Counting in Bengali: 1 to 100
এক দুই তিন — plus the little counting words that textbooks forget and markets demand.
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Bengali digits — ০১২৩৪৫৬৭৮৯ — are everywhere in Bengal: price tags, bus numbers, clocks, exam papers. International digits appear too, but the Bengali set is the one you cannot fake, so learn to read it first. The shapes are friendly: ১ ২ ৩ are barely disguised cousins of 1 2 3.
The words one to ten are এক, দুই, তিন, চার, পাঁচ, ছয়, সাত, আট, নয়, দশ. Eleven to twenty go their own way (এগারো, বারো, তেরো…), and then the tens take over: বিশ (20), তিরিশ (30), চল্লিশ (40), পঞ্চাশ (50), ষাট (60), সত্তর (70), আশি (80), নব্বই (90), একশো (100). Past twenty, numbers are built by glueing tens to units — একুশ (21), বত্রিশ (32) — and hearing them in a market teaches them faster than any list.
Now the part textbooks skip: you almost never put a bare number next to a noun. Things take টা — একটা বই (one book), তিনটে আম (three mangoes). People take জন — একজন মানুষ (one person), দুজন বন্ধু (two friends). Using the bare number is understood and instantly marks you as foreign; the counters are small words with an outsized payoff.
Two places to spend your new numbers immediately. Money: the currency is the টাকা (taka), and দাম কত? (dam koto — how much?) is the most useful sentence in Bengal. Time: the clock reuses টা in a special form — তিনটে means three o'clock. Learn that one sentence and that one clock trick, and your numbers are already earning their keep.
Words and phrases for this topic
| Number | Bengali | Sounds like |
|---|---|---|
| 1 — one | ১ — এক | ek |
| 2 — two | ২ — দুই | dui |
| 3 — three | ৩ — তিন | tin |
| 4 — four | ৪ — চার | char |
| 5 — five | ৫ — পাঁচ | panch |
| 6 — six | ৬ — ছয় | chhoy |
| 7 — seven | ৭ — সাত | shat |
| 8 — eight | ৮ — আট | aat |
| 9 — nine | ৯ — নয় | noy |
| 10 — ten | ১০ — দশ | dosh |
| 20 — twenty | ২০ — বিশ | bish |
| 30 — thirty | ৩০ — তিরিশ | tirish |
| 40 — forty | ৪০ — চল্লিশ | chollish |
| 50 — fifty | ৫০ — পঞ্চাশ | ponchash |
| 60 — sixty | ৬০ — ষাট | shaat |
| 70 — seventy | ৭০ — সত্তর | shottor |
| 80 — eighty | ৮০ — আশি | ashi |
| 90 — ninety | ৯০ — নব্বই | nobboi |
| 100 — hundred | ১০০ — একশো | eksho |
| How much? (price) | দাম কত? | dam koto |
Language, culture, and common traps
Practice: recall, then use
Use this quick recall drill for Bengali numbers 1–100. Hide the script and romanisation columns; say the Bengali form for each cue before revealing its row, then check spelling and sound. The phrase-table speaker buttons provide a model when a matching browser voice is available.
- 1 — one
- 20 — twenty
- How much? (price)
Context check. For Bengali numbers 1–100, “How much? (price)” belongs to a particular setting. A common mistake is to treat an English gloss as universal; read the language-specific note above and ask a fluent speaker when local usage differs.
Check your recall: answer key
- ১ — এক ek — 1 — one
- ২০ — বিশ bish — 20 — twenty
- দাম কত? dam koto — How much? (price)
Questions learners ask
Both, mixed freely. Shop signs, bus numbers and clocks usually show Bengali digits; phone numbers and prices are often in international digits. Learn to read Bengali digits first — that is the direction you cannot fake.
Little counting words that sit between the number and the noun: একটা বই (one book), দুজন মানুষ (two people). Skip them and you sound like a textbook; use them and you sound like a person.
দাম কত? (dam koto — how much?). Then listen for the number plus টাকা (taka). Market Bengali is the fastest teacher there is.