Lesson 3: Numbers
Count from zero to ten, learn twenty and a hundred, and read Persian digits. About five minutes.
Lesson 3: Numbers
17 exercises, about 5 minutes
You’ll learn: صفریکدوسهچهارپنج
Words and phrases in this lesson
| Digit | Persian | Say it | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| ۰ | صفر | sefr | zero (0) |
| ۱ | یک | yek | one (1) |
| ۲ | دو | do | two (2) |
| ۳ | سه | se | three (3) |
| ۴ | چهار | chahār | four (4) |
| ۵ | پنج | panj | five (5) |
| ۶ | شش | shesh | six (6) |
| ۷ | هفت | haft | seven (7) |
| ۸ | هشت | hasht | eight (8) |
| ۹ | نه | noh | nine (9)Spelled like نه (na, “no”) but said noh. |
| ۱۰ | ده | dah | ten (10) |
| ۲۰ | بیست | bist | twenty (20) |
| ۱۰۰ | صد | sad | a hundred (100) |
Building bigger numbers
Bigger numbers are joined with o (“and”), largest first: 25 is bist-o panj (بیست و پنج), and this Persian year, ۱۴۰۵, is hezār-o chahārsad-o panj: “a thousand and four hundred and five”.
| Digit | Persian | Say it | Number |
|---|---|---|---|
| ۱۱ | یازده | yāzdah | 11 |
| ۱۲ | دوازده | davāzdah | 12 |
| ۱۳ | سیزده | sizdah | 13 |
| ۱۴ | چهارده | chahārdah | 14 |
| ۱۵ | پانزده | pānzdah | 15 |
| ۱۶ | شانزده | shānzdah | 16 |
| ۱۷ | هفده | hefdah | 17 |
| ۱۸ | هجده | hejdah | 18 |
| ۱۹ | نوزده | nuzdah | 19 |
| ۳۰ | سی | si | 30 |
| ۴۰ | چهل | chehel | 40 |
| ۵۰ | پنجاه | panjāh | 50 |
| ۶۰ | شصت | shast | 60 |
| ۷۰ | هفتاد | haftād | 70 |
| ۸۰ | هشتاد | hashtād | 80 |
| ۹۰ | نود | navad | 90 |
| ۱۰۰۰ | هزار | hezār | 1,000 |
Persian digits
Persian has its own ten digits: ۰ ۱ ۲ ۳ ۴ ۵ ۶ ۷ ۸ ۹. Numbers run left to right, even in the middle of right-to-left text, so prices, dates and phone numbers read just like ours. Watch ۴, ۵ and ۶, which differ from the Arabic forms ٤ ٥ ٦.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How do you count to 10 in Persian?
yek, do, se, chahār, panj, shesh, haft, hasht, noh, dah: یک دو سه چهار پنج شش هفت هشت نه ده.
Are Persian numbers written left to right?
Yes. Persian text runs right to left, but numbers run left to right, just like ours: ۲۰۲۶ is 2026.
What’s the difference between Persian and Arabic numerals?
Most digits match, but Persian writes 4, 5 and 6 differently: ۴ ۵ ۶ (Arabic ٤ ٥ ٦).
How do you say 25 in Persian?
Bist-o panj (بیست و پنج), “twenty and five”: the tens, then o (and), then the units.
How do you say 100 and 1,000 in Persian?
Sad (صد) is 100 and hezār (هزار) is 1,000.