In spoken American English many numbers sound very similar. In order to pronounce numbers clearly you must pay attention to syllable stress, the sound of the “t” and word endings. 

Here are a few rules you can use to help you.

1. Tens numbers have major stress on the first syllable. Say the first syllable louder and longer and raise your pitch.

 TWENty,THIRty, FORty, FIFty, SIXty, SEVENty, EIGHTty, NINEty

2. When you say the tens numbers make the “ty” sound more like “dy”.

 THIRdy, FORdy, FIFdy, SIXdy

3. When you add a number word to a tens number the major stress shifts to the last number.

 FORdyONE, FORdyTWO, FORdyTHREE, FORdyFOUR, FOrdyFIVE

4. Teens numbers are often stressed on the second syllable. Say the second syllable louder and longer and raise your pitch. Make the “t” in the second syllable VERY clear. Lengthen the “ee” and exaggerate the final “n”.

 thirTEEN, fourTEEN, fifTEEN, sixTEEN, sevenTEEN, eighTEEN, nineTEEN

Here are some useful worksheets for pronouncing numbers in English.

I provide extensive practice on how to pronounce numbers in American English in my online accent reduction lesson called Pronouncing Abbreviations and Numbers.

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