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Zapp! English Vocabulary & Pronunciation Audio 3.32 - Numbers & Amounts
Taught by Katie Wood — Cambridge CELTA · Cambridge DELTA · Cambridge-accredited Teacher Trainer
Recorded and taught by a team of British and North American English teachers, based in Oxford (UK) and Barcelona (Spain).
Katie asks Stuart whether he's good at maths, and he says he's "quite proud of my mental arithmetic". Then comes the story of four girls at a kiosk trying to divide "nine euros twenty five by four", until "it took the iPhone to…to work it out". A minute later Katie tests him: "What's seventeen minus three?" His answer — "Fourteen point five?" — is why this episode exists. Numbers in English are easy to understand and surprisingly hard to say.
What you'll hear in this episode
Two unscripted English conversations. In the first, Katie and Stuart argue about whether mental arithmetic still matters. Katie admits she just uses a calculator — "Oh you're one of those are you?" — but insists she can work things out roughly: splitting a restaurant bill, rounding up, deciding that everybody owes thirty euros. One of the speakers describes shopping abroad and noticing that people would punch numbers into a calculator without any sense of whether the total was right.
The second conversation, with Katie and Tom, is about proportions of money. How much of your income goes on rent — a third, forty percent, half, "actually yeah the majority"? How much on clothes: "a sixth or a tenth"? Then transport costs in London compared with Barcelona, where the pair can't agree whether one stop on the Underground is double or treble the price elsewhere. Tom claims there's a station where a short journey costs about five pounds; Katie doesn't believe it. "Hmm we'll have to research this one."
The best moment is about feet and inches. Katie says she'd give her height as five foot four inches, which confuses Americans. Someone else, one of the speakers reports, asked the obvious question nobody asks: "But how big is a foot? A foot changes." Tom's verdict: "That's priceless."
Quick facts
| Episode | 3.32 — Numbers & Amounts |
| Pack | Vocabulary and Pronunciation 3 |
| Level | 3 |
| Duration | 18 minutes 53 seconds |
| Speakers in the conversations | Katie, Stuart, Tom |
| Audio | Free to download |
| Workbook | Included in the all-in-one pack (€39) |
What you'll learn
Fifteen words and phrases for numbers and amounts, plus the pronunciation work that stops them sounding wrong. Some of it is genuinely counter-intuitive. Minus is not /miː/ but /maɪ/. The -gh- in roughly makes an /f/ sound. The ending of decimal is a weak /əl/, and majority starts with a weak /mə/.
Then the grammar of amounts, which is where learners most often slip. It's a quarter of something, with the of unstressed, so it sounds like /əv/. It's twice as much as me, with the as weakened to /əz/. And although double and twice as mean the same thing, they don't behave the same way: as the audio puts it, "we can't say double as much, we say double the amount."
You'll also practise saying maths out loud — three multiplied by two, divide it by three, nought point five, nought point one percent — and converting between systems: one hundred and seventy centimetres becomes one point seven metres, and there are twelve inches in a foot. Listen closely to how Katie and Tom hedge everything with roughly, something like, I reckon and approaching half. Real people talking about figures are almost never precise, and the vague language is what you need most.
Vocabulary from this unit
- to multiply /mʌltɪplaɪ/ — to add a number to itself more times, or to increase by a large number (x). Stuart uses it about the arithmetic he thinks we still need.
- to divide /dɪvaɪd/ — see how many times a number will go into another number, or to separate things into separate groups.
- plus /plʌs/ and minus /maɪnəs/ — used to show that one number is added to, or taken away from, another. Minus also does temperatures below zero.
- point /pɔɪnt/ and a decimal /desɪməl/ — how you say and name parts of a whole using ten as the base.
- roughly /rʌfli/ — approximately, about. The word both speakers lean on constantly.
- a third of / a quarter of /θɜːd/ /kwɔːtə/ — one of three, or one of four, equal parts.
- inches / feet /ɪntʃɪs/ /fiːt/ — a foot has 12 inches. Compare centimetres / metres.
- minority / majority /maɪnɒrəti/ /mədʒɒrəti/ — the smaller and the bigger number in a group.
- double / treble /dʌbəl/ /trebəl/ — two times more than / three times more than.
- priceless /praɪsləs/ — we cannot put a price on this. Katie uses it about quality of life; Tom uses it about a joke.
- even / odd /iːvən/ /ɒd/ — 2, 4, 6 can be divided equally; 1, 3, 5 cannot.
In the workbook
The workbook for 3.32 gives you the full transcript of both conversations, so you can read back the bits you missed, plus the target words listed after each listening task. The two Meaning and Pronunciation sections give the definition, then the model word, then a beep for you to repeat, then an example sentence — this is where the /f/ in roughly and the weak /əz/ in twice as are drilled.
The Extra Materials contain a glossary with phonetic transcription for all sixteen entries, then three practice exercises with answers. Practice 1 asks you to do maths in words: Is six minus three an odd or even number? What's nought point one plus one point four? Practice 2 is error correction on the mistakes learners really make — One third in the people said yes, He has twice as many money as me, This house is three times as bigger as yours. Practice 3 matches words that share a sound: to multiply with to divide for /aɪ/, a decimal with plus for /s/.
The workbook is part of the all-in-one pack — every episode, every exercise, €39.
Get the complete courseAll workbooks and audio — €39
Common questions
Is the audio scripted?
The conversations are unscripted — Katie, Stuart and Tom are talking, hesitating and disagreeing in real time. The teaching sections that set up the tasks and give the answers are scripted, so the instructions stay clear.
What level is this episode?
Level 3, from Vocabulary and Pronunciation 3. You'll manage the listening if you already handle everyday conversation; the number vocabulary itself starts from basics like plus and minus.
Can I listen without the workbook?
Yes. The audio is free and works on its own, especially the repeat-at-the-beep drills. The workbook adds the transcript, the glossary with phonetics and the three practice exercises with answers.
What's the difference between double and twice as much?
The meaning is the same, but the pattern isn't. You say You've got twice as much as me and You've got double the amount — never double as much. The episode drills both.
Why practise saying numbers if I can already read them?
Because fractions, decimals and measurements carry weak forms and unexpected sounds — /əv/ in a quarter of, /əz/ in twice as — and because native speakers hedge them with roughly and something like, as this recording shows repeatedly.
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