A standard guideline on how to read English phone numbers

Asking and answering phone numbers in daily communication situations is a common practice. For example, when using services, making friends, or in English proficiency exams, you will also encounter phone numbers. In these cases, you need to clearly understand how to read phone numbers. Let's learn how to fully read English phone numbers in the following article with PREP!

I. Why do we need to know how to read English phone numbers?

Knowing how to read English phone numbers is vital as it relates to reflection in daily communication or more professional situations like interviews or contact exchanges in business.

In English tests, understanding how to read phone numbers really well is essential. In the first part of the IELTS Listening test, there are questions where you need to listen to phone talks and fill in answers with phone numbers. If you're good at reading phone numbers, you can get high marks in this part of the IELTS test.

II. How to read English phone numbers 

How are phone numbers read in English? Below are detailed instructions on how to read English phone numbers that you need to understand clearly! 

1. Read English phone numbers with cardinal numbers

English phone numbers are read out digit-by-digit, just like cardinal numbers. Let's take a look at the table below to get used to telephone number pronunciation in English:

2. Read English phone numbers with consecutive identical numbers

In cases where the telephone number features consecutive digits, the reading method is defined as follows:

For Anglo-American conventions, the reader can flexibly read each digit separately as normal. 

3. How to read 0 in phone numbers 

0 in phone numbers can be read in 2 ways: 

• 0 is read as Zero. For example: 5059-1023 = five zero five nine, one zero two three. (commonly seen in Anglo-American conventions). 
• 0 is read as oh. For example: 5059-1023 = five oh five nine, one oh two three.

4. How to trunk English phone numbers

When discussing English phone numbers, it's common to split the digits into smaller chunks. This helps listeners remember the number and allows the speaker to use a more natural tone. Usually, phone numbers are divided into two or three parts, with each part having about 3-4 digits. These groups of digits can be separated by spaces or hyphens when written down.

Here is an English phone number example: If the phone number is 1234567890, we can create chunks as 123 456 7890 or 123 4567 890. 

III. How to ask and answer English telephone numbers 

Here are some common grammatical structures and vocabulary used when asking for or providing a phone number during a conversation:

1. Common structures for asking and providing phone numbers

If students want to ask for phone numbers, please use the following structures: 

• What’s your phone number? 
• Can I have your phone number?

If students want to answer phone numbers, please use the following structures:

“It’s + the phone number”

For example: 

• What’s your phone number, Ms Linda? 
• It’s 07866 510333.

2. Common structures for conversations via phones 

Here are a few commonly used phrases to remember for smooth phone conversations in English:

3. Sample conversation

Read out loud the below conversation on asking and answering the phone numbers.

• A: Hi, do you have a phone number I can reach you at?
• B: Sure, my phone number is 555-1234.
• A: Thank you, and just to confirm, the number is 555-1234, right?
• B: Yes, that’s correct.
• A: Great, thanks for providing your phone number. I’ll be sure to get in touch with you soon.

IV. Vocabulary of English phone numbers

Besides understanding how to read telephone numbers in English, you need to expand your vocabulary on the topic of telephone communication. Please refer to the following vocabulary groups!

V. Exercises on how to read English phone numbers 

Please refer to the below exercise for practicing reading English phone numbers: 

1. Read out loud the following phone numbers

• 0347 034 586
• 202 861 0737
• 0987 556 128
• 122 4933 445
• 0345 343 686

Keys:

• Four three four seven / zero three four / five eight six. 
• Two zero two / eight six one / zero seven three seven.
• Zero nine eight seven( nghỉ) double five six / one two eight two.
• One double two / four nine double three / double four.
• Zero three four five / three four three / six eight six. 

2. Write the phone numbers based on the reading

• Zero three four five / six seven nine / four five six.
• Zero nine three four / five six eight / three five three.
• One double two / four nine four nine / eight five three. 
• Triple four / double five four / nine eight seven. 

Keys:

• 0345 679 456
• 0934 568 353
• 122 4949 853
• 444 554 987

Mastering how to read English phone numbers will boost your communication confidence and notably contribute to achieving a top score in the IELTS Listening test.