Many new learners of English may have trouble saying large numbers (over 10 thousand) in English. It is really quite easy once you get the hang of it. The secret is to look at the comma separators and place divisions in large numbers.

Numbers below 1000 are easy.

5= five           73= seventy three           129= one hundred and twenty nine

In saying large numbers in English, you are basically repeating this simple process, but between the comma separators you include additional words for the place divisions. These words are thousand, million, billion, trillion, and zillion.

77,503,911=
seventy seven million, five hundred and three thousand, nine hundred and eleven

In this digit,
1- say the basic number before the first comma (77),
2- add the place division word (million),
3- say the basic number before the second comma (503)
4- say the place division word (thousand),
5- then say the small number (911)

Trillion Billion Million ThousandHundred Tens & Ones
1,344 1344
16,79816798
123,787123787
3,655,1023655102
77,503,91177503911
1,689,237,7051689237705
99,237,008,478,208 99237008478208




Practice Activities

Find a partner and practice saying these numbers.

12,567
34,756
458,903
1,111,123
6,789,840
78,236,004
45,693,777
953,543,867
6,903,040,233
11,222,333,444
555,756,583,694
9,233,692,844,557

In very, very large (or small) numbers scientific notation is used.

The number 15 X 104 is read as: 15 times 10 to the fourth.
The small number 22 X 10–5 is read as 22 times 10 to the negative fifth.

To find other conversation activities and dialogues for saying large numbers take a look at:
Conversation Made Easy OR Talk, Talk, Talk

Other Links for Expressing Number
XXExpressing Numbers
XX Large Numbers