Armenian Numbers: How to Count from 1 to 100 and Beyond

Numbers are one of the first useful things to learn in any language. You need them for prices at the market, bus numbers, your age and the time. The good news is that Armenian numbers follow a very regular system. Once you know the numbers from one to ten and the tens, you can build almost everything else yourself.

Below you will find the Armenian numbers from zero to a hundred, how bigger numbers work, and a few phrases to start using them straight away. In the transliteration, ə stands for the short neutral vowel ը, like the "a" in "about".

Armenian numbers 1 to 10

These are the building blocks, so they are worth learning by heart.

A couple of notes. The ե at the start of երկու and երեք sounds like "ye". Seven, eight and ten are often said with or without a final ը, so you will hear both yot and yotə, tas and tasə. Nine is always inə.

Numbers 11 to 19

For the teens, Armenian takes տասն (tasn), a form of ten, and adds the unit straight after it, written as one word:

• 11 տասնմեկ (tasnmek)
• 12 տասներկու (tasnerku)
• 13 տասներեք (tasnerek)
• 14 տասնչորս (tasnchors)
• 15 տասնհինգ (tasnhing)
• 16 տասնվեց (tasnvets)
• 17 տասնյոթ (tasnyot)
• 18 տասնութ (tasnut)
• 19 տասնինը (tasninə)

So fifteen is literally "ten-five". Nothing new to memorise here.

The tens: 20 to 90

• 20 քսան (ksan)
• 30 երեսուն (yeresun)
• 40 քառասուն (karasun)
• 50 հիսուն (hisun)
• 60 վաթսուն (vatsun)
• 70 յոթանասուն (yotanasun)
• 80 ութսուն (utsun)
• 90 իննսուն (innsun)

Apart from twenty, all the tens end in -սուն (-sun), and several look like their unit: հինգ and հիսուն, ութ and ութսուն, յոթ and յոթանասուն. Spotting these pairs makes the list much easier to remember.

Building numbers from 21 to 99

This is where Armenian numbers get easy. You say the ten, then the unit, joined into one word:

• 21 քսանմեկ (ksanmek)
• 35 երեսունհինգ (yeresunhing)
• 48 քառասունութ (karasunut)
• 67 վաթսունյոթ (vatsunyot)
• 99 իննսունինը (innsuninə)

There is no "and" in between and no reversed order like in German or Dutch. If you can say twenty and seven, you can say twenty-seven.

Hundreds, thousands and beyond

• 100 հարյուր (haryur)
• 1,000 հազար (hazar)
• 1,000,000 միլիոն (milion)

For 200, 300 and so on, put the number in front: երկու հարյուր (yerku haryur) – two hundred, հինգ հազար (hing hazar) – five thousand. For a plain hundred or thousand you normally just say haryur or hazar, without "one".

Longer numbers are strung together from largest to smallest, as separate words:

• 125 հարյուր քսանհինգ (haryur ksanhing)
• 540 հինգ հարյուր քառասուն (hing haryur karasun)
• 2026 երկու հազար քսանվեց (yerku hazar ksanvets)

Prices in Armenia are in drams, and the figures get big quickly. A coffee can easily cost a thousand drams or more, so hazar is a word you will use every day.

Nouns after numbers

One helpful rule: after a number, the noun usually stays in the singular. Where English says "three years", Armenian says "three year":

• երեք տարի (yerek tari) – three years
• երկու սուրճ (yerku surch) – two coffees
• հինգ րոպե (hing rope) – five minutes

Ordinal numbers

• առաջին (arajin) – first
• երկրորդ (yerkrord) – second
• երրորդ (yerrord) – third
• չորրորդ (chorrord) – fourth
• հինգերորդ (hingerord) – fifth
• տասներորդ (tasnerord) – tenth

First is irregular. Second, third and fourth end in -րորդ (-rord), and from fifth on you add -երորդ (-erord) to the number. You will need these for floors and dates, for example երրորդ հարկ (yerrord hark) – third floor.

Useful phrases with numbers

• Քանի՞ տարեկան ես (kani tarekan es) – how old are you? (informal)
• Քսանհինգ տարեկան եմ (ksanhing tarekan em) – I'm twenty-five
• Ինչքա՞ն արժե (inchkan arzhe) – how much is it?
• Հազար հինգ հարյուր դրամ (hazar hing haryur dram) – 1,500 drams
• Քանի՞ հատ (kani hat) – how many (pieces)?
• Երկու հատ, խնդրում եմ (yerku hat, khndrum em) – two, please
• Ամսի քանի՞սն է (amsi kanisn e) – what's the date today?

Tips for learning Armenian numbers

• Learn one to ten and the tens first. Everything else is built from them.
• Read price tags out loud, or at least in your head, when you shop. It is free daily practice.
• Count things as you go about your day: stairs, cups, people in a queue.
• Practise listening as well as speaking. Numbers said fast are harder to catch than to say, so don't be shy about asking: Կրկնեք, խնդրում եմ (krknek, khndrum em) – repeat, please.
• Say your phone number, your age and your address in Armenian until they come out without effort. These are the numbers people will actually ask you for.

If you want to practise Armenian numbers with audio and short exercises, and then keep going with the rest of the language, you can do that on Haylingua.