Dari Numbers 1–100 (and beyond)

Dari numbers are written exactly as in Iranian Persian, with the same words and the same digits. What changes is pronunciation: Afghans say yak, du, se, châr, panj, shash where Iranians say yek, do, se, chahâr, panj, shesh. A few larger numbers also use different words.

Dari numbers 0–20

Patterns to notice:

• Iranian e often becomes a in Dari: yek → yak, shesh → shash.
• The final -h of the teens (-dah) is usually dropped in Kabul speech: yâzda, sezda, pânzda.
• Four is often written چار in informal Afghan writing, matching the pronunciation châr. The standard spelling is چهار.
• For 18, Afghan writing usually uses هژده and Iranian writing usually هجده. Both spellings are correct Persian.

Tens: 20 to 100

Notice chil (40) and nawad (90). The w in nawad is the Dari pronunciation of the letter و, which Iranians say as v.

Hundreds, thousands and beyond

• 200 is the clearest difference: Dari دوصد du sad (“two hundred”) vs Iranian دویست devist.
• 300–900: the written forms used in Iran (سیصد، چهارصد، پانصد …) are understood everywhere. Afghan pronunciation of these varies, so check with a native speaker before teaching a single form.
• Lak (لک, 100,000) is a Hindi-Urdu loan used in Afghanistan.

How compound numbers work

Persian builds numbers from largest to smallest and joins each part with “and” (و). In Kabul speech the “and” sounds like u; in Tehran it sounds like o. In writing it is the same letter in both.

For the rule in more detail, with lots of Iranian Persian examples, see Persian numbers 1 to 1000. Everything on that page applies to written Dari.

Persian digits

Dari uses the same digits as Iranian Persian: ۰ ۱ ۲ ۳ ۴ ۵ ۶ ۷ ۸ ۹. Like words, numbers in digits are read from left to right, even inside right-to-left text. You can convert between Western and Persian digits with our Persian number converter.

Ordinals and telling the time

• Ordinals (first, second, third) add a suffix to the number. In Kabul speech it sounds like -um: سوم seyum (third), where Iranians say sevvom.
• Clock time uses بجه baja (o’clock): چند بجه است؟ chand baja-s? (what time is it?), panj baja (five o’clock). In Iran you would say ساعت پنج sâ’at-e panj.

More everyday phrases are on our Dari greetings and phrases page, and the full pronunciation rules are on Dari vs Farsi.

Sources

1. Numeral Systems of the World’s Languages (Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology), “Dari”, data from Roman Gehring (SIL). https://lingweb.eva.mpg.de/channumerals/Dari.htm
2. Rawan Farhadi and John R. Perry (2009), “Kāboli” [Kabuli colloquial Persian], Encyclopaedia Iranica. https://iranicaonline.org/articles/kaboli-colloquial-persian
3. Indiana University CeLCAR, Dari/Pashto Phrasebook (2021). https://celcar.indiana.edu/materials/images/PDF_Dari_Pashto_PhraseBook_Military_2021_5x7.pdf
4. Wikipedia, “Dari” (accessed 30 Oct 2026). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dari

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