Telephone numbers in Canada and the US have ten digits. They look like this: 123-456-7890.

When we tell people a phone number, we pause after each group of numbers. Say “one two three… four five six… seven eight nine zero.” Some people may divide the group of four numbers into two groups of two “seven eight… nine zero.” It’s your choice.

The first three numbers are called the ‘area code.’ There are usually only a few in a province. In British Columbia, there are three: 604 and 778 in Vancouver, and 250 for everywhere else in the province. Because there are so few, we mostly just say the area code as part of the number. When you’re giving a number to a person overseas, you can say “area code one two three… four five six… seven eight nine zero.” Americans have many more area codes than Canadians.