Numbers in Greek: Count from 1 to 1000 (with Pronunciation)

Here are the Greek numbers 1 to 10. Everything else on this page builds on these ten words.

Two quick pronunciation notes before you go further. The stress mark (´) is not decorative: Greeks stress exactly that syllable, and putting the stress in the wrong place can make a word unrecognizable. And δ is not an English "d", it is the soft "th" in "this", so δύο sounds like "THEE-o". More on pronunciation below.

Numbers 11 to 20

Eleven and twelve are irregular, then Greek becomes refreshingly logical: "ten-three", "ten-four", and so on, written as one word.

Tens: 20 to 90

Each ten has its own word. Learn these seven and you unlock every number up to 99.

Hundreds and 1000

How to Build Any Number

From 21 upward, Greek stacks numbers the same way English does, big to small, as separate words. No "and", no inversion, no surprises.

• 21 = είκοσι ένα (íkosi éna), literally "twenty one"
• 35 = τριάντα πέντε (triánda pénde), "thirty five"
• 148 = εκατόν σαράντα οκτώ (ekatón saránda októ)
• 999 = εννιακόσια ενενήντα εννέα (enniakósia enenínda ennéa)
• 2026 = δύο χιλιάδες είκοσι έξι (dío hiliádes íkosi éxi)

One small detail: 100 on its own is εκατό, but when something follows it, it takes a final ν: εκατόν είκοσι (120). And 1000 is χίλια, but multiples use χιλιάδες: τρεις χιλιάδες (3000).

The Catch: 1, 3, and 4 Change with Gender

This is the part most phrasebooks skip, and it is the number-one source of small mistakes. Greek nouns have three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter), and the numbers 1, 3, and 4 agree with the noun they count. Everything else (2, 5 to 12, the tens, and so on) stays fixed.

So "one coffee" is ένας καφές (masculine), "one beer" is μία μπίρα (feminine), and "one water" is ένα νερό (neuter). Three coffees: τρεις καφέδες. Three waters: τρία νερά.

This carries into compounds too: 21, 23, 24, 31, 33, 34 and so on all inherit the rule. And the hundreds from 200 up agree as well (διακόσιοι / διακόσιες / διακόσια), though as a beginner you can get remarkably far with the neuter forms, which are also what you use for counting out loud and saying phone numbers.

Don't try to memorize this as a rule. It sticks much faster when you learn whole phrases: order δύο καφέδες και μία μπίρα a few times and the pattern installs itself. That is exactly how Hyperpolyglot teaches numbers, inside real sentences with native audio, then spaced repetition brings each one back right before you would forget it.

Pronunciation Cheat Sheet

Four letters do most of the damage for English speakers:

• δ = "th" in "this" (voiced). δύο = "THEE-o", δώδεκα = "THO-the-ka".
• χ = a raspy "h", like Scottish "loch". χίλια = "HEEL-ya".
• ντ = "d" (that is why πέντε is "PEN-de" and τριάντα is "tri-AN-da").
• γ in ογδόντα = a soft gargled "g", closer to a "gh".

And again: respect the accent mark. Greek stress is free (it can land on any of the last three syllables), so εκατό is "e-ka-TO", not "e-KA-to". If you learn each number with audio rather than from a table alone, this takes care of itself.

Numbers in Real Life

Prices. Greece uses the euro. You will hear prices as "number + ευρώ (evró)": τρία ευρώ πενήντα = 3.50. The word ευρώ never changes form. Cents are λεπτά (leptá).

Phone numbers. Greeks usually read them digit by digit or in pairs, always in neuter: έξι, εννέα, επτά... Practice saying your own phone number in Greek; it is a ten-second daily drill that hits 1 to 9 constantly.

Asking how much. Πόσο κάνει; (póso káni?) = "how much is it?" The answer is where all of this pays off, because numbers fly at you fast in shops and tavernas. Comprehension, not recitation, is the real skill: you need to catch σαράντα πέντε at native speed, not just produce it slowly.

Bonus: The Ancient Greek Numerals (α΄, β΄, γ΄)

Before adopting the Hindu-Arabic digits we all use, Greeks wrote numbers with letters of their own alphabet: α΄ = 1, β΄ = 2, γ΄ = 3, ι΄ = 10, ρ΄ = 100. You will still meet this system today in book chapters, church contexts, and royal or papal names: Ελισάβετ Β΄ is Elizabeth II. You never need to produce these, but recognizing them is a nice party trick and occasionally genuinely useful on monuments and old inscriptions.

How to Actually Remember All This

Reading tables is recognition, not recall. To make Greek numbers automatic, you need three things: real sentences (so 1/3/4 gender agreement becomes instinct instead of a rule), audio (so πέντε sounds like "PEN-de" in your head, not "pent"), and spaced repetition (so δεκαεννέα is still there next month). Hyperpolyglot bundles all three: it generates real Greek sentences with numbers in them, plays them with native audio, and schedules reviews so nothing slips. Available on iOS, Android, and Web.

Keep reading

• How to Learn Greek: A Practical Guide for Beginners
• Spaced Repetition for Language Learning