Sanskrit Numbers 1 to 100 for Kids, with Pronunciation and Patterns

Counting in Sanskrit is easier than most children expect, because the system is very regular. Once a child knows one to ten and the words for the tens, they can build almost any number up to a hundred themselves. And many of the numbers will already sound familiar, from shlokas, from the names of festivals, and from the counting words of Hindi, Kannada, Marathi, Bengali and other Indian languages.

Below, every number from one to one hundred is written in simple transliteration, in the form commonly used for counting. Long vowels are marked with a line, as in ā, and a dot under a letter, as in ṣ or ṭ, marks a sound made with the tongue curled back. Where two forms are in common use, both are given.

One to ten

1 ekam, 2 dve, 3 trīṇi, 4 catvāri, 5 pañca, 6 ṣaṭ, 7 sapta, 8 aṣṭa (also aṣṭau), 9 nava, 10 daśa.

These ten are the foundation of everything else. Children will already know several from words around them: pañca in Panchatantra, the five books, and pañcāmṛta, the five nectars; sapta in saptarṣi, the seven sages; nava in Navratri, the nine nights; and daśa in Dussehra and Dashavatara, the ten avatars.

Eleven to twenty

11 ekādaśa, 12 dvādaśa, 13 trayodaśa, 14 caturdaśa, 15 pañcadaśa, 16 ṣoḍaśa, 17 saptadaśa, 18 aṣṭādaśa, 19 navadaśa (also ūnaviṃśatiḥ), 20 viṃśatiḥ.

The pattern here is simple: the unit comes first, then daśa, ten. So twelve is two-ten, dvādaśa, and fifteen is five-ten, pañcadaśa. A few units change their shape slightly when joined: two becomes dvā, three becomes trayo, and six becomes ṣo in ṣoḍaśa. Children will recognise ekādaśī, the eleventh day of the lunar fortnight, and ṣoḍaśopacāra, the sixteen offerings of a puja. The Bhagavad Gita has aṣṭādaśa adhyāyas, eighteen chapters.

The tens

Next, learn the words for the tens, because every number in between is built from them: 20 viṃśatiḥ, 30 triṃśat, 40 catvāriṃśat, 50 pañcāśat, 60 ṣaṣṭiḥ, 70 saptatiḥ, 80 aśītiḥ, 90 navatiḥ, 100 śatam.

Twenty-one to thirty

21 ekaviṃśatiḥ, 22 dvāviṃśatiḥ, 23 trayoviṃśatiḥ, 24 caturviṃśatiḥ, 25 pañcaviṃśatiḥ, 26 ṣaḍviṃśatiḥ, 27 saptaviṃśatiḥ, 28 aṣṭāviṃśatiḥ, 29 navaviṃśatiḥ (also ūnatriṃśat), 30 triṃśat.

Thirty-one to forty

31 ekatriṃśat, 32 dvātriṃśat, 33 trayastriṃśat, 34 catustriṃśat, 35 pañcatriṃśat, 36 ṣaṭtriṃśat, 37 saptatriṃśat, 38 aṣṭātriṃśat, 39 navatriṃśat (also ūnacatvāriṃśat), 40 catvāriṃśat.

Forty-one to fifty

41 ekacatvāriṃśat, 42 dvācatvāriṃśat (also dvicatvāriṃśat), 43 trayaścatvāriṃśat (also tricatvāriṃśat), 44 catuścatvāriṃśat, 45 pañcacatvāriṃśat, 46 ṣaṭcatvāriṃśat, 47 saptacatvāriṃśat, 48 aṣṭācatvāriṃśat, 49 navacatvāriṃśat (also ūnapañcāśat), 50 pañcāśat.

Fifty-one to sixty

51 ekapañcāśat, 52 dvāpañcāśat (also dvipañcāśat), 53 trayaḥpañcāśat (also tripañcāśat), 54 catuḥpañcāśat, 55 pañcapañcāśat, 56 ṣaṭpañcāśat, 57 saptapañcāśat, 58 aṣṭāpañcāśat, 59 navapañcāśat (also ūnaṣaṣṭiḥ), 60 ṣaṣṭiḥ.

Sixty-one to seventy

61 ekaṣaṣṭiḥ, 62 dvāṣaṣṭiḥ (also dviṣaṣṭiḥ), 63 trayaḥṣaṣṭiḥ (also triṣaṣṭiḥ), 64 catuḥṣaṣṭiḥ, 65 pañcaṣaṣṭiḥ, 66 ṣaṭṣaṣṭiḥ, 67 saptaṣaṣṭiḥ, 68 aṣṭāṣaṣṭiḥ, 69 navaṣaṣṭiḥ (also ūnasaptatiḥ), 70 saptatiḥ.

Children who know about the sixty-four arts, the catuḥṣaṣṭi kalā of the tradition, will spot sixty-four here.

Seventy-one to eighty

71 ekasaptatiḥ, 72 dvāsaptatiḥ (also dvisaptatiḥ), 73 trayaḥsaptatiḥ (also trisaptatiḥ), 74 catuḥsaptatiḥ, 75 pañcasaptatiḥ, 76 ṣaṭsaptatiḥ, 77 saptasaptatiḥ, 78 aṣṭāsaptatiḥ, 79 navasaptatiḥ (also ūnāśītiḥ), 80 aśītiḥ.

Eighty-one to ninety

81 ekāśītiḥ, 82 dvyaśītiḥ, 83 tryaśītiḥ, 84 caturaśītiḥ, 85 pañcāśītiḥ, 86 ṣaḍaśītiḥ, 87 saptāśītiḥ, 88 aṣṭāśītiḥ, 89 navāśītiḥ (also ūnanavatiḥ), 90 navatiḥ.

Notice that in the eighties, because aśītiḥ begins with a vowel, the numbers join differently: dvi becomes dvy, and tri becomes try, giving dvyaśītiḥ and tryaśītiḥ. This is an example of sandhi, the sound-joining rules that run through all of Sanskrit.

Ninety-one to one hundred

91 ekanavatiḥ, 92 dvānavatiḥ (also dvinavatiḥ), 93 trayonavatiḥ (also trinavatiḥ), 94 caturnavatiḥ, 95 pañcanavatiḥ, 96 ṣaṇṇavatiḥ, 97 saptanavatiḥ, 98 aṣṭānavatiḥ, 99 navanavatiḥ (also ūnaśatam), 100 śatam.

Learn ten small words and nine tens, and you can count to a hundred in one of the world’s oldest languages.

The patterns that make it easy

Unit first, then the ten. Just as in Hindi and many Indian languages, the unit is said before the ten: twenty-five is five-twenty, pañcaviṃśatiḥ. Once a child knows the units and the tens, they can build any number by putting them together.

The minus-one trick. Numbers ending in nine can be said in two ways: nine plus the ten, as in navaviṃśatiḥ for twenty-nine, or one-less-than the next ten, using ūna, less. So twenty-nine is also ūnatriṃśat, one less than thirty. Hindi does something similar: unnīs, nineteen, and untīs, twenty-nine, come from the same idea.

Units change shape a little. Two often becomes dvā, three becomes trayo, trayaḥ or trayas, four becomes catuḥ or catus, and six becomes ṣaḍ, ṣaṭ or ṣaṇ, depending on the sound that follows. Children do not need to learn the rules; just listening and repeating is enough.

How to learn them

Start with one to ten and chant them like a rhyme until they are automatic. Then learn the tens. Count real things in Sanskrit, stairs, steps, spoonfuls, toys, for a few minutes every day. Then build the in-between numbers one decade at a time, a week each.

A fun next step is to count mantra repetitions in Sanskrit. Many mantras are traditionally chanted 108 times, aṣṭottaraśatam, literally a hundred plus eight. And a lovely challenge for older children is to find numbers hidden in shlokas and festival names, and work out what they mean.

If you would like your child to learn Sanskrit pronunciation and shlokas with a mentor, enquire about our shloka classes through the Book a Class page.