Learn English – standard for speaking “1500” as “one thousand five hundred” versus “fifteen hundred”

numbersspeech

I was asked by a French colleague, and had no clear answer, whether it's more correct to say "One thousand five hundred" or "fifteen hundred" when speaking the number 1500. Putting aside how we say dates, which have their own formula.

After some thought, my best answer was I tended to say "fifteen hundred" when dealing with abstract things ("fifteen hundred dollars") that I tend to think of as a unit (when I think of $1500, I think of that sum, not of 1500 individual dollar bills), but "one thousand five hundred" when dealing with countable objects, like "there are one thousand five hundred marbles in the box."

I was wondering if there was a standard or guidance documents, possibly for broadcast, that would provide some sort of structured answer to the question.

Best Answer

One thousand five hundred is more formal than fifteen hundred. Both will be understood by the listener and are correct English, but one thousand five hundred would be more appropriate on a legal document such as a contract.

Also, in an informal setting, such as when talking about sports statistics, people may look at you funny if you use one thousand five hundred rather than fifteen hundred.

Related Topic