Tens, hundreds and thousands
| Persian | Say it | Number |
|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| پانصد | pânsad | 500 |
| هزار | hezâr | 1,000 |
| میلیون | milyun | million |
| میلیارد | milyârd | billion (thousand million) |
Join numbers with -o- (“and”): bist-o-panj is 25, sad-o-bist is 120, and do hezâr-o-sisad is 2,300.
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) |
| ریال | riâl | rial |
| گرونه | gerune | it’s expensive |
| ارزونه | arzune | it’s cheap |
Tehran tip: Prices change quickly in Iran, so check our cost of living guide and ask before you agree to anything.
Practise
- Say 35, 78 and 450 in Persian.
- A taxi driver says sisad. Roughly how much is he asking, in tomans?
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