Articles
The Greek numbers and how to count up to 1000
by Valentinos Filippou Learn Greek OnlineA brief history of Greek numbers
The Indian numerals as we know and use them today around the world were introduced into Europe by Arab mathematicians and translated into Latin in medieval times. The people of ancient Greece and then those who lived in the Hellenized Eastern Roman Empire, with Constantinople as its capital, used a system based on the Greek letters to count. For example, the Greek letters from α to ι equal the numbers 1 to 10 with the introduction of an extra symbol, the στ which stands for number 6. Therefore, we have the following letters-numbers: α=1, β=2, γ=3, δ=4, ε=5, στ=6, ζ=7, η=8, θ=9 and ι=10. So, you now know why in the textbooks we use for our classes the στ is introduced in each exercise we do. It represents the number 6!
How to count from 0 up to 1000
1. Let's start first with the numbers from 0 up to 10 in Greek:
0 - μηδέν, 1 - ένα, 2 - δύο, 3 - τρία, 4 - τέσσερα, 5 - πέντε, 6 - έξι, 7 - εφτά/επτά, 8 - οχτώ/οκτώ, 9 - εννιά/εννέα and 10 - δέκα. The most important thing that you have to remember is that the numbers from 1 to 9 form the base for almost all the numbers in Greek and below we see why this is the case.
2. We turn now to the numbers from 11 to 19:
11 - έντεκα, 12 - δώδεκα, 13 - δεκατρία, 14 - δεκατέσσερα, 15 - δεκαπέντε, 16 - δεκαέξι, 17 -δεκαεφτά, 18 - δεκαοχτώ, 19 - δεκαεννιά. We observe that, with the exception of 11 and 12, for the first digit of each number (13-19) we say δεκα, and for the second digit we add the numbers we learned before: τρία, τέσσερα, πέντε and so forth up to εννιά. Another important thing you should remember is that we write and say the numbers from 11 to 19 in one word and not in two like the rest of the numbers we are going to show below (i.e., δεκατρία and not δέκα τρία). Remember that we also say and write έντεκα (11) and not δεκαένα, δώδεκα (12) and not δεκαδύο!
3. It is now time to turn to the numbers from 20 to 100. After number 19 we just have to follow a simple pattern in order to count. We already know how to count from 1 to 9, right? Now, all you need to do is learn the numbers for 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100. These are the following:
20 - είκοσι
30 - τριάντα
40 - σαράντα
50 - πενήντα
60 - εξήντα
70 - εβδομήντα
80 - ογδόντα
90 - ενενήντα
100 - εκατό.
Then it is easy to form the numbers in between because, as we said above, you know the numbers from 1 to 9. You just add these numbers next to the tens. For demonstration purposes let's see the numbers from 20 to 30.
20 - είκοσι
21 - είκοσι ένα
22 - είκοσι δύο
23 - είκοσι τρία
24 - είκοσι τέσσερα
25 - είκοσι πέντε
26 - είκοσι έξι
27 - είκοσι επτά
28 - είκοσι οκτώ
29 - είκοσι εννέα
30 - τριάντα,
and you continue counting like this until and beyond εκατόν (100) as you follow the same pattern we described above.
The same pattern is followed for the numbers between 200 and 1000. We just have to learn the vocabulary for 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, 900, and 1000:
200 - διακόσια
300 - τριακόσια
400 - τετρακόσια
500 - πεντακόσια
600 - εξακόσια
700 - επτακόσια
800 - οκτακόσια
900 - εννιακόσια
1000 - χίλια.
Pay attention to the common ending (-ακόσια) for this group of numbers. Let us see some examples of three-digit numbers:
212 - διακόσια δώδεκα
235 - διακόσια τριάντα πέντε
374 - τρακόσια εβδομήντα τέσσερα
756 - επτακόσια πενήντα έξι
988 - εννιακόσια ογδόντα οκτώ.
That was, in brief, the way to count in Greek up to χίλια! Sure, it takes some practice to familiarize yourself with the numbers but as soon as you understand the pattern it is going to be easy and you will be able to include the numbers in your vocabulary arsenal.
You can check more about learning Greek on our website
Sponsor Ads
About Valentinos Filippou 
Learn Greek Online
0 connections, 0 recommendations, 4 honor points.Joined APSense since, December 6th, 2020, From Larnaca, Cyprus.
Created on Jul 12th 2021 02:08. Viewed 76 times.
