Reading numbers to 100

You know all the tens — twenty, thirty, forty, and so on. Now let's fill in the gaps and read every number up to 100.

The pattern

To read a two-digit number, say the tens, then the ones:

47 → forty-seven
23 → twenty-three
81 → eighty-one

A small dash sits between them when written, but you don't say "dash" — you just glide from one word to the next.

A few full examples

32 = 30 + 2 → "thirty-two"
56 = 50 + 6 → "fifty-six"
79 = 70 + 9 → "seventy-nine"
90 = 90 + 0 → "ninety" (no "and zero" — the zero is silent)
100 = "one hundred"

The number 47 split into 4 bags of ten and 7 loose marbles

Watch out for the teens

Numbers from 11 to 19 are special — they don't follow the new pattern, they have their own names (eleven, twelve, thirteen…). Past 20, the pattern kicks in cleanly.

Try a few

Read these out loud:

(Answers: thirty-five, forty-eight, sixty, seventy-two, ninety-nine.)

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