Reading Numbers in English: US vs. UK
We’ve shown you many ways American English and British English differ. These differences carry over to subtle changes in the way we say and use numbers. When you're learning English, it helps to have a good understanding of these subtle differences so you don't use the incorrect version of a date or phone number. We’ve highlighted a few of these differences to give you a better look. Take a look!
Phone numbers
Writing the numbers – formatting
In the US and Canada, numbers are usually separated by dashes. In the UK they are separated by spaces.
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US & Canada |
UK |
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Country code: +1 |
Country code: 0 or +44 |
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Format for mobile and landline: 1-XXX-XXX-XXXX
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Format for mobile: 0XXXX XXXXXX or +44 XXXX XXXXXX Format for landline: 0XX XXXX XXXX or +44 XX XXXX XXXX |
Reading the numbers – repeated numbers
British people often say “double” or “triple” for a number that is repeated. Americans generally just say the numbers individually.
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Example: 1-617-633-7754 |
US: “one, six one seven, six three three, seven seven, five four” |
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UK: “one, six one seven, six double three, double seven five four” |
Reading the numbers – the number 0
“Zero” is the technically correct way to say the number “0”, but English speakers will often say “oh” like the letter O when reading numbers. That’s why James Bond, Agent 007, is called “double oh seven”!
Groups of numbers that end in multiple 0s are usually read as a single number.
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Example: +44 7402 302405 |
US and UK: Plus 44, seven four oh two, three oh two four oh five |
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Example: 1-800-282-3000 |
US and UK: One, eight hundred, two eight two, three thousand |
Dates
Writing the numbers
Americans write dates in the order month, day, year. In British English, the date is written day, month, year, going from smallest unit of time to largest. If you’re working with people from different areas, it’s probably easiest to write out the month to avoid confusion!
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Example: 12/11/17
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US: Month/Day/Year December 11, 2017 |
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UK: Day/Month/Year 12 November 2017 |
Reading the numbers
When saying dates, British people will also add in the words “the” and “of”, whereas American dates don’t have any extra words.
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US |
UK |
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12/11/17 December eleventh, two thousand seventeen |
12/11/17 The twelfth of November, two thousand seventeen |
Money
Another common place to see numbers is in prices. Although the US and UK use different currencies (dollars and cents for the US, pounds and pence for the UK), the ways you can say prices are pretty similar.
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US |
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$5 |
Five dollars |
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$10.78 |
Ten dollars and seventy-eight cents |
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Ten dollars seventy-eight |
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Ten seventy-eight (if context is clear) |
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UK |
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£5 |
Five pounds |
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£10.78 |
Ten pounds and seventy-eight pence |
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Ten pounds seventy-eight |
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Ten seventy-eight (if context is clear) |
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Test yourself!
Every speaker is a bit different, but these are fairly common guidelines. Do you think you’ve mastered the different ways of reading and writing these numbers? Try out the quiz below and see how you do!
