Persian Numbers and Counting: A Complete Guide to Farsi Numbers

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Persian Numbers Are More Logical Than You Think

Here’s something that’ll make your day: Persian numbers are one of the easiest parts of learning Farsi. The system is decimal, predictable, and once you’ve memorized 1-20, everything else is just combining pieces like Lego blocks. No weird exceptions like English (“eleven”? “twelve”? who decided those?), no gendered numbers like French or German. For a deeper dive into how Persian numbers work, check out UT Austin’s Persian number reference.

This guide is part of our Complete Persian Grammar series.

I remember teaching my first student in Milan. she was dreading the numbers lesson. Twenty minutes in, she was counting to 999. That’s how clean this system is.

But there are quirks. Iranians shorten numbers dramatically in speech, use a classifier system that English doesn’t have, and sometimes mix Arabic-origin words in. So let’s get into the actual numbers, how they’re spoken on the street in Tehran, and the stuff textbooks skip.

If you’re just starting out with Persian, my beginner’s guide to learning Persian covers the foundations you’ll want first.

Farsi Numbers 1-10: The Building Blocks

Everything starts here. Memorize these ten and you’ve got the foundation for every number in Persian. You can hear Persian numbers pronounced on Forvo to nail the sounds.

1. yek (یک)
2. do (دو)
3. se (سه)
4. chahâr (چهار)
5. panj (پنج)
6. shesh (شش)
7. haft (هفت)
8. hasht (هشت)
9. noh (نه)
10. dah (ده)

A couple of notes. “Noh” (9) and “na” (no) sound dangerously similar to non-native ears. Context saves you every time, but it trips people up early on. And “chahâr”. most Tehranis drop it to “châr” in fast speech. You’ll hear châr way more than the full form.

Numbers 11-20: The Only Part You Need to Memorize

Persian numbers 11-20 follow a pattern, but it’s their own pattern. not quite the same as the tens+ones logic you’ll use for 21 and beyond. Think of these as a set to learn by heart.

11. yâzdah (یازده)
12. davâzdah (دوازده)
13. sizdah (سیزده)
14. châhârdah (چهارده)
15. pânzdah (پانزده)
16. shânzdah (شانزده)
17. hefdah (هفده)
18. hejdah (هجده)
19. nuzdah (نوزده)
20. bist (بیست)

See the pattern? The ones digit comes first, then “-dah” (from dah = ten). Yâz-dah, davâz-dah, siz-dah. Some get slightly modified. “heft” becomes “hef” in hefdah, “hasht” becomes “hej” in hejdah. Minor stuff.

Sizdah (13) is culturally loaded, by the way. Sizdah bedar is a holiday where everyone leaves the house on the 13th day of Nowruz to avoid bad luck. Iranians aren’t necessarily superstitious about 13 the way Westerners are, but they have their own thing going on with it.

The Pattern for 21-99: Tens + “o” + Ones

This is where Persian gets beautiful. From 21 onward, every number is just: tens + “o” (and) + ones. That’s it. No exceptions.

First, the tens:

20. bist (بیست)
30. si (سی)
40. chehel (چهل)
50. panjâh (پنجاه)
60. shast (شصت)
70. haftâd (هفتاد)
80. hashtâd (هشتاد)
90. navad (نود)

Now combine them. 21 = bist-o-yek (بیست و یک). 35 = si-o-panj (سی و پنج). 99 = navad-o-noh (نود و نه). The “o” is the Persian word “va” (و) meaning “and,” but in speech everyone says “o.” Always.

Some tens look different from their single-digit roots. Chehel (40) doesn’t obviously come from chahâr (4). Shast (60) is a stretch from shesh (6). These are old Persian forms. just memorize the eight tens and you’re done.

Hundreds, Thousands, and Big Numbers in Persian

Same logic, bigger numbers.

100. sad (صد)
200. devist (دویست)
300. sisad (سیصد)
500. pânsad (پانصد)
1,000. hezâr (هزار)
1,000,000. melyun (میلیون)

For hundreds, the pattern is: number + sad. Chahâr-sad (400), pân-sad (500), shesh-sad (600). Devist (200) is the one oddball. it doesn’t follow the pattern neatly, but it’s so common you’ll absorb it fast.

Thousands work the same way. Do-hezâr (2,000), dah-hezâr (10,000), sad-hezâr (100,000). Complex numbers chain together: 3,456 = se-hezâr-o-chahâr-sad-o-panjâh-o-shesh. Long, but completely predictable.

Money makes this real. Iran’s currency situation means you’re constantly dealing with big numbers. A cab ride might be “si-hezâr tomân” (30,000 tomans). Groceries: “dovist-hezâr” (200,000). You’ll get fast with big numbers whether you want to or not.

How Spoken Persian Destroys Numbers (In a Good Way)

Written Persian: bist-o-yek. Spoken Tehrani Persian: bistyek. One word. No pause.

This is something textbooks criminally under-explain. In real conversation, Iranians compress numbers aggressively. The “o” (and) gets swallowed into the surrounding sounds. Here’s what actually happens:

Bist-o-do → bistó-do → “bisto-do” (22)
Si-o-se → “siosé” (33)
Chahâr-sad-o-panjâh → “chârsado-panjâ” (450)
Hezâr-o-devist → “hezâro-devist” (1,200)

The final consonants get clipped too. Panjâh becomes “panjâ.” Haftâd becomes “haftâ.” Hashtâd becomes “hashtâ.” You’ll sound way more natural dropping those final sounds. My guide to spoken vs. written Persian covers this compression pattern across the whole language. numbers are just one example.

The Classifier “Tâ”. Persian’s Secret Counting Word

English: “two apples.” Persian: “do tâ sib” (دو تا سیب). That “tâ” (تا) in the middle? It’s a classifier. a counting word that goes between the number and the noun.

You technically can say “do sib” and be understood. But it sounds bookish. In spoken Farsi, tâ is almost always there. Do tâ ghahve (two coffees). Se tâ bachche (three kids). Panj tâ ketâb (five books).

Tâ is the universal classifier. it works for everything. Persian does have a few specialized classifiers (nafar for people: se nafar = three people), but tâ covers 95% of daily use. Some purists will say “se nafar” for people, “se jeld” for books. In Tehran? “Se tâ” handles all of it.

When Iranians ask “how many?”, they say “chand tâ?” (چند تا؟). Chand = how many. Tâ = the classifier. You’ll hear this fifty times a day at any bazaar.

Ordinal Numbers: Just Add “-om”

First, second, third. In Persian: avval (اول), dovvom (دوم), sevvom (سوم). After that, just add “-om” to the cardinal number.

Chahârom (4th), panjom (5th), sheshom (6th), haftom (7th), hashtom (8th), nohom (9th), dahom (10th).

Avval (first) is Arabic-origin and doesn’t follow the pattern. You could say “yekom” and people would understand, but “avval” is standard. Dovvom and sevvom double their middle consonant. that’s just how they’re pronounced.

For bigger ordinals: bist-o-yekom (21st), sad-o-dahom (110th). Same combining logic as cardinal numbers, with “-om” tacked onto the last element.

Numbers in Daily Life: Phone Numbers, Time, Haggling

Phone numbers in Iran get read in chunks. An 11-digit mobile number like 09123456789 becomes: “noh-dah-do, se-châr-panj, shesh-haft-hasht-noh.” Iranians group digits their own way. usually pairs or triples, not one-by-one. Listen to how someone reads their number and match their rhythm.

Telling time uses the same numbers plus some vocabulary. “Sâ’at chand-e?” (What time is it?). “Sâ’at se-o-nim” (It’s 3:30, literally “three and half”). “Rob’” means quarter: “se-o-rob’” (3:15). “Yek-o-rob’ be chahâr” (3:45, literally “one and quarter to four”). Time-telling deserves its own post, honestly.

Haggling at a bazaar is where your number skills get tested under pressure. A shopkeeper says “in panjâh-hezâr tomane” (this is 50,000 tomans). You counter with “si-hezâr midam” (I’ll give 30,000). Speed matters. if you’re slow with numbers, the price goes up. Understanding Farsi sentence structure helps here, because the verb always comes last, and the number sits right before the noun. For the mechanics of how Persian verbs change form in these exchanges, see our Persian verb conjugation guide.

The Arabic Number Script Iranians Actually Use

Persian uses Eastern Arabic numerals in writing: ۰ ۱ ۲ ۳ ۴ ۵ ۶ ۷ ۸ ۹. These look different from both Western Arabic (0-9) and the Arabic numerals used in Egypt and the Gulf. See the full breakdown at Persian numerals on Omniglot.

The tricky ones: ۴ (4) looks like a backwards 3. ۵ (5) looks like a heart or a 0. ۶ (6) looks like a 7. Once you learn to read these, price tags, phone numbers, and addresses all click into place.

In practice, Iranians use both systems. Western numerals appear on many websites and modern signage. Eastern Arabic numerals dominate handwriting, official documents, and traditional signage. You need to read both.

For the full grammar roadmap, head to the Persian Grammar Guide.

Frequently Asked Questions

For the practical vocabulary side of numbers. telling time, the solar calendar, money, and how numbers show up in daily life. see the Persian Numbers, Time & Calendar vocabulary post.

Want to put these numbers to use in real conversation? Book a session with me on Preply and we’ll practice counting, haggling, and everything in between. in actual Tehrani Persian, not textbook mode.