Building on our previous lessons on numbers, this week we’ll discuss how to express numbers ranging from 1,000,000 to 999,999,999,999,999. We’ll also share some shortcuts that can make writing very large numbers more manageable.

 

If you need more help with numbers or any other aspect of the English language, contact the English Island in Atlanta. Our passionate, dedicated ESL teachers can create a lesson plan that is tailored to your individual needs.

 

Millions

7, 8, and 9 digit numbers are expressed in terms of millions, tens of millions, and hundreds of millions, respectively:

 

1,000,000	One million	10,000,000	Ten million	100,000,000	One hundred million
2,000,000	Two million	20,000,000	Twenty million	200,000,000	Two hundred million
3,000,000	Three million	30,000,000	Thirty million	300,000,000	Three hundred million
4,000,000	Four million	40,000,000	Forty million	400,000,000	Four hundred million
5,000,000	Five million	50,000,000	Fifty million	500,000,000	Five hundred million
6,000,000	Six million	60,000,000	Sixty million	600,000,000	Six hundred million
7,000,000	Seven million	70,000,000	Seventy million	700,000,000	Seven hundred million
8,000,000	Eight million	80,000,000	Eighty million	800,000,000	Eight hundred million
9,000,000	Nine million	90,000,000	Ninety million	900,000,000	Nine hundred million

 

 

Billions

For 10, 11, and 12 digit numbers, use billions, tens of billions, and hundreds of billions:

 

1,000,000,000	One billion	10,000,000,000	Ten billion	100,000,000,000	One hundred billion
2,000,000,000	Two billion	20,000,000,000	Twenty billion	200,000,000,000	Two hundred billion
3,000,000,000	Three billion	30,000,000,000	Thirty billion	300,000,000,000	Three hundred billion
4,000,000,000	Four billion	40,000,000,000	Forty billion	400,000,000,000	Four hundred billion
5,000,000,000	Five billion	50,000,000,000	Fifty billion	500,000,000,000	Five hundred billion
6,000,000,000	Six billion	60,000,000,000	Sixty billion	600,000,000,000	Six hundred billion
7,000,000,000	Seven billion	70,000,000,000	Seventy billion	700,000,000,000	Seven hundred billion
8,000,000,000	Eight billion	80,000,000,000	Eighty billion	800,000,000,000	Eight hundred billion
9,000,000,000	Nine billion	90,000,000,000	Ninety billion	900,000,000,000	Nine hundred billion

 

 

Trillions

13, 14, and 15 digit numbers are “named” in trillions, tens of trillions, and hundreds of trillions:

 

1,000,000,000,000	One trillion	10,000,000,000,000	Ten trillion
2,000,000,000,000	Two trillion	20,000,000,000,000	Twenty trillion
3,000,000,000,000	Three trillion	30,000,000,000,000	Thirty trillion
4,000,000,000,000	Four trillion	40,000,000,000,000	Forty trillion
5,000,000,000,000	Five trillion	50,000,000,000,000	Fifty trillion
6,000,000,000,000	Six trillion	60,000,000,000,000	Sixty trillion
7,000,000,000,000	Seven trillion	70,000,000,000,000	Seventy trillion
8,000,000,000,000	Eight billion	80,000,000,000,000	Eighty trillion
9,000,000,000,000	Nine trillion	90,000,000,000,000	Ninety trillion

 

100,000,000,000,000	One hundred trillion
200,000,000,000,000	Two hundred trillion
300,000,000,000,000	Three hundred trillion
400,000,000,000,000	Four hundred trillion
500,000,000,000,000	Five hundred trillion
600,000,000,000,000	Six hundred trillion
700,000,000,000,000	Seven hundred trillion
800,000,000,000,000	Eight hundred trillion
900,000,000,000,000	Nine hundred trillion

 

 

By combining everything we have learned in our numbers lessons, we can count all the way to 999,999,999,999,999. Here are just a few examples:

 

5,000,304	five million three hundred four
20,747,919	twenty million seven hundred forty-seven thousand nine hundred nineteen
1,034,657,382	one billion thirty-four million six hundred fifty-seven thousand three hundred eighty-two
600,523,896,000	six hundred  billion five hundred twenty-three million eight hundred ninety-six thousand
999,999,999,999,999	nine hundred ninety-nine trillion nine hundred ninety-nine billion nine hundred ninety-nine million nine hundred ninety-nine thousand nine hundred ninety-nine

 

As you can see, expressing large numbers in English can be very complicated. To make writing large numbers easier, you can combine Arabic numerals (1,2,3…) and cardinal numbers (the words we have learned). For example, 28,000,000 can be written as 28 million. 3,700,000,000 can be shortened to 3.7 billion.

 

In situations where absolute accuracy is not important, native English speakers will often round large numbers for the sake of clarity and concision. According to recent estimates, the Atlanta metropolitan area has 5,522,942 residents. Rather than trying to write this entire number out, you can say that Metro Atlanta has over 5.5 million, about 5.5 million, or just 5.5 million residents.