# How to say: "0.0009 cents" [decimal numbers][pronunciation]



## blue-pea

From this sentence "The exchange rate is .0009 cents for one won".
How can I read " .0009 cents"?
Can I say "9 ten-thousandths cents"? Could you tell me how you read it?


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## JamesM

"Nine ten-thousandths of a cent".  (What is a 'won'?)


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## RM1(SS)

I would say "point zero zero zero nine cents."



JamesM said:


> What is a 'won'?



Korean money.


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## stez

RM1(SS) said:


> I would say "point zero zero zero nine cents."



So would I.


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## Beryl from Northallerton

Tricky one. It's a bit of a mouthful no matter which way you say it.

Nine hundred millionths of a cent. 
Point nought nought nought nine cents.

(This must be the South Korean Won; the KRW).

fixes typo.


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## blue-pea

Thank you so much JamesM, RM1(SS), stez and Beryl!
Ah! We can say it in many ways!
Yes, it's Korean Won.


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## Wordsmyth

I suppose you could be giving an imaginary example, blue-pea, but in reality the won is currently about 0.0009 US *dollars* (not cents).

That would make expressing it in terms of cents a much easier task (no ten-thousandths, or hundred millionths, or multiple zeros): 1 won = *0.09* US cents (normally written with the leading zero).

So the suggestions given above would become: 
- nine hundredths of a cent
- point zero nine cents
- point nought nine cents

Also possible:
- point oh nine cents

Some people also pronounce the leading zero (as _zero_, _nought_, or _oh_), but that's not really necessary.

I would usually say: point zero nine cents.

Ws


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## Winstanley808

I just checked on Wordsmyth and found an on-line currency conversion site that gave me US$1 = 1110.4 South Korean won, which is indeed 1 won = US$0.0009, or 0.09¢.  That's a very important distinction, a 100-fold error or two orders of magnitude.

I don't know whether blue-pee or his source made the mistake, but it points out that in the U.S., as in many countries and the Euro zone, we have two currency units, one of them worth 100 of the other, and we can express prices in either one.  In the U.S., and I think everywhere else that uses this system, we only use the smaller unit for prices or values of less than one of the larger unit.

That kind of mistake would be very expensive.  If the source was quoted correctly, it should not be trusted for financial information.  Since 9¢ = $0.09, .0009¢ = $0.000009, and to buy a dollar, a Korean would have to pay 111,040 won, not merely 1,110.4 won.  "Cents" and "dollars" are not interchangeable terms for "units of U.S. currency."


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## blue-pea

Thanks a lot Wordsmyth for your summarization and explanations! And Thanks a lot Winstanley808 for your information about currency. I think I might get a wrong source. I get it from an example of English conversation about currency exchange.


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## Parla

For your future reference, there's a handy currency-conversion site: http://coinmill.com/


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## Winstanley808

blue-pea said:


> Thanks a lot Wordsmyth for your summarization and explanations! And Thanks a lot Winstanley808 for your information about currency. I think I might get a wrong source. I get it from an example of English conversation about currency exchange.


 OK, I'm glad it wasn't from an article in a financial newspaper!  You could say, "The exchange rate is X cents for one <any currency unit worth less than $1.00>" But .0009¢ is not a realistic example.  It would be easier, and more realistic, to say "One thousand, one hundred four won per U.S. dollar" than to say "Point oh nine cents per dollar" or any of the other variations given earlier.  The U.S. does theoretically have a currency unit worth 0.1¢ or $0.001, called a "mil" (one "l").  But it's not commonly used except for discussion by economists and financiers about very low tax rates or very small changes in tax rates.  You can be aware of it if but should not use it unless you know for sure that your audience or readers will know what it is.  I would wager that most Americans don't know anything about it.

This is getting away from your original question about how to say ".0009" of something, but I thought the difference between "dollars" and "cents" was important enough to point out.


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## natkretep

Beryl from Northallerton said:


> Point naught naught naught nine cents.


Beryl, wouldn't you write _nought_ rather than _naught_? (I write _aught_ for 'anything', and _naught_ for 'nothing'.)

It struck me if I was saying this, I would go on to say 'three noughts after the decimal point' for clarification.


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## blue-pea

Thanks a lot Parla for that currency-conversion site! I have already tried using it! It's an interesting and very useful website.
Thank you so much Winstanley808! I get some good knowledge about dollars and cents from your explanations.


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## Wordsmyth

Parla said:


> For your future reference, there's a handy currency-conversion site: http://coinmill.com/


I'm not overly impressed by that one, Parla. I had to navigate through several pages even to find the Korean won, then find the option to take out rounding (otherwise 1 won = US$0.00 !) ... and the results are two days out of date (which can be significant with some currency exchanges)!

There are a lot of good sites out there. I often use this one.

Ws


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## Beryl from Northallerton

How to say: "0.0009 cents".


natkretep said:


> Beryl, wouldn't you write _nought_ rather than _naught_? (I write _aught_ for 'anything', and _naught_ for 'nothing'.)
> 
> It struck me if I was saying this, I would go on to say 'three noughts after the decimal point' for clarification.


Yes. I really ought to go with 'nought'. It was nowt but a typo. Naughty!


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## blue-pea

Thanks Wordsmyth for updating and the new website! However, both websites are interesting for me because I rarely calculate about currency exchange.


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## Parla

Thanks from me, too, Ws; always good to learn of a more reliable source!


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## sb70012

RM1(SS) said:


> I would say "point zero zero zero nine cents."
> *0.0009 cents*


Is it OK if we add another zero before point while reading it? I mean => zero point zero zero zero nine cents.


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## Uncle Jack

sb70012 said:


> Is it OK if we add another zero before point while reading it? I mean => zero point zero zero zero nine cents.


Yes, that is fine. The zero before the decimal point is often omitted in speech, but there is nothing wrong with saying it.


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## sb70012

Hello,
In #1 can I use the word "nought" or "zero" before the word "nine"?
I mean => zero/nought nine hundredths of a cent  

*¢0.09*
1. AmE: nine hundredths of a cent
2. AmE: (zero) point zero nine cents
3. BrE: (nought) point nought nine cents


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## kentix

No, nine is a number. You can count to nine. You can't count to zero nine.


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## sb70012

€ *0.73*
AmE: seventy-three one hundredths of a euro
AmE: zero point seven three euros
BrE: nought point seven three euros

Am I right? I think all these three are fine.

What do you think?

Thank you.


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## Packard

A mil (or mille) is a tenth of one cent.  There is not coin for a mil, it is conceptual only.  

So I would say "nine tenths of a mil".

But more likely you would hear "ninety cents per thousand" if discussing pricing.

Mill (currency) - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A *mill*, *mil* or *mille* is 1/10th of a US cent or 1/1000th of a US Dollar. In the United States, it is most used in gasoline prices.  For example $4.119 per US gallon.  $0.009 is equal to nine mils. It is also used when discussing taxes on land and prices of electricity.


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## heypresto

sb70012 said:


> € *0.73*
> AmE: seventy-three one hundredths of a euro
> AmE: zero point seven three euros
> BrE: nought point seven three euros
> 
> Am I right? I think all these three are fine.
> 
> What do you think?


I think these are all wrong. We would say '73 cents'.


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## kentix

Money has its own rules. It's made to be simple for everyday use. The only time things like that would be said is in talking about exchange rates.

The current exchange rate is one point one three five dollars to the euro.


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## sb70012

Read this post #3


> 0.21 - nought point two one, possibly zero point two one.
> add percent, or euros (or euro, see other threads for how Europeans write and say the plural of euro).


Reading decimal numbers (0.21) and section numbers (3.2.1)

In this post Panjandrum has said that he can read 0.21 as nought point two one, possibly zero point two one and can add euros to the end.

So, according to his explanation, me sentences in post #22 in this thread are fine.


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## Uncle Jack

It is possible to say "point two one euros" or "point seven three euros" if the context required it, for instance in comparing share prices all of which are quoted in euros. However, in ordinary situations in ordinary English, we would always read €0.73 as "seventy-three cents" and  €0.21 as "twenty-one cents". This, I might add, includes exchange rates when talked about in ordinary situations, such as in a news broadcast, where we might be told, for example, that a euro is worth "ninety pence" or that a pound is worth "one dollar twenty-two".


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## sb70012

How about this one? Will it be read as the following in ordinary speech?

*¢ 0.09*
AmE: nine hundredths of a cent
AmE: (zero) point zero nine cents
BrE: (nought) point nought nine cents


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## heypresto

What context do you have in mind in which you'd break a cent down into hundredths? We would never say it in 'ordinary speech.'


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## sb70012

heypresto said:


> What context do you have in mind in which you'd break a cent down into hundredths? We would never say it in 'ordinary speech.'


Suppose I want to convert a country's currency to another country's currency but I want to be very precise.


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## heypresto

OK, in the extremely unlikely event of my ever having to say it, I think I would say 'nought point oh nine cents', or 'nine hundredths of a cent'. But I really don't think it matters much whether it's nought' or 'oh' or 'zero'. Nobody will think it's wrong.


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## Packard

I still think it is a moot point. 

No one buys one item for the value of $0.00009 each. They would have no way to pay for it. 

Instead they buy a large quantity of that item at $0.90 per thousand. 

It is moot because it would never come up. The above seems like an exercise towards no purpose. 

It might not be expressed “per thousand”.  It might expressed “per gross”, “per hundred”, “per ten thousand”, or even “per million”.


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## Uncle Jack

Packard said:


> It is moot because it would never come up. The above seems like an exercise towards no purpose.


  

Context, of course, is vital. One situation where I can imagine 0.09¢ being used is in share prices where the customary unit is the cent. In this very specific situation, I might well read it as "nine hundredths", even though this is not the usual BrE way of reading decimals. In this situation, there would be no need to refer to the unit of currency.


sb70012 said:


> Suppose I want to convert a country's currency to another country's currency but I want to be very precise.


If the conversion rate is one groat being worth 0.09¢ then I am sure it would be expressed the other way round, that eleven hundred and eleven groats were worth one euro (or dollar).


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## sb70012

*¥** 0.50*

Hello,
A few days ago in China I made a copy of one of my documents in a print shop and it costed me the above amount in Chinese currency. But I couldn't say it in English very well. How is it read?

Thank you.


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## Myridon

Half a yuan? Point five yuan? Fifty fen?
(The past tense of "cost" is "cost" in this meaning.)


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## sb70012

What is "fen"? Do you mean jiao?


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## Myridon

sb70012 said:


> What is "fen"? Do you mean jiao?


Yuan (currency) - Wikipedia


> A _yuan_ (Chinese: 元; pinyin: _yuán_) is also known colloquially as a _kuai_ (Chinese: 块; pinyin: _kuài_; lit.: 'lump'; originally a lump of silver).  One _yuan_ is divided into 10 _jiao_ (Chinese: 角; pinyin: _jiǎo_; lit.: 'corner') or colloquially _mao_ (Chinese: 毛; pinyin: _máo_ "feather"). One _jiao_ is divided into 10 _fen_ (Chinese: 分; pinyin: _fēn_; lit.: 'small portion').


I think 0.50 yuan is only 5 jiao.


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## sb70012

Thank you. What if it's less than half?

I mean how should I say this ¥ 0.38


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## Uncle Jack

sb70012 said:


> Thank you. What if it's less than half?
> 
> I mean how should I say this ¥ 0.38


"Point three eight yuan", unless you (and the person you are speaking to) are familiar with the smaller currency unit(s).
You can add "zero" or "nought" at the beginning if you wish, but you will see from earlier posts few people do this, whether they are British or American English speakers.


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## heypresto

If they knew the word for a hundredth of a yuan, (fen?) they would say 'thirty-eight fen'.

In the same way as we would call £0.38,'thirty-eight pence'. Or $0.38 would be 'thirty-eight cents'.


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## kentix

Yes, money is not simply a number. Money is a thing. We tell how many of the things we have. We have 38 cents. I can give you 38 of those. I can't give you 0.38 of a dollar. When you tear dollar bills into pieces they aren't useful any more.

Of course amounts of money are added like math problems. But in the end, a dollar amount represents whole units of physical things.


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## JulianStuart

sb70012 said:


> Thank you. What if it's less than half?
> 
> I mean how should I say this ¥ 0.38


Based on the quote above, this would be three jiao (and) eight fen.


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## natkretep

sb70012 said:


> Thank you. What if it's less than half?
> 
> I mean how should I say this ¥ 0.38


If I saw that, I might also think you're thinking of the Japanese currency. Historically (up to 1953), a yen was 100 sen, so this would be 38 sen. Otherwise, we'd say point three eight yen.


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## sb70012

Do you know why I asked this question? Because I remember some native English speakers told me before that decimals will be read digit by digit unless they are currencies. So I thought since it's a currency number, it wouldn't be read digit by digit but together as thirty-eight.


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## Uncle Jack

sb70012 said:


> Do you know why I asked this question? Because I remember some native English speakers told me before that decimals will be read digit by digit unless they are currencies. So I thought since it's a currency number, it wouldn't be read digit by digit but together as thirty-eight.


It depends on the context. With familiar currencies in ordinary situations, we would read £0.38 as "thirty-eight pence" and $0.57 as "fifty-seven cents". However, where we don't know what the subsidiary currency unit is (or if we think the person we are speaking to does not know what it is), of course this option is not possible. Also, in a particular context where prices/values are always expressed in a particular unit of currency, as is common with share prices, for example, we would not change the unit even when we would do so in an ordinary situation.


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## JulianStuart

sb70012 said:


> Do you know why I asked this question? Because I remember some native English speakers told me before that decimals will be read digit by digit unless they are currencies. So I thought since it's a currency number, it wouldn't be read digit by digit but together as thirty-eight.


That advice remains good advice because no-one would use such a number (0.0009) to say/refer to a currency amount _in everyday life _  $1.38 is one/a dollar thirty-eight, while $0.38 would be thirty-eight cents.


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## kentix

Yes, no one in normal life would tell someone else, "That shirt costs ten point three eight dollars." ($10.38) They would say, "That shirt costs 10 dollars and thirty-eight cents"

$0.79
The candy bar costs zero point seven nine dollars.  
The candy bar costs zero point seventy-nine dollars. 
The candy bar costs point seventy-nine dollars. 
The candy bar costs 79 cents. (79¢/$0.79)


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## sb70012

Hello again,
Once my Chinese friend told mea that in English
*¥ 0.34
 ¥ 0.50 * 
you can read them as "*thirty-four cents*" or "*fifty cents*".

Do you agree with him? What do you think of that? Is it appropriate to use the word "*cents*" here in this context for Chinese currency which is less than 1 yuan?


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## Myridon

According to Wikipedia (see posts above), 1/100 of a yuan has its own name.


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## sb70012

OK. So  *¥ 0.34* is read as thirty four jiao?


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## kentix

Yes, cents doesn't just mean "portion" of a whole unit. It's the *name* of a portion of a *specific currency*. The U.S. dollar uses the name cents. The British pound doesn't. It uses pence. The old French franc used centime. But there are other currencies that do use cent beside the U.S. dollar.


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## heypresto

Many (most?) of us wouldn't know the word 'jiao', but if we did then yes.

Anybody saying 'thirty-four cents' would be either ignorant of the proper word, or just guessing, or both.


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## Uncle Jack

sb70012 said:


> OK. So  *¥ 0.34* is read as thirty four jiao?


If the person reading it happens to know that a jiao is 1/100 of a yuan, and thinks that the person they are talking to also knows the word, then they will probably say "thirty four jiao". If they don't know the word then of course they won't use it. I don't think many people would choose to use "cents" if they didn't know "jiao"; they would just say "point three four yuan" or something similar.


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## Myridon

If Wikipedia is right, it's 3.4 jiao or 34 fen.


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## natkretep

In Chinese, a yuan is 10 jiao and a jiao is 10 fen, so 0.34 is 3 jiao 4 fen. You probably won't say this in English though.


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