YariNumbers in Kurmanji Kurdish: counting from 1 to 1,000
Kurmanji numbers follow a regular pattern. Learn the first ten, the tens and a single joining word, and you can say any number up to a thousand.
One to ten
| Number | Kurmanji | Number | Kurmanji |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | yek | 6 | şeş |
| 2 | du | 7 | heft |
| 3 | sê | 8 | heşt |
| 4 | çar | 9 | neh |
| 5 | pênc | 10 | deh |
Eleven to nineteen
The teens are single words built on the numbers above plus -deh, with a few sound changes: yazdeh (11), duwazdeh (12), sêzdeh (13), çardeh (14), pazdeh (15), şazdeh (16), hevdeh (17), hejdeh (18), nozdeh (19).
The tens
| Number | Kurmanji | Number | Kurmanji |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20 | bîst | 60 | şêst |
| 30 | sî | 70 | heftê |
| 40 | çil | 80 | heştê |
| 50 | pêncî | 90 | not |
Then sed is 100 and hezar is 1,000.
Building any number
Join the parts with û (“and”), largest first:
- 21 = bîst û yek
- 45 = çil û pênc
- 99 = not û neh
- 250 = dused û pêncî
- 1,987 = hezar û nehsed û heştê û heft
Hundreds are formed by putting the number in front of sed: dused (200), sêsed (300), pêncsed (500).
Practise with a game
Keeping score is a natural way to practise. In KêGot each round starts at ten points (deh) and counts down, so try calling out each team’s score in Kurmanji as you play. Words for numbers also turn up in Peyvok puzzles.