Turkish numbers: counting, paying and catching phone numbers
Turkish numbers are quick to learn: once you know 0 to 10, the tens and the words for hundred and thousand, everything else is simply stacked together in order. 35 is otuz beş (oh-tooz besh) – "thirty five", just like English. Below are all the Turkish numbers you need, with pronunciation and audio, and – more importantly – how they sound in real life: prices at the market, change at the till, phone numbers and the floor of your building.
Turkish numbers 0 to 10
A few letters to watch: ı (no dot) is a short "uh", ü is like the French "u" (round your lips and say "ee"), ö is close to the vowel in "bird" without the r, ş is "sh" and ç is "ch". That is why altı is "al-tuh", not "al-tee".
Tens, hundreds and thousands
Numbers are built from big to small, with no "and" and no changes: 47 is kırk yedi, 99 doksan dokuz, 250 iki yüz elli, 1984 bin dokuz yüz seksen dört. Where British English says "two hundred and fifty", Turkish just says "two hundred fifty".
Two things that trip up beginners:
- No "one" before hundred and thousand. It is simply yüz and bin, never "bir yüz" or "bir bin". A million, though, is bir milyon.
- No plural after a number. "Five apples" is beş elma, not "beş elmalar".
| Number | Turkish | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| 11 | on bir | on beer |
| 15 | on beş | on besh |
| 26 | yirmi altı | yeer-mee al-tuh |
| 100 | yüz | yewz |
| 150 | yüz elli | yewz el-lee |
| 500 | beş yüz | besh yewz |
| 2,000 | iki bin | ee-kee been |
| 10,000 | on bin | on been |
Prices: how much is it?
At the market and in shops, numbers come fast and run together. The key questions:
One lira is 100 kuruş. A price of "12,50 TL" will be said as on iki lira elli kuruş, or just on iki elli. Watch the way prices are written – it is the opposite of the UK and US: the comma separates the kuruş and the dot marks thousands. "1.250,00 TL" is one thousand two hundred and fifty lira, not one lira and a bit.
Another handy word is buçuk (boo-chook), "and a half": bir buçuk kilo is a kilo and a half, saat üç buçuk is half past three. "Half" on its own is yarım (ya-ruhm).
If you are not sure you caught the price, ask for it in writing: Yazabilir misiniz? (ya-za-bee-leer mee-see-neez?) – "Could you write it down?"
Phone numbers in Turkish
Turkish mobile numbers usually start with 05 and look like 0532 123 45 67. People don't read them out digit by digit – they say each group as a whole number:
sıfır beş yüz otuz iki – yüz yirmi üç – kırk beş – altmış yedi
That is "zero, five hundred thirty-two, one hundred twenty-three, forty-five, sixty-seven". It takes some getting used to, because it sounds nothing like "oh-five-three-two". If you would rather hear the digits one at a time, ask Tek tek söyler misiniz? (tek tek sur-ler mee-see-neez?) – "Could you say them one by one?"
Ordinal numbers: floors, flats and queues
Ordinals take the ending -ıncı / -inci / -uncu / -üncü (following vowel harmony): birinci (first), ikinci (second), üçüncü (third), dördüncü (fourth), beşinci (fifth). In writing they are often shortened with a full stop: "3. kat" means üçüncü kat, the third floor.
Floors work the British way: the street level is zemin kat (zeh-meen kat), and birinci kat is the first floor above it. If you grew up with American floors, add one – "2. kat" is what an American would call the third floor. In addresses you will also see No: 12 D: 5 – No is the building number and D (daire) the flat.
Before you head to the market, it is worth knowing how to greet the stallholder: see hello in Turkish.
Making numbers automatic
Learning numbers from a table is easy; understanding them when a stallholder rattles off a price is not. Two things help: reading the prices you see on labels out loud in Turkish, and acting out short scenes. Konuş has a ready-made "At the market" scene: the AI plays the seller and quotes prices, and you ask and haggle in Turkish. Every sentence you say is corrected and the mistake explained in English. The app is free and currently in a test phase, with up to 40 sentences a day. And once you have paid, a quick Teşekkürler goes a long way – more in our guide to thank you in Turkish.
Frequently asked questions
How do you count to 10 in Turkish?
Bir (1), iki (2), üç (3), dört (4), beş (5), altı (6), yedi (7), sekiz (8), dokuz (9), on (10). Zero is sıfır.
Why is 1,000 "bin" and not "bir bin"?
Turkish drops the "one" before yüz (hundred) and bin (thousand): 1,000 is bin, 2,000 is iki bin. A million keeps it: bir milyon.
How do you ask the price in Turkish?
Ne kadar? – "How much is it?" – or Kaç lira? – "How many lira?". At the market, ask for the price per kilo with Kilosu ne kadar?
How do you say "one and a half" in Turkish?
Bir buçuk. You can add buçuk to any number: iki buçuk is two and a half.
How do Turks read out phone numbers?
In groups: 0532 123 45 67 sounds like sıfır beş yüz otuz iki, yüz yirmi üç, kırk beş, altmış yedi. To hear the digits one by one, ask Tek tek söyler misiniz?