عدد
“عدد” (adad) — number in Persian. Noun, level A1, topic — numbers and counting. The bookish word for a numeral — the one bus routes and phone forms use. The everyday digit is shomare. In a live sentence: “این عدد بزرگ است” — This number is big. Written with the characters ع, د, د. One of 59 words in the set “numbers and counting” in the Persian course.
In short
| Written in Persian | عدد |
| Read in Latin letters | adad |
| Translation | number |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | A1 |
Why it looks that way
The bookish word for a numeral — the one bus routes and phone forms use. The everyday digit is shomare
A word with a story stays in memory longer than one learned as a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
In a live sentence
A single word almost never appears alone in conversation. A sentence shows where it fits and what stands next to it.
- این عدد بزرگ استin adad bâzârg astThis number is big
Nearby words: numbers and counting
A price, the change, a house number, the time you agreed on, the floor. Numbers are the first thing you have to catch by ear — and the first thing people say fast.
- یکyekoneThe counting one, and also "a certain": yek ruz — one day, once. Orders love it: yek cha — one tea
- دوdâtwoTwo of anything: do ta — two pieces. The old cousin of the same number in half of Europe, both from one ancient root
- سهsethreeThree. In the teens it returns as sizdah, and in thirty as si — one root wearing three faces
- چهارchâhârfourFour, alive in chaharshanbe, Wednesday — the fourth day. The r is tapped, not swallowed
- پنجpandzhfiveFive. Panjshanbe, Thursday, is the fifth day — the eve of the weekend here
- چندchandhow many?The number-word of shopping: chand?, how much? Chand ta?, how many? Works for prices, ages and counts alike
- تومانtumântomanThe currency unit of daily speech, ten rials each. Prices are said in tomans straight away, no zeros spelled out
- ششsheshsixSix, the sh said twice and softly. Returns in shast, sixty, and sheshsad, six hundred
- هفتhâftsevenSeven — and the week itself: hafta, a week, is "the seven". English "heft", the weight of a thing, is a handy sound anchor for it
- هشتhâshteightEight. Hashtshanbe, Saturday, is not the eighth day but the first: the week here starts with it
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “numbers and counting”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “number” in Persian?
The bookish word for a numeral — the one bus routes and phone forms use. The everyday digit is shomare
- How do you say “toman” in Persian?
The currency unit of daily speech, ten rials each. Prices are said in tomans straight away, no zeros spelled out
- How do you say “three” in Persian?
Three. In the teens it returns as sizdah, and in thirty as si — one root wearing three faces
- How do you say “eight” in Persian?
Eight. Hashtshanbe, Saturday, is not the eighth day but the first: the week here starts with it
- How do you say “how many?” in Persian?
The number-word of shopping: chand?, how much? Chand ta?, how many? Works for prices, ages and counts alike
How not to forget this word
Reading a word and remembering it are different jobs. A day later, little survives of a single reading — and that is not bad memory, that is how memory works.
- This has been tested on foreign words too. The difference shows up most when you test yourself a few days later rather than straight away.checked many timesKim & Webb, 2022, Language Learning 72(2) · 48 experiments, 3,411 participants, 98 comparisons.
- Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · 188 experiments, 272 comparisons. g = 0.61; against plain re-reading 0.51, against passive review 0.93.
- An answer you worked out yourself sticks better than one handed to you.checked many timesBertsch et al., 2007, Memory & Cognition 35(2) · 86 studies, 445 comparisons, d = 0.40.
Frequently asked
How do you say “number” in Persian?
«عدد», read “adad”. In a live sentence: “این عدد بزرگ است” — This number is big. Noun, level A1, from the set “numbers and counting”; written with the characters ع, د, د.
How is “عدد” written in Latin letters?
adad. This is a practical spelling — you need it to read aloud and be understood, not to meet an academic standard.
Why does this word look the way it does?
The bookish word for a numeral — the one bus routes and phone forms use. The everyday digit is shomare. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.