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 |
|
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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. Try tofigure out the number correspondin to thefollowing (answers are below the list)
| Turkish spelling |
Number |
| dört |
? |
| on dört |
? |
| kırk dört |
? |
| yüz yetmiş dört |
? |
| altı yüz yirmi dokuz |
? |
| yedi yüz yirmi dört |
? |
| bin yedi yüz seksen beş |
? |
| bir milyon üç |
? |
| üç yüz yirmi sekiz |
? |
| bin dokuz yüz on dokuz |
? |
| iki bin dört |
? |
| bin yedi yüz seksen dokuz |
? |
Correct answers in sequence are: 4, 14, 44, 174, 629, 724, 1785, 1000003, 328, 1919, 2004, 1789
Fractions
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. Comma is used instead of point or dot 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
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We should also look at 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 - half a bread is yarım ekmek, one and a half is bir buçuk)
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.
Sequence Numbers
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.
| 1st --> birinci |
2nd --> ikinci (not ikiinci, one vowel falls when there is two next to each other) |
| 3rd --> üçüncü |
4th --> dördüncü |
| 5th --> beşinci |
6th --> altıncı (again, not altııncı because one of the double ı´s falls) |
| 7th --> yedinci |
10th --> onuncu |
| 25th --> yirmi beşinci |
50th --> ellinci (note the same vowel fall here) |
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