Counting in Turkish

Language overview

Forty-two in Turkish Turkish (türkçe) belongs to the Altaic language family. Official language in Turkey (with about 75 million speakers) and co-official in Cyprus, it is also spoken in some parts of Macedonia, Kosovo, Azerbaijan.

Turkish numbers list

  • 1 – bir
  • 2 – iki
  • 3 – üç
  • 4 – dört
  • 5 – beş
  • 6 – altı
  • 7 – yedi
  • 8 – sekiz
  • 9 – dokuz
  • 10 – on
  • 11 – on bir
  • 12 – on iki
  • 13 – on üç
  • 14 – on dört
  • 15 – on beş
  • 16 – on altı
  • 17 – on yedi
  • 18 – on sekiz
  • 19 – on dokuz
  • 20 – yirmi
  • 30 – otuz
  • 40 – kırk
  • 50 – elli
  • 60 – altmış
  • 70 – yetmiş
  • 80 – seksen
  • 90 – doksan
  • 100 – yüz
  • 1,000 – bin
  • one million – bir milyon
  • one billion – bir milyar
  • one trillion – bir trilyon

Turkish numbering rules

Now that you’ve had a gist of the most useful numbers, let’s move to the writing rules for the tens, the compound numbers, and why not the hundreds, the thousands and beyond (if possible).

  • Digits from zero to nine are specific words, namely sıfır [0], bir [1], iki [2], üç [3], dört [4], beş [5], altı [6], yedi [7], sekiz [8], and dokuz [9].
  • The tens have specific names from ten to fifty, names based on the multiplier digit root from sixty to ninety: on [10], yirmi [20], otuz [30], kırk [40], elli [50], altmış [60], yetmiş [70], seksen [80], and doksan [90].
  • Compound numbers up to ninety-nine are built by spelling out the ten, then the digit (e.g.: otuz iki [32], yetmiş bir [71]).
  • Hundreds are formed starting with the multiplier digit, followed by the word for hundred (yüz), separated with a space, except for one hundred: yüz [100], iki yüz [200], üç yüz [300], dört yüz [400], beş yüz [500], altı yüz [600], yedi yüz [700], sekiz yüz [800], and dokuz yüz [900].
  • Thousands are formed starting with the multiplier digit, followed by the word for thousand (bin), separated with a space, except for one thousand: bin [1,000], iki bin [2,000], üç bin [3,000], dört bin [4,000], beş bin [5,000], altı bin [6,000], yedi bin [7,000], sekiz bin [8,000], and dokuz bin [9,000].
  • Tens of thousands use the same structure, with the exception that the ten and the unit are not separated by a space (eg. on altı [16], but onaltı bin [16,000]).
  • Turkish language uses the short scale for big numbers, where every new word greater than a million is 1,000 times bigger than the previous term. Thus, bir milyar is 109 (equivalent to the US billion), and bir trilyon is 1012 (equivalent to the US trillion).

Write a number in full in Turkish

Let’s move now to the practice of the numbering rules in Turkish. Will you guess how to write a number in full? Enter a number and try to write it down in your head, or maybe on a piece of paper, before displaying the result.

Books

Turkish: a comprehensive grammar Turkish: a comprehensive grammar
by , editors Routledge (2005)
[Amazon.com Amazon.com]

Turkish Grammar Turkish Grammar
by , editors Oxford University Press, (2001)
[Amazon.com Amazon.com]

Elementary Turkish Elementary Turkish
by , editors Dover Publications (1986)
[Amazon.com Amazon.com]

Guide de conversation turc Guide de conversation turc
by , editors Assimil (2011)
[Amazon.com Amazon.com]

Parlons turc Parlons turc
by , editors L’Harmattan (2002)
[Amazon.com Amazon.com]

Grammaire du turc Grammaire du turc
by , editors L’Harmattan (2000)
[Amazon.com Amazon.com]

Articles

Discovering the Turkish language Discovering the Turkish language

A true bridge between the East and the West, Turkey is rich of a culture at the crossroads of many civilizations. The beauty of its language, which seems at the same time close by its alphabet, and already distant by its sounds and its vocabulary, invites to its discovery.
Introduction to the Turkish language with the series <i>Hot Skull</i> Introduction to the Turkish language with the series Hot Skull

I invite you to dive into the world of the Turkish dystopian series Hot Skull broadcast on Netflix to discover some aspects of the Turkish language by analyzing its title, then the posters posted on the walls, the graffiti and slogans that appear in the city.

Turkic languages

Azerbaijani, Bashkir, Chuvash, Crimean Tatar, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Turkish, Uyghur, and Yakut.

Other supported languages

As the other currently supported languages are too numerous to list extensively here, please select a language from the full list of supported languages.