Beginner course · Lesson 8
Money in Iran comes with a twist: prices are written in one unit and spoken in another, and the thousands are often left out altogether. Once you understand tomans and rials, and can say numbers into the hundreds of thousands, shopping, taxis and cafés in Tehran become far less confusing.
This lesson builds on the numbers 0 to 20 from Lesson 7. You will learn the tens, hundreds and thousands, how to join them into any number, how to read a real price tag and convert rials to tomans, and the phrases you need to ask what something costs.
Tens, hundreds and thousands
| Persian | Say it | English |
|---|---|---|
| سی | si | 30 |
| چهل | chehel | 40 |
| پنجاه | panjâh | 50 |
| شصت | shast | 60 |
| هفتاد | haftâd | 70 |
| هشتاد | hashtâd | 80 |
| نود | navad | 90 |
| صد | sad | 100 |
| دویست | devist | 200 |
| سیصد | sisad | 300 |
| چهارصد | chârsad (written: chahârsad) | 400 |
| پانصد | punsad (written: pânsad) | 500 |
| ششصد | shishsad (written: sheshsad) | 600 |
| هفتصد | haftsad | 700 |
| هشتصد | hashtsad | 800 |
| نهصد | nohsad | 900 |
| هزار | hezâr | 1,000 |
| میلیون | milyun | million |
| میلیارد | milyârd | billion (thousand million) |
Most hundreds are simply a unit plus sad (hundred): haftsad, hashtsad, nohsad. The odd ones out are devist (200), sisad (300) and pânsad (500), so learn those three by heart. “A hundred” and “a thousand” are just sad and hezâr, with no word for “one” in front.
Putting numbers together
Join numbers with -o- (“and”): bist-o-panj is 25, sad-o-bist is 120, and do hezâr-o-sisad is 2,300. The biggest part comes first, exactly as in English, and every part is linked by -o-.
| Persian | Say it | English |
|---|---|---|
| ۳۵ سی و پنج | si-o-panj | 35 |
| ۷۸ هفتاد و هشت | haftâd-o-hasht | 78 |
| ۴۵۰ چهارصد و پنجاه | chârsad-o-panjâh | 450 |
| ۲٬۳۴۵ دو هزار و سیصد و چهل و پنج | do hezâr-o-sisad-o-chehel-o-panj | 2,345 |
| ۱۴۰۵ هزار و چهارصد و پنج | hezâr-o-chârsad-o-panj | 1405 (the Iranian year) |
| ۵۰٬۰۰۰ پنجاه هزار | panjâh hezâr | 50,000 |
| ۱۲۰٬۰۰۰ صد و بیست هزار | sad-o-bist hezâr | 120,000 |
| ۱٬۵۰۰٬۰۰۰ یه میلیون و پونصد | ye milyun-o-punsad | 1,500,000 (spoken short form) |
Grammar note: Hezâr and milyun never take a plural ending after a number: do hezâr (two thousand), se milyun (three million). And as with the numbers in Lesson 7, the thing you are counting stays singular: panjâh hezâr toman.
Rials and tomans
Iran’s official currency is the rial, and it appears on banknotes and bank statements. In daily life almost everybody talks in tomans, and one toman is ten rials. So a price tag of 500,000 rials will be read out as 50,000 tomans.
To make things more interesting, people often drop the thousands altogether. A shopkeeper who says panjâh (fifty) for a meal almost certainly means 50,000 tomans, not 50. If you are unsure, ask tomane? (is that in tomans?) or ask them to write it down.
| Persian | Say it | English |
|---|---|---|
| چند؟ | chand? | how much? how many? |
| چنده؟ | chande? | how much is it? |
| قیمتش چنده؟ | gheymatesh chande? | what’s the price? |
| تومن | toman | toman (spoken) |
| تومان | tomân | toman (written form, as on price tags) |
| ریال | riâl | rial |
| تومنه؟ | tomane? | is that in tomans? |
| گرونه | gerune | it’s expensive |
| ارزونه | arzune | it’s cheap |
| پول | pul | money |
| می‌شه … | mishe … | that comes to … |
| کارت‌خوان دارید؟ | kârtkhân dârid? | do you have a card machine? |
| می‌شه بنویسید؟ | mishe benevisid? | could you write it down? |
Reading a price tag
To turn rials into tomans, knock one zero off the end. To turn tomans into rials, add one. Then, to say the price the way a Tehrani would, drop the word hezâr (thousand) if the context makes it obvious. The prices below are invented to show the method; they are not real prices.
Example 1. A tag in a pharmacy reads ۲۵۰٬۰۰۰ ریال. That is 250,000 rials. Knock off a zero: 25,000 tomans. You will hear bist-o-panj hezâr toman, or just bist-o-panj.
Example 2. A pair of shoes is labelled ۱٬۲۰۰٬۰۰۰ ریال. That is 1,200,000 rials, or 120,000 tomans: sad-o-bist hezâr toman, often shortened to sad-o-bist.
Example 3. A café menu has قیمت‌ها به هزار تومان gheymat-hâ be hezâr tomân (prices in thousands of tomans) at the top, and ۸۵ next to a dish. That means 85,000 tomans, which is 850,000 rials.
Example 4. A tag in a shop reads ۴۵٬۰۰۰ تومان. This one is already in tomans, so no conversion is needed: chehel-o-panj hezâr toman.
Always look for the word ریال or تومان next to the number. If there is neither, ask. Large numbers are grouped in threes, usually with a small comma-like mark: ۲۵۰٬۰۰۰.
Tehran tip: Prices change quickly in Iran, so check our cost of living guide and our Iran prices tracker, and ask before you agree to anything. Foreign bank cards do not work in Iran, so visitors pay in cash or with a local tourist card.
Dialogue: At the fruit shop
Tom is buying pomegranates at a fruit shop in Tajrish. The prices here are made up for practice.
Tom: سلام. این چنده؟
Salâm. In chande?
Hello. How much is this?
Shopkeeper: کیلویی هفتاد.
Kiloyi haftâd.
Seventy a kilo.
Tom: هفتاد هزار تومن؟
Haftâd hezâr toman?
Seventy thousand tomans?
Shopkeeper: آره، هفتاد هزار تومن.
Âre, haftâd hezâr toman.
Yes, seventy thousand tomans.
Tom: دو کیلو، لطفاً.
Do kilo, lotfan.
Two kilos, please.
Shopkeeper: می‌شه صد و چهل.
Mishe sad-o-chehel.
That comes to a hundred and forty.
Tom: کارت‌خوان دارید؟
Kârtkhân dârid?
Do you have a card machine?
Shopkeeper: بله، بفرمایید.
Bale, befarmâyid.
Yes, go ahead.
Kiloyi means “per kilo”. Notice that the shopkeeper says sad-o-chehel and leaves the “thousand tomans” for Tom to understand: the total is 140,000 tomans.
Practise
- Say 35, 78 and 450 in Persian.
- A taxi driver says sisad. Roughly how much is he asking, in tomans?
- A price tag reads ۶۰۰٬۰۰۰ ریال. How much is that in tomans, and how would a shopkeeper say it?
- A menu headed “prices in thousands of tomans” lists a juice at ۹۰. How many rials is that?
- Say 2,500 and 1,000 in Persian.
- How do you ask “is that in tomans?”
- Read the year ۱۴۰۵ aloud.
Show answers
- si-o-panj, haftâd-o-hasht, chârsad-o-panjâh (written: chahârsad-o-panjâh).
- 300,000 tomans: he has dropped the thousands.
- 60,000 tomans: shast hezâr toman, or just shast.
- 900,000 rials (90,000 tomans).
- do hezâr-o-punsad (written: do hezâr-o-pânsad); hezâr.
- Tomane?
- hezâr-o-chârsad-o-panj (written: hezâr-o-chahârsad-o-panj).
Flashcards
Test yourself
Summary
- Tens, hundreds, hezâr, milyun and milyârd, joined with -o-: bist-o-panj, do hezâr-o-sisad.
- Prices are written in rials or tomans; one toman is ten rials, so knock off a zero to get tomans.
- Tehranis often drop the “thousand”: panjâh usually means 50,000 tomans.
- Asking and checking: chande?, gheymatesh chande?, tomane?, mishe benevisid?