Fractions and Decimals in English: Vocabulary (Audio)

In this episode: Katie asks Stuart what seventeen minus three is, and Tom argues about tube fares. Learn to say fractions, decimals, feet and inches in real English.

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

Zapp! English Vocabulary & Pronunciation 3.32 is a recording of almost 19 minutes in which Katie talks about numbers with Stuart and then with Tom. They discuss doing sums in your head or on a calculator, how much of your income goes on rent and clothes, transport costs in London and Barcelona, and giving your height in feet and inches. The teacher checks the key words after each conversation.

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

Zapp! English Vocabulary & Pronunciation 3.32, Numbers and Amounts, is a free English vocabulary lesson at upper-intermediate to advanced level (B2–C1). It runs 18 minutes 53 seconds and teaches fifteen words and phrases through two unscripted conversations, Katie with Stuart and Katie with Tom. The workbook, with the full transcript and practice exercises, is part of the €39 all-in-one pack.

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

In Zapp! English Vocabulary & Pronunciation 3.32 you learn to say numbers and amounts aloud: sums with plus, minus, multiply and divide, decimals with point, fractions such as a third and a quarter, and heights in metres or in feet and inches. You also practise comparing amounts with twice as much, double and treble, and the words majority, minority, even, odd, roughly and priceless.

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 in Zapp! English Vocabulary & Pronunciation 3.32 are not scripted. Katie, Stuart and Tom talk, hesitate and disagree in real time. Only the teaching sections, which set up the tasks and give the answers, are scripted, so the instructions stay clear.

What level is this episode?

Zapp! English Vocabulary & Pronunciation 3.32 is a Level 3 episode, which is upper-intermediate to advanced (B2–C1), from the Vocabulary and Pronunciation 3 pack. You will manage the listening if you already handle everyday conversation, and the number vocabulary itself starts from basics such as plus and minus.

Can I listen without the workbook?

You can listen to Zapp! English Vocabulary & Pronunciation 3.32 without the workbook. The audio is free and works on its own, especially the repeat-at-the-beep drills. The workbook, part of the €39 all-in-one pack, adds the transcript, the glossary with phonetics and three practice exercises with answers.

What's the difference between double and twice as much?

Double and twice as much mean the same, but they follow different patterns. As Zapp! English Vocabulary & Pronunciation 3.32 explains, 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 patterns.

Why practise saying numbers if I can already read them?

Reading a number is not the same as saying it. Fractions, decimals and measurements carry weak forms and unexpected sounds, such as /əv/ in a quarter of and /əz/ in twice as. The speakers in Zapp! English Vocabulary & Pronunciation 3.32 also hedge their figures again and again with roughly and something like.

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