Numbers and counting in Urdu
59 words in Urdu on the topic “numbers and counting”: ایک — one, دو — two, تین — three, چار — four.
59 words on the topic
- ایکekoneThe number stands before the noun, as at home: ek chai — one tea. The same word serves "one" of any gender
- دوdotwoYou know it from dobara — again, literally "doubled". The noun after the number does not change: do roti — two flatbreads
- تینtinthreeThe nasal sign closes it: teen escapes through the nose. After any number the noun stays singular — "three flatbread" — and that is correct
- چارcharfourShort and firm. Chauthaai ghanta — a quarter of an hour: the counting of time starts from it
- پانچpanchfiveThe nasal paanch — kin of the boxing punch? Yes: the punch is "five fingers in a fist". Here it is simply five
- کتنےkitnehow many?Both "how many" and "which": kitne baje? — at what hour? The question about price lives on this word
- روپیہrupiyarupeePakistan counts its money in rupees and its small change in paise. Bazaar prices are called out loud: often there is no tag at all
- چھchhesixOne letter with a breath: ch-he. The short numbers 6–10 sound like drumbeats: chhe-saat-aath
- ساتsatsevenSaat baje — seven strokes of the hour. Clocks are counted in strokes here as in Europe — the phrase is literally "seven strikes"
- آٹھatheightOpens with the madda — a long aa — and ends with the breathy th. Listen to the end of the word: saat and aath must not be confused
- نوnaunineThe diphthong au, like the ow of "how". A short word read in two sounds merged into one
- دسdastenThe base of the tens: das — ten, bees — twenty. The cricket score and the bazaar discount both live on these numbers
- گیارہgyarahelevenIts own row after ten: eleven is not "ten-and-one" here but a separate word. The noun after any number stays singular — gyarah roti
- بارہbaratwelveA long aa opens the word. Noon is barah baj — twelve strokes — and more eyes land on this number than on any other
- تیرہterathirteenThe whole row up to nineteen is built the same way and is not derived from "ten" — learned as a list. Thirteen is terah, and it is short
- چودہchaudafourteenYou can hear the kinship with chaar — four — but the word has gone its own way. After any number the noun stands in the singular, and that is correct
- پندرہpandrafifteenA quarter of an hour gets no special name — time is told in numbers: pandrah minute. And pandrah rupe — the price of a roadside glass of chai
- سولہsolasixteenKeep your ear sharp: cheh is six, solah is sixteen — one sound apart. The row to twenty is learned whole
- سترہsatraseventeenKin of saat — seven — but already a word of its own. The tens come later; for now the list runs to twenty
- اٹھارہatharaeighteenWith the retroflex th — tongue curled back. At eighteen one votes and gets a licence here: the number is grown-up
- انیسunaisnineteenThe last of the row to twenty, and the least expected: no trace of nau — nine — survives in it. The tens follow
- بیسbistwentyThe start of the second row, the tens. From here the count is not derived by rule: the tens are learned the way one learns an alphabet
- تیسtisthirtyKeep your ear sharp: teen is three, tees is thirty — one sound apart
- چالیسchalisfortyIts own word, like the whole row of tens: forty is not derived from "four" here. A long ee closes it
- پچاسpachasfiftyHalf a hundred and the middle of the bazaar haggle: at pachaas rupe the trader starts to give in
- ساٹھsathsixtyWith the retroflex th. It sounds like saath — "with" — but it is the number: the context tells them apart by ear, the dot under the letter by eye
- سترsattarseventyA double t in the middle: sat-tar. Do not confuse it with the short saat — seven: there one syllable, here two
- اسیassieightyLong ee at the end. Digits are written like European ones but said their own way — assi, eighty — and so it is remembered
- نوےnaweninetyA faint trace of nau — nine — but the word is its own. The last ten before the hundred
- سوsuone hundredOne syllable and everywhere: sau rupe — one hundred rupees. The hundreds are folded out of it: do sau — two hundred, teen sau — three hundred
- ہزارhazarone thousandThe same word as the old military title hazar, a commander of a thousand: counting and service grew from one root. A thousand is the threshold of the big prices
- ملینmilianmillionAn international word written in the local script. News and population figures say million, while traders count in lakhs — hundreds of thousands
- صفرsifarzeroThe same sifar as in arithmetic: zero came out of this region’s counting antiquity. Every cricket fan knows the score nil-nil
- پہلاpehlafirstThe ordinals follow gender: pehla din — the first day, pehli kitab — the first book. It stands before the word
- دوسراdusrasecondFrom do — two: the second is "the other one of the two", and that is the same word. Doosri chai — the second tea — needs no explanation at the tea-house
- تیسراtisrathirdFrom teen — three, as doosra from do. The ordinals here grow out of the numbers themselves, and the rule is easy to carry
- آخریakhirilastFrom aakhir — the end: the last is the final one. Aakhiri rail gaari — the last train — and at the station this word decides
- کتناkitnahow muchThe singular of the familiar kitne: one thing is asked with kitna, many with kitne. Price, time and weight are all counted with it
- جوڑاdzhorapairWith the retroflex r in the middle. A jora is both a pair of shoes and a couple: husband and wife in conversation are a jora too
- ٹکڑاtukrapieceWith the retroflex t. Piece, chunk and shard are one word: do tukre — two pieces — is how one counts them
- فیصدfisadpercentAn international word written in the local script. The discount is announced with it: das fisad riayat — ten percent off
- ہرhareveryA short har — every: the same word as in the familiar har roz. After it the noun stands in the singular: har din — every day
- دو سوdo sutwo hundredHundreds are always two words here: the number plus sau, hundred. You already heard do sau as a bazaar answer about price — now it is your word
- تین سوtin suthree hundredThe noun does not change after the number: teen sau rupe — three hundred rupees. The rest of the row assembles itself: chaar sau, paanch sau…
- چار سوchar sufour hundredA shirt is feminine, so the line closes with ki, not ka. The number itself ignores gender: chaar sau either way
- پانچ سوpanch sufive hundredKiraya — rent: housing prices are quoted by the month here. Five hundred is already talk about a room, not a rickshaw
- چھ سوchhe susix hundredLife in a village costs less: gaon mein — in the village. Log — people: the same word as in aap log, you all
- سات سوsat suseven hundredListen to the start: saat sau — seven hundred, aath sau — eight hundred. One sound apart, and the price is not
- آٹھ سوath sueight hundredA book is feminine, hence ki at the end. Eight hundred rupees buy a good textbook here — dictionary included
- نو سوnau sunine hundredThe last hundred before hazaar — the thousand you already have. Every price in town is built out of hundreds and hazaar
- چوتھاchauthafourthThe ordinal follows gender: chautha din — the fourth day, but chauthi manzil — the fourth floor, for manzil is she
- پانچواںpanchwanfifthThe nasal sign closes it — panchwaan escapes through the nose, like paanch, five. Holidays here are counted in days
- چھٹاchhatasixththe breathy th and the retroflex t: the tongue taps the roof of the mouth
- ساتواںsatwanseventhThe week opens on Sunday, Itwaar, so the seventh day is Saturday, hafta. The phrase rescues you when someone asks which day it is
- آٹھواںathwaneighthThe ordinal grew out of aath — eight — by one syllable. Offices and flats are counted in floors: athvin manzil
- نواںnauwanninthBuses here are waited for by number: nauwaan number bas — route nine. Not the ninth bus — the ninth number
- دسواںdaswantenthThe tenth grade is the graduating one: after it come the big exams. Dasvin class is the pride of the whole family
- سواںsauwanhundredthFrom sau, the hundred. A round date — the hundredth day of school or a shop’s anniversary — is the occasion to say this word aloud
- تعدادtadaadnumber (count)How many in all: tadaad counts people, books and days. The phone has a number, the count is tadaad
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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
ایک (ek) — one. The number stands before the noun, as at home: ek chai — one tea. The same word serves "one" of any gender.
دو (do) — two. You know it from dobara — again, literally "doubled". The noun after the number does not change: do roti — two flatbreads.
تین (tin) — three. The nasal sign closes it: teen escapes through the nose. After any number the noun stays singular — "three flatbread" — and that is correct.
چار (char) — four. Short and firm. Chauthaai ghanta — a quarter of an hour: the counting of time starts from it.
Test yourself
Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than recognizing a familiar word — and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “one” in Urdu?
The number stands before the noun, as at home: ek chai — one tea. The same word serves "one" of any gender
- How do you say “six” in Urdu?
One letter with a breath: ch-he. The short numbers 6–10 sound like drumbeats: chhe-saat-aath
- How do you say “thirteen” in Urdu?
The whole row up to nineteen is built the same way and is not derived from "ten" — learned as a list. Thirteen is terah, and it is short
- How do you say “twenty” in Urdu?
The start of the second row, the tens. From here the count is not derived by rule: the tens are learned the way one learns an alphabet
- How do you say “ninety” in Urdu?
A faint trace of nau — nine — but the word is its own. The last ten before the hundred
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 Urdu?
«ایک», read “ek”. The number stands before the noun, as at home: ek chai — one tea. The same word serves "one" of any gender. 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.