Persian Numbers 1 to 1,000: Digits, Words and Pronunciation

Persian uses its own digits, ۰ ۱ ۲ ۳ ۴ ۵ ۶ ۷ ۸ ۹, and writes numbers left to right, just like English. The number words are regular: learn 0 to 20, the tens and the hundreds, then join the parts with -o- (“and”). So 125 is sad-o bist-o panj. Among the hundreds, only 200, 300 and 500 are irregular.

This guide covers the digits (and the Arabic look-alikes you may run into), every word from 0 to 1,000, how compound numbers are read, ordinals like “first” and “twentieth,” and the places you will use numbers right away: prices, phone numbers, the time and your age. Each section has tables you can scan, and there is a reading practice set, flashcards and a quiz near the end.

Persian digits ۰ to ۹

Persian digits are a variant of the Eastern Arabic numerals. In Unicode they are a separate set (U+06F0 to U+06F9, called “Extended Arabic-Indic digits”), and three of them, 4, 5 and 6, have different shapes from the digits used in Arabic (U+0660 to U+0669).

Three things trip up English speakers:

• Zero is a dot. ۰ is a small dot, so ۱۰۰ is 100.
• Five looks like a zero in Arabic. The Persian five ۵ is shaped like an upside-down heart, but the Arabic five ٥ is a small circle. If you see a “0” in a price written in Arabic digits, it is probably a 5.
• Seven and eight are V shapes. ۷ (7) opens upward and ۸ (8) opens downward.

Where will you see the Arabic shapes ٤ ٥ ٦? In Arabic texts, and sometimes on Persian websites or documents where the software used Arabic digit characters instead of Persian ones. They mean the same numbers, so read them the same way.

Numbers run left to right even inside right-to-left Persian text. The year ۱۴۰۵ is one-four-zero-five, read as هزار و چهارصد و پنج (hezâr-o chahârsad-o panj). That is the Iranian calendar year that began in March 2026.

Persian numbers 0 to 20

Numbers 11 to 19 are single words, a bit like English “-teen.” Learn them as a set. In everyday Tehran speech the final h of the teens is often dropped (yâzda, davâzda), and a few vowels change, shown in the spoken column.

Hear a few: یازده Listen, پانزده Listen, هجده Listen.

Persian tens: 10 to 100

Do not mix up شصت (shast, 60) and شش (shesh, 6), or نود (navad, 90) and نه (noh, 9). Forty, چهل (chehel) Listen, does not look like four at all.

Persian hundreds, including the irregular دویست، سیصد، پانصد

Most hundreds are simply the digit plus صد (sad), written as one word. Three are irregular and need to be memorized: 200 is دویست (devist), not “do sad”; 300 is سیصد (sisad), not “se sad”; and 500 is پانصد (pânsad), not “panj sad.”

Listen to the three irregular ones: دویست Listen, سیصد Listen, پانصد Listen.

How to read compound numbers with -o-

Persian builds bigger numbers from largest to smallest and puts و (“and”) between every part. In writing it is a separate word; in speech it is a short -o- attached to the word before it. English says “three hundred forty-seven”; Persian says “three hundred and forty and seven.”

After a vowel, the “and” glides in with a y sound: سی و پنج sounds like si-yo panj. Hear a long one: سیصد و چهل و هفت Listen.

Two grammar points make numbers sound natural. First, the noun after a number stays singular: سه کتاب (se ketâb, “three books”), never “three books” with the plural ها. Second, in speech people usually add the counter تا (tâ): سه تا کتاب (se tâ ketâb). For people, نفر (nafar) is common: چهار نفر (chahâr nafar, “four people”).

Which one did you get wrong? For most learners it is 202 or 555. Tell us your score in the comments.

Persian ordinal numbers: -om and -omin

To turn a number into “first, second, third,” add ـم (-om) or ـمین (-omin). The two endings go in different places:

• -om comes after the noun, linked by the ezâfe: روز دوم (ruz-e dovvom, “the second day”).
• -omin comes before the noun, with no ezâfe: دومین روز (dovvomin ruz, “the second day”).

Notes: “first” is usually اول (avval), but یکم (yekom) is used in dates and numbered lists, and inside compounds you always use yekom (21st is bist-o yekom). Two and three are spelled دوم and سوم and pronounced with a doubled v: dovvom, sevvom. After 30 (سی, ending in a vowel) the ending is written ام. To ask “which one?” in a series, use چندم (chandom): امروز چندمه؟ (emruz chandome?, spoken, “What’s the date today?”).

Numbers in everyday Persian: money, phone numbers, time and age

Money: rials and tomans

Iran’s official currency is the rial (ریال, riyâl), but in daily life people count in tomans (تومان, tomân). One toman is 10 rials, so a price of 50,000 tomans is 500,000 rials. People rarely say “rial” in conversation. In late 2025, Iran’s Guardian Council approved a law to remove four zeros, creating a “new toman” worth 10,000 old rials, with old and new money circulating side by side during a three-year transition. While that change rolls out, always check which unit a price is in.

Notice that هزار (hezâr, thousand) stays singular after a number, just like any other noun: panjâh hezâr, never “panjâh hezârhâ.”

Phone numbers

Iranian phone numbers have 11 digits, starting with 0. Mobile numbers follow the pattern 09xx xxx xxxx; from abroad you dial +98 and drop the 0. Digits are read left to right like everything else. You can always read a number digit by digit, but people often read it in chunks, as in this made-up example:

۰۹۱۲ ۳۴۵ ۶۷ ۸۹: صفر، نهصد و دوازده، سیصد و چهل و پنج، شصت و هفت، هشتاد و نه (sefr, nohsad-o davâzdah, sisad-o chehel-o panj, shast-o haft, hashtâd-o noh) Listen

Telling the time

Saying your age

To ask someone’s age informally, say چند سالته؟ (chand sâlete?); politely, چند سالتونه؟ (chand sâletune?). Both are spoken forms. The answer in speech is بیست و پنج سالمه (bist-o panj sâlame, “I’m 25”) Listen. In writing or careful speech: بیست و پنج سال دارم (bist-o panj sâl dâram, literally “I have 25 years”).

Where to go next with Persian numbers

Numbers stick when you use them: prices, dates, phone numbers, your age. Pick what describes you to see a sensible next step.

What number do you use most in Persian, a phone number, a price or a date? Write it out in Persian words in the comments and we will check it.

Sources: W3C Arabic and Persian Layout Requirements, “Arabic numerals”, Wikipedia, Eastern Arabic numerals, Michigan State University Open Books, Persian numbers 1 to 100, Omniglot, Numbers in Persian, Languages and Numbers, Counting in Persian, Wikipedia, Iranian rial, Rudaw, Guardian Council approves bill to slash four zeroes, Wikipedia, National conventions for writing telephone numbers.

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