Numerals

Both English and Dari have cardinal numbers and ordinal numbers. Cardinal numbers show an

amount (seven, thirty-five). Ordinal numbers show order (first, seventh).

Just as the writing of letters in Dari is different from English, so is the writing of numbers. Dari uses

Arabic script to write out the numbers. However, numbers are read left to right, as in English.

Note: Ordinal numbers are formed by the addition of the suffix م om to the cardinal numeral.

	Numeral	Cardinal	Ordinal
0	٠	صفر	صفر
1	١	یک	یکم
2	٢	دو	دوم
3	٣	سه	سوم
4	٤	چهار	چهارم
5	٥	پنج	پنجم
6	٦	شش	ششم
7	٧	هفت	هفتم
8	٨	هشت	هشتم
9	٩	نه	نهم
10	١٠	ده	دهم
11	١١	یازده	یازدهم
12	١٢	دوازده	دوازدهم
13	١٣	سیزده	سیزدهم
14	١٤	چهارده	چهاردهم
15	١٥	پانزده	پانزدهم
16	١٦	شانزده	شانزدهم
17	١٧	هفده	هفدهم
18	١٨	هژده	هژدهم
19	١٩	نوزده	نوردهم
20	٢٠	بیست	بیستم
30	٣٠	سی	سیم
40	٤٠	چهل	چهلم
50	٥٠	پنجاه	پنجاهم
60	٦٠	شصت	شصتم
70	٧٠	هفتاد	هفتادم
80	٨٠	هشتاد	هشتادم
90	٩٠	نود	نودم
100	١٠٠	صد	صدم
1000	١٠٠٠	هزار	هزارم
100000	١٠٠٠٠٠	یک لک
1000000	١٠٠٠٠٠٠	میلیون

Hundreds, thousands, and millions are formed as in English:

"two hundred" دوصد

"five thousand" پنج هزار

"ten million" ده میلیون

In informal speech, the Arabic word اول awwal is commonly used to convey the meaning "first." Its major difference from the Dari یکم yakom is that it can be used similarly to the English word "the best":

"the best pupil" اول نمره

For English adverbs such as "first," "second," "third" (meaning: at the first place or turn), Arabic adverbs are generally used: اولاً awwalan "first," ثانیاً saaniyan "second," ثالثاً saalesan "third" as well as the Dari ordinal numerals:

Compound numerals are written by linking them together with the conjunction و o "and," the largest numeral comes first.

"thirty one" سی و یک

"two hundred eighty four" دو صد و هشتاد و چهار

Compound ordinals are formed in the same way, and the suffix م om is attached to the last word only:

"five hundred twenty third" پنج صد و بیست و سوم

"four thousand three hundred fiftieth" چهار هزار و سه صد و پنجاهم

With large numbers in informal speech, it is common to use the word صد sad "hundred" and a special word لک lak meaning "hundred of thousands":

"1400 (lit. 14 hundred)"چهارده صد

"2300 (lit. 23 hundred)" بیست و سه صد

"1500000 (lit. 15 hundred of thousands)" پانزده لک

The numeric designation of years in informal speech is read as in English:

"1980 (lit. 19 - 80)" سال نوزده هشتاد

"1365 (lit. 13 - 65)" سال سیزده سصت و پنج

In English, the noun that follows a numeral has a plural form, but in Dari, nouns in a singular form always follow numerals:

"five men (lit. five man)" پنج نفر

"one hundred kilograms (lit. one hundred kilogram" یک صد کیلو

Ordinal numbers can also be formed by adding the suffix مین omin to cardinal numbers. In this case, the ordinal number precedes the noun.

"the fortieth session" چهلمین اجلاس

"the eightieth anniversary" هشتادمین سالگرد

See Also:

• Fractions
• Percent