Five or five? Are you wondering whether reading two thousand twenty-five is correct? This article will give you the answer.
Mathematics is an interesting subject, not only helping people calculate values and currency transactions but also being the premise for many fields of science and technology.
The world of mathematics is full of wonders and natural numbers are one of them. Natural numbers are a part of the number system that includes all positive integers from 1 to infinity and are also used for counting purposes. It does not include zero (0). In fact, 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9…., are also called counting numbers.
Natural numbers are a part of real numbers, which only include positive integers i.e. 1, 2, 3, 4,5,6, ………. excluding zero, fractions, decimals and negative numbers.
Note: Natural numbers do not include negative numbers or zero.
In this article, let's learn together about how to read natural numbers correctly that many people are still wondering about!
The story that caused a stir on social media was a multiple choice question from a first grader at a school. Specifically as follows:
Number 74 is read as:
A. Seventy-four C. Seventy-four
B. Seventy-four D. Seventy-four
(Note: For spelling, there is no need to capitalize the word “seven” in the above combinations)
With this question, the teacher gave the answer "wrong" when the student chose answer A (seventy-four).
The answer is really controversial and confuses many people because the number 4 is still read as four, but why is it read as four more often when it is the units digit of a number? The same goes for the number 5, is it five or five?
Below is how to read and write natural numbers and natural number sequences correctly with detailed instructions for each case. Please refer to them to avoid confusion and to guide children in practicing reading and writing natural numbers according to the structure of classes, rows, and units.
Table of Contents

In mathematics, a natural number is a set of numbers from 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9... and is denoted by N. The smallest natural number is 0.
How to read natural numbers
To read natural numbers correctly, the first thing we need to do is separate the number series into layers, each layer has 3 rows in order from left to right. When reading, you combine reading the number as well as the layer name.
For example:
537 797 686
Millions of units.
Read as: Five hundred thirty seven million seven hundred nine seven thousand six hundred eighty six.
So to read correctly, you must know how to read 3-digit numbers. Reading numbers correctly will help you overcome spelling mistakes.

1. Case where the last number is 1
If the last number is 1, we will have two basic readings: "mốt" and "ở"
Case 1: 1 is read as "one" when the tens digit is equal to or less than 1.
For example:
501: five hundred and one
911: nine hundred and eleven
67811: sixty-seven thousand eight hundred eleven
Case 2: 1 is read as "mốt" when the tens digit is greater than or equal to 2, less than or equal to 9.
(read as "mo" when combined with the word "muoi" immediately before).
For example:
891: Eight hundred and ninety one
689121: Six hundred eighty nine thousand one hundred twenty one
2. Case where the number ends with 4
Case 1: We will read it as "four" when the last number in the tens sequence is less than or equal to 1.
For example:
6704: Six thousand seven hundred and four
89514: Eighty-nine thousand five hundred fourteen.
Case 2 : Read as "tu" when the tens digit is greater than or equal to 2 or less than or equal to 9.
(When reading "tu" we should combine it with "muoi" immediately before in the sentence)
For example:
324: Three hundred twenty four. (Three hundred twenty four)
1944: One thousand nine hundred and forty four. (One thousand nine hundred and forty four)
678934: Six hundred seventy-eight thousand nine hundred thirty-four
(* Note: Can be read as “four” when the tens digit is 2 or 4).
3. In case the number ends with 5
Case 1 : Read as "five" when the tens digit is 0 or when combined with the word indicating the row name, the word "ten" immediately follows.
For example:
78905: Seventy-eight thousand nine hundred and five
505155: Five hundred and five thousand one hundred and fifty five.
Case 2 : When the last number is 5, we will read it as "lam" when the tens digit is greater than 0 and less than or equal to 9.
(read as “five” when combined with the word “ten” or “ten” immediately before).
For example:
9845: Nine thousand eight hundred forty five
5555: Five thousand five hundred fifty five
98675: Ninety-eight thousand six hundred seventy-five
How to read number 5 in math
Please refer to how to read some numbers with the number 5.
5: Year
15: Fifteen
25: Twenty-five
50: Fifty
55: Fifty Five
505: Five hundred and fifty (odd) years
515: Five hundred and fifteen
1005: One thousand and five
1025: One thousand twenty five
1500: One thousand five hundred
5,525,000: Five million, five hundred twenty five thousand
5,025,110: Five million, twenty-five thousand, one hundred and ten
555.555: Five hundred fifty-five thousand, five hundred fifty-five
505,515: Five hundred and five thousand, five hundred and fifteen
1,505,555,005: One billion, five hundred and five million, five hundred and fifty-five thousand, zero hundred and five.
How to write natural numbers
To write natural numbers correctly, you must understand the rules for writing natural numbers:
- Write the numbers in order (from left to right).
- Write the rows in order from top to bottom.
How to write numbers according to given reading
- Identify the classes. (letters indicate class names).
- Identify the number belonging to that class. (the group of letters to the left of the class name).
(Note: when reading numbers, do not read the name of the unit class, so the group of letters to the right of the thousand class is the group of letters that records the reading of the number belonging to the unit class.).
For example: Write the following number:
Sixty-six million nine hundred twelve thousand three hundred forty-seven.
66 (class name) 912 (class name) 347
=> Write the number: 66 912 347
How to write given numbers
To write numbers correctly, you need to know how to write them. Write numbers according to the following principles:
- Write numbers in order from left to right.
- Write the rows in order from top to bottom.
How to write:
- Identify the classes
- Determine the number in that class
For example: write the number 29612730
Separate layers 29/612/730
=> Twenty nine million six hundred twelve thousand seven hundred thirty