesn't matter. you can say it either way, both are excepted!

that's an interesting spelling mistake

I hear some people say "One fourty six", but thats incorrect. I think the right way is One hundred and fourty six, but a lot of people I hear don't speak proper like that. They shorten it.

Here's yet another opinion! This one from the perspective of a math tutor. One should never say "and" unless you are indicating a decimal point. So 146 would be read "one hundred forty-six". "146.5" would be read "one hundred forty-six and five tenths.

However I would never hit a child over it!

It's interesting to note that in British English this is not the case. It is amazing how our language (or should I say languages?!) is so similar and yet very different at the same time.

Frances[/i]

What about the word 'point'? I heard 146.5 can be said like 'one hundred 'n' fourty six point five'

In America it is collequal (however uncorrectly) to pronounce 146 like: "one hundred 'n (or and) forty six".

When we want to a number with a decimal point we will say 'point' followed by each number singularly or grouped. For example, 146.46 is pronounced: "one hundred 'n (or and) forty six point four six" or "one hundred 'n (or and) forty six point forty six"

Confused yet?

Also I often hear fifteen hundred instead of one thousand five hudred for 1500. Is this common in America and GB?

It's common in America (for 1,500) to say either fifteen hundred or one thousand five hundred. The reason we say fifteen hundred is because fifteen hundreds equal 1,500. It is slightly informal to say fifteen hundred.

You can say 'fifteen hundred' in dates, but not in much else. Otherwise, at least in Britspeak, use "one thousand five hundred".

[edit:] This is bollocks. You can also say 'there were fifteen hundred casualties' or 'fifteen hundred pianolas'. Gah, I don't know.

Hey, on that subject, does anyone remember having long discussions with friends back in the 90s about 'what will we call the year when it gets to 2000? And we ended up going for two thousand, two thousand and one etc. instead of oh-one or zero-one, even though it's the longest option.
Is there a shorthand version for dve tisyacha blah blah gody in Russian?

on the subject of decimals out loud, here is my way of saying it, which I believe to be correct:

1375.677567

"One thousand, three hundred and seventy-five point six seven seven five six seven"

when you say the section after the decimal point you do not read it as a large number, but as single digits

From my side I'm not sure how to pronounce it in Russian. Probably so: “Тысяча триста семьдесят пять целых, шестьсот семьдесят семь тысяч пятьсот шестьдесят семь миллионных.” Right?

In Russian, wouldn't it be written as 173,203485 insead of 173.203485?

Originally Posted by emka71aln

In Russian, wouldn't it be written as 173,203485 insead of 173.203485?

Right.