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Hindustani numerals

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Like many Indo-Aryan languages, Hindustani (Hindi-Urdu) has a decimal numeral system that is contracted to the extent that nearly every number 1–99 is irregular, and needs to be memorized as a separate numeral.[1]

+0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6 +7 +8 +9
+0 शुन्य, صفر ایک دو تین چار پانچ چھ سات آٹھ نو
+10 دس گیارہ بارہ تیرہ چودہ پندرہ سولہ سترہ اٹھارہ اُنیس
+20 بیس اکیس بائیس تئیس چوبیس پچیس چھبیس ستائیس اٹھائیس اُنتیس
+30 تیس اکتیس بتیس تینتیس چونتیس پینتیس چھتیس سینتیس اڑتیس untālīs
+40 چالیس اکتالیس بیالیس تینتالیس چوالیس پینتالیس چھیالیس سینتالیس اڑتالیس uncās
+50 pacās ikyāvan, ikāvan bāvan tirpan cauvan pacpan chappan sattāvan aṭṭhāvan unsaṭh
+60 sāṭh iksaṭh bāsaṭh tirsaṭh cauṅsaṭh paiṅsaṭh chiyāsaṭh saṛsaṭh aṛsaṭh unhattar
+70 sattar ik'hattar bahattar tihattar cauhattar pac'hattar chihattar sat'hattar aṭhhattar unāsī
+80 assī ikyāsī, ikāsī bayāsī tirāsī caurāsī pacāsī chiyāsī sattāsi aṭṭhāsī navāsī
+90 nabbe, navve ikyānve, ikānve bānve, bayānve tirānve caurānve pacānve chiyānve sattānve aṭṭhānve ninyānve

Numbers from 100 up are more regular. There are numerals for 100, sau; 1,000, hazār; and successive multiples by 100 of 1000: lākh (lakh) 100,000 (105), karoṛ (crore) 1,00,00,000 (107), arab 1,00,00,00,000 (109, billion), kharab 1,00,00,00,00,000 (1011), nīl 1,00,00,00,00,00,000 (1013), padma 1,00,00,00,00,00,00,000 (1015, quadrillion). (See Indian numbering system.) Lakh and crore are common enough to have entered Indian English.

For number 0, Modern Standard Hindi is more inclined towards śūnya (a Sanskrit tatsama) and Standard Urdu is more inclined towards sifr (borrowed from Arabic), while the native tadbhava-form is sunnā in Hindustani. Sometimes the ardha-tatsama form śūn is also used (semi-learned borrowing). Colloquially in Hinglish/Urdish, it is simply referred as jīro/zīro (from English zero).

In writing Hindi, numbers are usually represented using Devanagari numeral signs, while in Urdu the signs employed are those of a modified Eastern Arabic numeral system.

Arabic 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Hindi
Urdu ۰ ۱ ۲ ۳ ۴ ۵ ۶ ۷ ۸ ۹

References

[edit]
  1. ^ McGregor, Ronald Stuart (1987), Outline of Hindi Grammar (2nd revised ed.), Oxford: Clarendon Press, pp. 61–62