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Joy English · Level A1 · Numbersjoy-english.com

Thirteen or thirty?

Name:Date:

Hear the difference between -teen and -ty numbers.

Listen to each sentence and write what you hear.

Audio and answer checking: https://joy-english.com/listening-lessons/thirteen-or-thirty

Words to know

-teen
The ending of 13 to 19. It is long and stressed.
-ty
The ending of 20, 30, 40 and so on. It is short and not stressed.
stress
The strongest part of a word.

Answer key

  1. My brother is 13 years old.In “thirteen” the stress is on “teen”, which is long.
  2. There are 30 students in my class.In “thirty” the stress is on “thir”, and the ending is short.
  3. The next bus comes in 15 minutes.“Fifteen” has a long, stressed “teen” at the end.
  4. This jacket costs 50 dollars.“Fifty” is stressed at the start: “FIF-ty”.
  5. We live at number 19 on this street.Listen for the long “teen” at the end of “nineteen”.

Joy English · free English practice · https://joy-english.com/listening-lessons/thirteen-or-thirty