Numbers

Constructing numbers in Turkish is simple and straightforward. The rule is to line up the parts in decreasing magnitude like in English, but without putting any conjunctive words in between. For example, direct translation of 1256 from Turkish would be 'thousand two hundred fifty six'. Let's continue to construct numbers after you take a look at the table below. The numbers from 0 to 10 definitely need to be learned without any rule, as well as 10, 20, ..., 100 and 1,000-1,000,000-1,000,000,000.... After that, it's all about applying the simple-straightforward rules and practicing.

 

0	sıfır	21	yirmi bir
1	bir	22	yirmi iki
2	iki	30	otuz
3	üç	40	kırk
4	dört	50	elli
5	beş	60	altmış
6	altı	70	yetmiş
7	yedi	80	seksen
8	sekiz	90	doksan
9	dokuz	100	yüz
10	on	137	yüz otuz yedi
11	on bir	200	iki yüz
12	on iki	300	üç yüz
13	on üç	1,000	bin
14	on dört	2,000	iki bin
15	on beş	10,000	on bin
16	on altı	25,000	yirmi beş bin
17	on yedi	1,000,000	bir milyon
18	on sekiz	1,000,000,000	bir milyar
19	on dokuz
20	yirmi

 

Looking at the table above, let us see how some numbers are read in different cases:

58 --> elli sekiz	63 --> altmış üç	97 --> doksan yedi
104 --> yüz dört	148 --> yüz kırk sekiz	752 --> yedi yüz elli iki
1,765 --> bin yedi yüz altmış beş	48,392 --> kırk sekiz bin üç yüz doksan iki	305,018 --> üç yüz beş bin on sekiz
4,762,345,258 --> dört milyar yedi yüz altmış iki milyon üç yüz kırk beş bin iki yüz elli sekiz

 

Now, practice time...

Number	Turkish spelling
4	dört
14	on dört
44	kırk dört
174	yüz yetmiş dört
629	altı yüz yirmi dokuz
724	yedi yüz yirmi dört
1,785	bin yedi yüz seksen beş
1,000,003	bir milyon üç
328	üç yüz yirmi sekiz
1,919	bin dokuz yüz on dokuz
2,004	iki bin dört
1,789	bin yedi yüz seksen dokuz

 

Another point to note here is how to read fractions. The most commonly used form, 'x.5', is read as the whole part of the number followed by buçuk. The only exception to this is the 0,5 case, which is read like the other fractions. For the other fractions, the whole part of the number is read first, and then the fractional part is read as if it is a seperate number after saying 'virgül'. Acually virgül means comma, and this word is used for separating  the whole part and the fractional part of a number because in Turkish convention fractions are separated by comma. Here are some examples:

2.5 --> iki buçuk	274.5 --> iki yüz yetmiş dört buçuk	0.5 --> sıfır virgül beş
104.25 --> yüz dört virgül yirmi beş	14.8 --> on dört virgül sekiz	7.52 --> yedi virgül elli iki
1.705 --> bir virgül yedi yüz beş	48,012 --> kırk sekiz virgül sıfır on iki	305,008 --> üç yüz beş virgül sıfır sıfır sekiz

 

Now, let us take a look at how order is indicated using the numbers. The suffix used for order is -inci. Adding this at the and of any number will give the meaning of order. An important point to pay attention here, as always, is that this suffix changes according to vowel harmony.

1^st --> birinci	2^nd --> ikinci (not ikiinci, one vowel falls when there is two next to each other)
3^rd --> üçüncü	4^th --> dördüncü
5^th --> beşinci	6^th --> altıncı (again, not altııncı because one of the double ı's falls)
7^th --> yedinci	10^th --> onuncu
25^th --> yirmi beşinci	50^th --> ellinci (note the same vowel fall here)

 

I want to finish this part by giving the translations of fraction denoting adjectives. These are:

Half --> Yarım (Be careful that this is used only as an adjective, the word buçuk is used instead when you are reading numbers)

Quarter --> Çeyrek

Some sentences and prases using these adjectives would be:

Half an hour --> yarım saat

Buy half a bread.  --> Yarım ekmek al.

Joe made a foul in the last quarter. --> Joe son çeyrekte bir faul yaptı.

 

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