Prices in English (Dollars and Cents): Snap Language™

Prices in English (Dollars and Cents) (Basic, A-Level)

Understanding how to say prices in English is essential for daily conversations, especially when shopping, dining out, or discussing money.

In this lesson, you will learn how to say prices in dollars and cents.

Prerequisite: To understand this lesson, you need to know the cardinal numbers and fractions in English.

Basic structure

In English, prices are usually written with a dollar sign ($) followed by the amount. If the amount includes cents, it is written after a decimal point.

Note. Sometimes the symbol ¢ is used for cents — for example, 75¢ = seventy-five cents

Cents only (¢)

$0.25 (25¢) – twenty-five cents

$0.50 (50¢) – fifty cents

$.99 (99¢) – ninety-nine cents

Whole Dollars ($)

$1.00 – a dollar or one dollar

$25.00 – twenty-five dollars

$115.00 – a hundred fifteen dollars.

$2,000 – two thousand dollars

Even Amounts (0¢)

When the price includes zero cents, you can sometimes add “and zero cents” or “and no cents.” But usually people say “exactly” or “even.”

$1.00 – a dollar even

$25.00 – twenty-five dollars even

$173.00 – a hundred seventy-three dollars even

Dollars and Cents

$23.00 – twenty-three dollars even

37.00 – thirty-seven dollars exactly.

$45.99 – forty-five dollars and ninety-nine cents

$190.73 – one hundred ninety dollars and seventy-three cents

2,010,01 – two thousand ten dollars and one cent.

Thousands and Ten Hundreds

For values such as $1,900, there are two ways you can read the price:

one thousand nine hundred (dollars)

nineteen hundred (dollars)

There are two ways to read values such as $1,950:

one thousand nine hundred fifty (dollars)

nineteen hundred fifty (dollars)

Examples

$1,300 – one thousand three hundred dollars

$1,300 – thirteen hundred dollars

$2,500 – two thousand five hundred dollars

$2,500 – twenty-five hundred dollars

$7,390 – seven thousand three hundred ninety dollars

$7,390 – seventy-three hundred ninety dollars

Of course, these prices can also have fractions of a dollar.

$1,200.75 – twelve hundred dollars and seventy-five cents.

$2,550.32 – twenty-five hundred fifty dollars and thirty-two cents.

Special amounts

Some fractions of a dollar have special names. In the examples below, you can read the prices as usual, but you can also say these special names for 25 cents (a quarter), 50 cents (half a dollar), and 75 cents (three quarters).

$5.25 – five (dollars) and a quarter

$10.50 – ten and a half dollars

$13.75 – thirteen (dollars) and three quarters

You do not have to say these special names, but you will hear people say them sometimes.

Careful

Sometimes people do not say dollars or cents. For example,

$12.99 – twelve ninety-nine

$15.25 – fifteen and a quarter

$20.75 – twenty seventy-five

That can be confusing sometimes. For example, if someone says, “twelve fifty,” they could mean $1,250 or $12.50.

Of course, you will understand it from the context. For example, if you ask the price of a very nice jacket, and they say “twelve fifty,” you know they are not saying $12.50 (twelve dollars and fifty cents)!

Practice

Practice 1. Reading prices.

Practice 2. Reading prices.

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