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Lesson 4 of 10

Counting to ten in Persian

One to ten, for prices, platforms, rooms and how many beers. Play the ten Persian words against the clock, with a note on how locals really use each one after every answer. All ten are written out below.

The decorated ceiling of Ali Qapu Palace in Isfahan, Iran
Counting to ten
10 words · 20 seconds each · 8 of 10 to pass
What it meansHow to say it
Stefano Vigorelli, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

All 10 Persian phrases in this lesson

یکyak
One

Yak is the universal one. When counting you use it; when buying you say "یک تا" (one piece/unit). Persian numbers are fairly regular until you reach larger numbers.

دوdoo
Two
سهseh
Three

Regular progression continues. Teens are formed by adding "dah": yāzdah (eleven), davazdah (twelve), trezedan (thirteen). Twenties through nineties follow predictable patterns once you know the base numbers.

چهارcha-HAR
Four
پنجpanj
Five
ششshesh
Six
هفتhaft
Seven
هشتhasht
Eight
نهnoh
Nine

Spelled like the word for no, but said "noh".

دهdah
Ten

Twenty: bist (beest), thirty: si (see), forty: chahel (cha-HEL), fifty: panjāh (pan-JAH), sixty: shast (shast), seventy: haftād (haf-TAD), eighty: hashtād (hash-TAD), ninety: navad (na-VAD).

Where Persian is spoken

Next lesson: Shops and hotels →