Numbers from 100 to 1000 in English and How to Read Them
Once your child is confident with numbers 1 to 100, they move on to hundreds and thousands. Here are the hundreds from 100 to 900, how to read any number like 254 or 999, when to say and, and how to read years.
- Suitable age
- 7 to 10 years
- Suggested time
- 10 minutes a day
- say the hundreds from 100 to 900, then 1000.
- read any three-digit number, like 254.
- know when to use and when reading numbers.
- avoid the common mistake two hundreds.
Only Two New Words
Your child needs just two new words to read numbers up to a thousand:
| Word | Arabic | In figures |
|---|---|---|
| hundred | مئة | 100 |
| thousand | ألف | 1,000 |
The Hundreds from 100 to 900
Say the number from 1 to 9, then the word hundred:
| Number | In English | Arabic |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | one hundred | مئة |
| 200 | two hundred | مئتان |
| 300 | three hundred | ثلاثمئة |
| 400 | four hundred | أربعمئة |
| 500 | five hundred | خمسمئة |
| 600 | six hundred | ستمئة |
| 700 | seven hundred | سبعمئة |
| 800 | eight hundred | ثمانمئة |
| 900 | nine hundred | تسعمئة |
| 1,000 | one thousand | ألف |
Watch out: don’t add an s to hundred after a number. Say two hundred, not “two hundreds”.
How Do We Read Any Three-Digit Number?
Read the number in three steps, for example 254:
- The hundreds: 2 is in the hundreds place, so say two hundred.
- The word and: say and before the rest of the number.
- The tens and ones: read 54 the way your child already knows: fifty-four.
So the number becomes: two hundred and fifty-four. For reading tens and ones: Numbers 1 to 100.
Examples
| Number | In English |
|---|---|
| 101 | one hundred and one |
| 110 | one hundred and ten |
| 254 | two hundred and fifty-four |
| 365 | three hundred and sixty-five |
| 500 | five hundred |
| 999 | nine hundred and ninety-nine |
| 1,000 | one thousand |
| 2,500 | two thousand five hundred |
How Do We Read Years?
| Year | Common reading | Another reading |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | twenty twenty-six | two thousand and twenty-six |
| 2008 | two thousand and eight | — |
| 1990 | nineteen ninety | — |
After a thousand comes million: 1,000,000.
Common Mistakes
| Mistake | Correct |
|---|---|
| two hundreds | two hundred |
| one thousand and hundred | one thousand one hundred (1,100) |
| hundred and five | one hundred and five (105) |
An Activity: The Price Shop
Write prices on small cards, like 150, 320 and 999, and put them on your child’s toys. Your child plays the shopkeeper and reads each toy’s price in English when you ask: How much is the car? They can also read the page numbers in a big book.
For ordinal numbers like first and second: Ordinal Numbers in English.
A price shop: 3 price tags (150, 320, 999), and your child, the shopkeeper, reads them.
Write a three-digit number on the board, and the children read it together in the three steps.
Summary
- A hundred is hundred in English, a thousand is thousand, and a million is million.
- Read the number from the left: the hundreds, then and, then the tens and ones, as in two hundred and fifty-four.
- hundred has no plural after a number: two hundred, not two hundreds.
- Before these numbers, children should be confident with 1 to 100.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I write 1000 in English?
As words: one thousand, or a thousand. In figures it’s usually written with a comma: 1,000.
Do we say two hundred or two hundreds?
two hundred, with no s, and the same for two thousand. hundreds with an s means “hundreds” with no number before it, as in: hundreds of birds.
How do I read the year 2026 in English?
There are two correct ways: two thousand and twenty-six, or twenty twenty-six. Years like 1990 are usually read in two parts: nineteen ninety.
Is and necessary in 254?
In British English we say two hundred and fifty-four. In American English, two hundred fifty-four without and is common. Both are understood.
