Unlike the Persian alphabet, Persian numbers are written from left to right. Basic numbers in Persian are as follows:

It is noteworthy that the origin of this system is Indian. In the numbers shown above we can see that both Persian and English numbers share the same origin. In English this system is called the Arabic system. See how between Latin and Persian numbers “۱, ۹, ۰” look very close; and how “2” “3” and “7” are only rotated “۲ ”, “۳ ” and “۷”, and so forth.

Names of these characters in Persian are as follows:

In Colloquial Persian the following conventions are observed:

The /h/ in cahār is dropped and the number is pronounced cār.

The /j/ in panj and the /t/ in haft and hašt are very weak; especially haft and hašt are normalized as haf and haš, especially before the counting word تا tā:

[tag resources numbers_21]هچلهف[/tag]
hacalhaf (or, hašt al-haft)
‘gibberish’

[tag resources numbers_02] هفت تا مرد [/tag]
haf tā mard
‘seven men’

[tag resources numbers_03]هشت تا خونه [/tag]
haš tā xune
‘eight houses’

Before vowels, in the colloquial dialect the /t/ may variably reappears:

[tag resources numbers_04] هفت آسمون[/tag]
haft āsemun or haf āsemun
‘the seven skies’

šeš is pronounced šiš.

The /h/ in noh disappears and the /o/ is lengthened; hence, /no:/.

The word for number is[tag resources numbers_25] عدد [/tag]adad (an Arabic loanword), with the broken plural[tag resources numbers_26] اعداد [/tag]a’dād.

Another word[tag resources numbers_27] نمره [/tag]nomré (plural,[tag resources numbers_28] نمرات [/tag]nómarāt, occasionally[tag resources numbers_29] نمره ها[/tag]) is also used, more like the word ‘digit’ in English; but it also could mean ‘number’ and even ‘grade’, such as that made in an exam.

For instance ‘the room number’ is[tag resources numbers_30] نمره ی اتاق [/tag]while[tag resources numbers_31] عددِ اتاق [/tag]means something like ‘the number of rooms’ (‘…at a hotel…,’ for instance), in which the word عدد is more like ‘count(s)[tag resources numbers_32]’: دو عدد نان [/tag]do adad nān ‘two counts of bread’ (i.e., ‘two loaves of bread’, or such).

An original Persian word as[tag resources numbers_33] شماره [/tag]šomāre ‘number’ is also used, which means both. For instance, “phone number” is[tag resources numbers_34] شماره ی تلفن [/tag]šomāre-ye telefon, occasionally[tag resources numbers_35] نمره ی تلفن; [/tag]but never عدد تلفن, which roughly could mean ‘the number of phones’. And, finally, π pi is[tag resources numbers_36] عدد پی [/tag]adad-e pi, not شماره ی پی or نمره ی پی.

Here is a chart with the first 20 ‘numbers’ a’dād اعداد spelled out: