Numbers in Turkish

Overview

Turkish numbers are wonderfully regular and logical. Once you learn the numbers 1-10 and the tens (10, 20, 30...), you can construct any number simply by combining them. There are no irregular forms like English "eleven" or "twelve" — the Turkish word for 11 is simply "on bir" (ten one), and 25 is "yirmi beş" (twenty five).

At the A1 level, numbers are essential for everyday situations: shopping, telling time, giving your age, phone numbers, addresses, and prices. Turkey uses the Turkish lira (TL), and you will need numbers constantly when handling money.

One important cultural note: Turkish uses a period to separate thousands and a comma for decimals, which is the opposite of English. So 1.000 means one thousand, and 3,50 means three and a half.

How It Works

Numbers 0-10

Number	Turkish	Pronunciation hint
0	sıfır	suh-fuhr
1	bir	beer
2	iki	ee-kee
3	üç	ooch
4	dört	durt
5	beş	besh
6	altı	ahl-tuh
7	yedi	yeh-dee
8	sekiz	seh-keez
9	dokuz	doh-kooz
10	on	on

Tens

Number	Turkish
10	on
20	yirmi
30	otuz
40	kırk
50	elli
60	altmış
70	yetmiş
80	seksen
90	doksan

Combining Numbers (11-99)

Simply say the tens digit followed by the ones digit:

Number	Turkish	Literal
11	on bir	ten one
15	on beş	ten five
23	yirmi üç	twenty three
47	kırk yedi	forty seven
69	altmış dokuz	sixty nine
84	seksen dört	eighty four
99	doksan dokuz	ninety nine

Larger Numbers

Number	Turkish
100	yüz
200	iki yüz
500	beş yüz
1.000	bin
2.000	iki bin
10.000	on bin
100.000	yüz bin
1.000.000	bir milyon
1.000.000.000	bir milyar

Note: You say "bin" (not "bir bin") for 1.000, but "bir milyon" for 1.000.000.

Complex Numbers

Build them by combining parts, largest to smallest:

Number	Turkish
156	yüz elli altı
1.999	bin dokuz yüz doksan dokuz
2.024	iki bin yirmi dört
3.750	üç bin yedi yüz elli

Numbers with Nouns

Remember: nouns stay singular after numbers:

• bir kişi (one person)
• beş kişi (five people — not beş kişiler)
• yüz lira (a hundred lira — not yüz liralar)

Examples in Context

Turkish	English	Note
Kaç yaşındasın? — Yirmi beş.	How old are you? — Twenty-five.	Age
Bu ne kadar? — On lira.	How much is this? — Ten lira.	Price
İki çay, lütfen.	Two teas, please.	Ordering
Telefon numaram beş yüz elli iki...	My phone number is five hundred fifty-two...	Phone number
Üçüncü katta.	On the third floor.	Ordinal use
Saat kaç? — Üç.	What time is it? — Three.	Time
Dört kişilik masa, lütfen.	A table for four, please.	Restaurant
Yüz gram peynir, lütfen.	A hundred grams of cheese, please.	Shopping

Common Mistakes

Saying "Bir Bin" for 1.000

• Wrong: bir bin
• Right: bin
• Why: Unlike "bir milyon," the word for 1.000 is just "bin" without "bir."

Pluralizing Nouns After Numbers

• Wrong: üç kitaplar
• Right: üç kitap
• Why: Turkish nouns remain singular after numbers.

Confusing Kırk (40) and Kirk

• Wrong: Pronouncing "kırk" without the undotted ı
• Right: The ı in "kırk" is the undotted vowel, sounding like "kuhrk"
• Why: This is a common listening comprehension issue. The undotted ı changes the sound significantly.

Practice Tips

• Count everyday objects. Count stairs as you climb them, count items in your shopping basket, count people on the bus — all in Turkish. This builds number fluency through repetition.

• Practice prices and phone numbers. These are the most common real-world uses of numbers. Practice reading Turkish prices aloud and dictating phone numbers digit by digit.

Related Concepts

• Next steps: Telling Time and Dates — numbers are the foundation for expressing time and dates in Turkish