Unit 8.1
Cardinal numbers: Hundreds
Introduction
Cardinal numbers give information about how many people or things there are.
Hundred numbers go from 100 to 999.
Form
The hundred numbers have one hundred as its base.
They have some specific features:
- plain form: number + 00
- their name is: how the number in the beginning is called + hundred
- 100 can be called ‘one hundred’ or ‘a hundred’
- if there are more numbers after the hundred number, they need to be mentioned as normal (ten number). Sometimes, we use ‘and’ in between the hundred number and the ten number.
- they go from 100 to 999
| Hundreds from 100 to 900 | Hundreds + Unities | Hundreds + Tens |
| one hundred | one hundred and one | one hundred and ten |
| two hundred | one hundred and two | one hundred and twenty |
| three hundred | one hundred and three | one hundred and thirty |
| four hundred | one hundred and four | one hundred and forty |
| five hundred | one hundred and five | one hundred and fifty |
| six hundred | one hundred and six | one hundred and sixty |
| seven hundred | one hundred and seven | one hundred and seventy |
| eight hundred | one hundred and eight | one hundred and eighty |
| nine hundred | one hundred and nine | one hundred and ninety |
NOTE: We normally use the singular form of the numbers when we are naming a concrete figure, while we use the plural form when we are not speaking about a concrete number, but in general terms. We don’t even use a whole number for that:
Hundreds of + noun (“There were hundreds of adolescents in that party”)
Example
- 100 (one hundred)
- 871 (eight hundred seventy-one)
Use
Hundreds numbers are used to measure, count, label things, codes from 100 to 999.
In formal writing it is better to write the number in letters when it is a short figure.