Numbers and counting in Persian
59 words in Persian on the topic “numbers and counting”: یک — one, دو — two, سه — three, چهار — four.
59 words on the topic
- 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
- نُهnâhnineNine, the h breathed clearly. The written form carries a small vowel mark above the n to keep the oh from shrinking
- دهdahtenTen, the keel of the teens — all of them are X plus dah. Also runs through dahom, the tenth
- یازدهyâzdeelevenLiterally "one-ten" — yaz is the old word for one. From here to nineteen the teens all end in -dah, ten
- دوازدهdâvâzdetwelveLiterally "two-ten". The only teen whose first half looks unlike do, two — it is a fossil of an older counting word
- سیزدهsizdethirteenThree-ten. The unlucky number of the thirteenth day of the New Year, which people spend outdoors on a picnic — sizdah bedar
- چهاردهchâhârdefourteenFour-ten, built transparently: chahar four, dah ten. Nothing to memorize
- پانزدهpunzdefifteenFive-ten, with panz instead of panj — the j softens before d. Everyday small change counts in these numbers
- شانزدهshânzdesixteenSix-ten, with shanz for shesh — same softening as in fifteen. Say it fast and the -an- nearly disappears
- هفدهhâfdeseventeenSeven-ten, haft + dah with the t worn down. The same haft opens hafta, the week — seven days
- هجدهhâdzhdeeighteenEight-ten with both consonants worn: hejdah from hasht + dah. Say the d clearly or it blurs into seventeen
- نوزدهnunzdenineteenNine-ten, nu for noh. The last of the teens — after this the twenties start building regularly
- بیستbisttwentyA word of its own, no trace of "two-ten". The tens take the unit straight after: bist-o-se, twenty-three
- سیsithirtyThirty, the plain plural-face of se, three. The twenties built on bist; from here the tens echo their units again
- چهلchelfortyForty — a sacred round number of tales: chehel shab, forty nights, chehel sotoon, forty columns
- پنجاهpandzhâhfiftyFifty, panj with the j softened into jh. Half a hundred, the price of a good bread a few years back
- شصتshâstsixtySixty — shesh with the ending worn smooth. One syllable, easy to mishear as six; the -ast of context settles it
- هفتادhâftâdseventySeventy, haft plus -ad. The same seven that named the week now counts the years of a lifetime
- هشتادhâshtâdeightyEighty, hasht plus -ad. One syllable longer than eight, and the d at the end is the mark of the tens
- نودnââdninetyNinety, noh plus -ad with the h dropped. The last ten before the hundreds take over
- صدsadhundredHundred — short and flat. Divist is two hundred, sisad three hundred: sad simply takes the unit before it
- هزارhezârthousandThousand, the unit of every real price. Do hezar — two thousand — is said as one breath
- میلیونmiliânmillionThe million of big money and big cities: yek milyon nafar — a million people. Written just like in Europe
- صفرsefrzeroZero — and the word behind "cipher": the empty circle left arithmetic and walked west with the caravans
- اولavvalfirstFirst — of order and of time: aval-e hafte, the start of the week. Irregular: no -om ending here
- دومduvvâmsecondSecond — from do, two, with the long oo. Bar-e dovom: the second time around
- سومsevvâmthirdThird — se with a double v breathed into the ending. Tabaghe-ye sevvom: the third floor
- آخرâkharlastLast — the end of the line and the end of the week. Otobus-e akhar saat-e noh: the last bus at nine
- چند تا؟chand tâ؟how many?Chand, how much, + ta the piece-word: how many pieces? The -ta makes numbers count things
- جفتdzhâftpairA pair — of shoes, of gloves. Yek joft, lotfan: one pair, please — the shoe-shop sentence
- تاtâpiece (counter)The counter that turns numbers into objects: panj ta — five pieces of whatever you are holding. Numbers without it feel bare
- درصدdarsadpercentLiterally "of hundred": dar in + sad. Dah darsad takhfif — ten percent off — the phrase of sale season
- هرharevery / eachThe every-word that stands right before its noun: har ruz, every day; har kas, each person
- دویستdivisttwo hundredLiterally "two-hundred": sad is hundred, and di- is the old face of two. Prices jump into the hundreds fast here
- سیصدsisadthree hundredThree + sad, built in the open. No "and", no plural on sad: sisad hezar, three hundred thousand
- چهارصدchâhârsadfour hundredFour + sad, as transparent as fourteen. Count money and distances in these all through the course
- پانصدpânsadfive hundredFive + sad, with the j of panj turning into s. A round sum and a common price word
- ششصدsheshsadsix hundredSix + sad, the sh pronounced twice: shesh-sad. Say it as two equal halves
- هفتصدhâftsadseven hundredSeven + sad. The bill for electricity and the number of a city bus route both start here
- هشتصدhâshtsadeight hundredEight + sad. In dates it counts centuries: an eight-hundred-year-old bridge says hashtsad sal
- نهصدnâhsadnine hundredNine + sad, with the h of noh kept. The last of the hundreds before the thousands begin
- چهارمchâhârâmfourthThe ordinal is -om glued to the number: chahar four, chaharom fourth. Tabaghe-ye chaharom — the fourth floor
- پنجمpandzhâmfifthFive with the ordinal ending: panjom. Ruz-e panjom-e safar — the fifth day of the trip
- ششمsheshâmsixthSix as an order: sheshom. Mah-e sheshom — the sixth month of the year — lands in high summer
- هفتمhâftâmseventhSeventh. Ruz-e haftom-e hafte is a tautology you will never say — the seventh day is jome, Friday
- هشتمhâshtâmeighthEighth. Otagh-e hashtom — room number eight — is how the hotel receptionist will call you
- نهمnâhâmninthNinth. Tabaghe-ye nohom — the ninth floor — and the lift button you press for it
- دهمdâhâmtenthTenth, dah plus -om. The last of the plain ordinals — after this they build straight on the tens
- صدمsadâmhundredthHundredth. Ruz-e sadom — the hundredth day — sounds like a milestone, and in diaries it is one
- عددadadnumberThe bookish word for a numeral — the one bus routes and phone forms use. The everyday digit is shomare
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How it sounds in a sentence
A word list is a blank. Conversation is made of sentences, and these are the ones the words fit into most often.
What is worth knowing about these words
یک (yek) — one. The counting one, and also "a certain": yek ruz — one day, once. Orders love it: yek cha — one tea.
دو (dâ) — two. Two of anything: do ta — two pieces. The old cousin of the same number in half of Europe, both from one ancient root.
سه (se) — three. Three. In the teens it returns as sizdah, and in thirty as si — one root wearing three faces.
چهار (châhâr) — four. Four, alive in chaharshanbe, Wednesday — the fourth day. The r is tapped, not swallowed.
Test yourself
Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than recognizing a familiar word — and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “one” in Persian?
The counting one, and also "a certain": yek ruz — one day, once. Orders love it: yek cha — one tea
- How do you say “six” in Persian?
Six, the sh said twice and softly. Returns in shast, sixty, and sheshsad, six hundred
- How do you say “thirteen” in Persian?
Three-ten. The unlucky number of the thirteenth day of the New Year, which people spend outdoors on a picnic — sizdah bedar
- How do you say “twenty” in Persian?
A word of its own, no trace of "two-ten". The tens take the unit straight after: bist-o-se, twenty-three
- How do you say “ninety” in Persian?
Ninety, noh plus -ad with the h dropped. The last ten before the hundreds take over
How to learn the set instead of just reading it
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.
A list is read in a minute and forgotten in a day. What works: hide the translation, try to recall, get it wrong — and come back to the same words tomorrow.
- 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.
- Study spread over days wins not only in experiments but in ordinary classrooms, with real students.checked many timesMawson & Kang, 2025, Behavioral Sciences 15(6):771 · 22 studies, d = 0.54 (confidence interval 0.31–0.77). The authors warn that individual studies disagree widely.
Frequently asked
How do you say “one” in Persian?
«یک», read “yek”. The counting one, and also "a certain": yek ruz — one day, once. Orders love it: yek cha — one tea. It is one of 59 words in the set “numbers and counting” — the rest are in the table above.
How many numbers do you need to start?
The whole set on this page is 59 words, but there is no need to start with all of it: the words you will need in the next few days are enough. Take them a few at a time — five to seven new ones per session.