Turkish numbers follow one simple rule: say the parts from biggest to smallest, as separate words. Learn the words for 0 to 10, the eight tens, yüz (100), bin (1,000) and milyon, and you can build any number you need: 47 is kırk yedi (“forty-seven”) and 365 is üç yüz altmış beş (“three hundred sixty-five”). There are no teens to memorize and no “and” in the middle.
This guide shows you how to count in Turkish from 0 to 100 and into the millions, then covers ordinal numbers, the rule that keeps nouns singular after a number, and how to ask “how many” and “how much”. After that come the places you will actually use numbers: prices in lira, ages, years and phone numbers, plus halves, percentages, decimals and “one each”. A short listening quiz at the end lets you test yourself, and every example in the lists has a play button.
Turkish numbers from 0 to 10
sıfır
0
bir
1
iki
2
üç
3
dört
4
beş
5
altı
6
yedi
7
sekiz
8
dokuz
9
on
10
A few of these contain letters English does not have. Sıfır and altı have the undotted ı, a short, relaxed “uh” sound. Üç has ü (say “ee” with rounded lips) and ç (“ch”), dört has ö (the e in “bed” with rounded lips), and beş ends in ş (“sh”). The other letters sound much as you would expect: keep the vowels short and clear, and tap the r lightly. If any of the special letters are new to you, the Turkish alphabet guide goes through each one with audio.
Bir also means “a” or “an”, so bir çay is both “a tea” and “one tea”. When you want to stress the number, add tane (“piece”): bir tane çay is clearly “one tea”.
Numbers 11 to 100: tens first, then ones
Turkish has no special words like “eleven”, “twelve” or “fifteen”. You say the ten, then the one: 11 is on bir (“ten one”), 15 is on beş and 19 is on dokuz. The same pattern works all the way to 99. Here are the tens, each with an example:
| Number | Turkish | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | on | on bir (11) |
| 20 | yirmi | yirmi iki (22) |
| 30 | otuz | otuz üç (33) |
| 40 | kırk | kırk dört (44) |
| 50 | elli | elli beş (55) |
| 60 | altmış | altmış altı (66) |
| 70 | yetmiş | yetmiş yedi (77) |
| 80 | seksen | seksen sekiz (88) |
| 90 | doksan | doksan dokuz (99) |
| 100 | yüz | yüz, not “bir yüz” |
Write the parts as separate words: yirmi beş, not “yirmibeş”. Four of the tens come with a memory hook: altmış (60) looks like altı (6), yetmiş (70) like yedi (7), seksen (80) like sekiz (8) and doksan (90) like dokuz (9). Yirmi, otuz, kırk and elli you simply have to learn.
on bir
11
on beş
15
yirmi bir
21
otuz yedi
37
kırk sekiz
48
altmış dört
64
doksan dokuz
99
yüz
100
Because altmış and yetmiş start like altı and yedi, listen for the ending when someone tells you a price: -mış / -miş means sixty or seventy, not six or seven.
Hundreds, thousands and millions (and why there is no bir yüz)
In English you say “a hundred” or “one hundred”. In Turkish, yüz already means “one hundred” and bin means “one thousand”, so 100 is just yüz and 1,000 is just bin. On their own, “bir yüz” and “bir bin” sound wrong to a Turkish ear. From two upward, put the number first: iki yüz (200), beş bin (5,000). Bir only comes before bin as the last part of a longer number, as in yirmi bir bin (21,000).
Milyon and milyar (billion) work differently: they need bir, just like in English. One million is bir milyon. Bigger numbers follow the same rule as before, biggest part first, with no “and”:
yüz bir
101
iki yüz
200
üç yüz altmış beş
365
bin
1,000
bin iki yüz otuz dört
1,234
on iki bin beş yüz
12,500
yirmi bir bin
21,000
iki yüz elli bin
250,000
bir milyon
1,000,000
üç milyar
3,000,000,000
When you see numbers written down, notice that Turks group thousands with a dot, not a comma: 1.000, 12.500, 250.000. Years are written without the dot: 1985, 2026. The comma has a different job, which you will meet in the section on decimals.
Ordinal numbers: birinci, ikinci, üçüncü
To turn a number into “first”, “second” or “third”, add -ıncı, -inci, -uncu or -üncü. The last vowel of the number decides which one. This is four-way vowel harmony, the same pattern as the question particle mı / mi / mu / mü. After a vowel, the first vowel of the ending drops: altı becomes altıncı, yirmi becomes yirminci.
| Last vowel of the number | Ending | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| a, ı | -(ı)ncı | altıncı (6th), kırkıncı (40th), doksanıncı (90th) |
| e, i | -(i)nci | birinci (1st), ikinci (2nd), beşinci (5th), yedinci (7th) |
| o, u | -(u)ncu | dokuzuncu (9th), onuncu (10th), otuzuncu (30th) |
| ö, ü | -(ü)ncü | üçüncü (3rd), dördüncü (4th), yüzüncü (100th) |
One consonant changes: dört becomes dördüncü. Most one-syllable words keep their final consonant before a vowel, but dört is an exception and softens its t to d. In compound numbers only the last word takes the ending: yirmi birinci (21st), kırk beşinci (45th). For the full logic behind the four vowels, see Turkish vowel harmony.
Birinci is not the only word for “first”. İlk means first in time: ilk gün (the first day), ilk kez (the first time). Birinci is the numbered first, for ranks, floors and classes: birinci oldu (he or she came first), birinci sınıf (first grade, or first class).
Bu benim ilk Türkçe dersim.
This is my first Turkish lesson.
İkinci sokaktan sağa dönün.
Turn right at the second street.
Üçüncü kattayım.
I’m on the third floor.
yirmi birinci yüzyıl
the twenty-first century
In writing, ordinals are often shown with a dot after the numeral, so 3. kat is read üçüncü kat (third floor). Floors are counted from the ground floor, zemin kat, so birinci kat is one floor up: what Americans call the second floor.
Number + noun: iki kitap, not iki kitaplar
English speakers often get this wrong at first. In English, anything above one takes a plural: two books, three days. In Turkish, the number already tells you there is more than one, so the noun stays singular. İki kitap means “two books”; “iki kitaplar” is wrong.
İki kitap aldım.
I bought two books.
Üç kardeşim var.
I have three siblings.
Beş dakika bekler misiniz?
Could you wait five minutes?
İstanbul'da on gün kaldım.
I stayed in Istanbul for ten days.
The plural ending -ler / -lar is for when you do not give a number: kitaplar (books), günler (days). The same singular rule applies after kaç (how many) and birkaç (a few): kaç gün? (how many days?), birkaç gün (a few days).
Asking how many and how much: kaç, kaç tane, ne kadar
Kaç means “how many” and goes straight before a singular noun, just like a number. It is also the word you use to ask the time and someone’s age.
Kaç kişisiniz?
How many of you are there? (a waiter’s question)
Kaç kardeşin var?
How many siblings do you have?
Saat kaç?
What time is it? (literally “the hour is how many?”)
Kaç tane adds tane (“piece”) and is used for counting things. You will hear it at the bakery and the market, and the answer usually keeps tane too:
Kaç tane istiyorsunuz?
How many would you like?
İki tane, lütfen.
Two, please.
Üç tane simit alabilir miyim?
Can I have three simits?
Ne kadar means “how much”. Use it for prices and for amounts you do not count one by one, such as time: Ne kadar sürer? (“How long does it take?”). For prices you can also ask Kaç lira? (“How many lira?”). For shopping and bargaining phrases, see Turkish phrases for travel.
Prices, ages, years and phone numbers
Prices. Turkish money is the lira (written ₺ or TL), divided into 100 kuruş. Prices are written with a comma before the kuruş: 12,50 TL is on iki lira elli kuruş. In shops people often leave out lira and kuruş and just say on iki elli. Like any noun, lira stays singular after a number.
Elli lira.
50 lira.
On iki lira elli kuruş.
₺12.50 (written 12,50 TL)
On iki elli.
12.50 (shop shorthand)
Bin iki yüz elli lira.
₺1,250 (written 1.250 TL)
Ages. The key word is yaş (age), and Turkish says you are “at” an age, so you ask someone “at how many age” they are. The answer is the number plus yaşındayım (“I am … years old”).
Kaç yaşındasın?
How old are you? (informal)
Kaç yaşındasınız?
How old are you? (polite)
Otuz iki yaşındayım.
I’m thirty-two.
Kızım yedi yaşında.
My daughter is seven.
Years. English splits years into pairs (“nineteen eighty-five”), but Turks read the whole number: 1985 is bin dokuz yüz seksen beş and 2026 is iki bin yirmi altı. To say “in” a year, add -de / -da / -te / -ta to match the last word, with an apostrophe in writing: 1985'te, 2026'da.
Bin dokuz yüz seksen beşte doğdum.
I was born in 1985.
Türkiye Cumhuriyeti bin dokuz yüz yirmi üçte kuruldu.
The Republic of Turkey was founded in 1923.
The ending follows the sound of the last word, not the look of the digit: 2000'de (iki binde) but 2003'te (iki bin üçte). Say the number out loud first, and the right ending follows.
Phone numbers. Turkish cell phone numbers have 11 digits and start with 05 (from abroad, you drop the 0 and dial +90). They are usually read in groups, as in 0532 123 45 67:
Telefon numaranız ne?
What’s your phone number?
Sıfır beş yüz otuz iki, yüz yirmi üç, kırk beş, altmış yedi.
0532 123 45 67
When the line is bad or someone is writing the number down, people often switch to single digits: sıfır, beş, üç, iki.
Halves, percentages, decimals and “one each”
Yarım and buçuk. Both mean “half”, but you cannot swap them. Yarım stands alone before a noun, like “half a …”. Buçuk means “and a half” and comes after a whole number. So 1½ is bir buçuk, never “bir yarım”.
Yarım saat sonra geliyorum.
I’ll be there in half an hour.
Bir buçuk kilo domates, lütfen.
One and a half kilos of tomatoes, please.
Saat üç buçuk.
It’s half past three.
Percentages. Turks write the percent sign before the number, and they say it in that order too: %50 is yüzde elli, literally “in a hundred, fifty”.
Yüzde yirmi indirim var.
There’s 20% off.
Yüzde yüz eminim.
I’m 100% sure.
Decimals. Turkish swaps the jobs of the dot and the comma. The comma marks decimals and is read as virgül (“comma”), so 2,5 is iki virgül beş. Put the two together and 1.250,75 TL means 1,250 lira and 75 kuruş.
iki virgül beş
2.5 (written 2,5)
sıfır virgül yetmiş beş
0.75 (written 0,75)
One each: birer, ikişer. To say “one each” or “two at a time”, add -er / -ar to the number, or -şer / -şar after a vowel. The vowel follows two-way harmony (e or a), and dört softens again: birer, ikişer, üçer, dörder, beşer, altışar, onar.
Herkese birer çay söyledim.
I ordered one tea for each person.
İkişer ikişer girin, lütfen.
Come in two at a time, please.
Çocuklara üçer elma verdim.
I gave the children three apples each.
Quick listening quiz
Cover the words next to the play buttons with your hand or a piece of paper. Press each button, write down what you hear in digits, then uncover the list to check your answers.
on yedi
Answer: 17
altmış üç
Answer: 63
dört yüz on beş
Answer: 415
bin dokuz yüz doksan dokuz
Answer: 1999
seksen bin
Answer: 80,000
dördüncü
Answer: 4th
yüzde otuz
Answer: 30%
iki buçuk
Answer: 2½
If one of them tripped you up, go back to that section and play the examples again. Numbers need more listening than most vocabulary, because in real life they come fast.
Frequently asked questions
How do you say 100 and 1,000 in Turkish? 100 is yüz and 1,000 is bin, without bir in front. A million, though, is bir milyon.
Do Turkish nouns become plural after a number? No. The noun stays singular after a number and after kaç: iki kitap (two books), kaç kitap? (how many books?).
How do you say “How old are you?” in Turkish? Say Kaç yaşındasın? to a friend or a child and Kaç yaşındasınız? to an adult you do not know well. Answer with the number and yaşındayım: Yirmi beş yaşındayım (I’m twenty-five).
How are numbers written in Turkish? With a dot for thousands (10.000), a comma for decimals (3,5), the percent sign first (%20) and a dot after the numeral for ordinals (5. means “fifth”).
Practice numbers in Unit 4 of the A1 course
Numbers become automatic only when you hear and say them often. Unit 4 of the A1 course, Sayılar (Numbers), practices counting to 100, prices, ages and phone numbers, with audio for every phrase and short exercises, including listening and translation. If you are new to Turkish, you can also start from the first unit of the A1 course, which is free.