Kyrgyz numbers 1 to 1000 with pronunciation

Words and phrases · Updated 2026-09-05

The Kyrgyz counting system is one of the most honest parts of the language: learn about twenty words and you can name any number up to a thousand and beyond. Everything stacks like building blocks, from the larger unit to the smaller. Here is the whole system, with pronunciation tips.

Units: 1 to 10

Here are the first ten: бир bir (1), эки eki (2), үч üch (3), төрт tört (4), беш besh (5), алты alty (6), жети jeti (7), сегиз segiz (8), тогуз toguz (9), он on (10). Zero is нөл nöl.

Watch out for үч “three”: ү is an “ee” said with rounded lips, like German ü. Every one of these words is voiced by a native speaker in our phrasebook, Numbers section.

11 to 19: just stack them

No new words needed: 11 is он бир on bir (“ten one”), 12 — он эки, 15 — он беш, 19 — он тогуз. The order always runs from the bigger unit to the smaller, exactly like the digits on paper.

Compare that with English “eleven” and “twelve”, which you simply have to memorise. In Kyrgyz there is nothing to memorise here: know the units and the word for ten, and you can already count to nineteen.

Tens: the only list to learn

The tens are the one set you learn as separate words: жыйырма jyiyrma (20), отуз otuz (30), кырк kyrk (40), элүү elüü (50), алтымыш altymysh (60), жетимиш jetimish (70), сексен seksen (80), токсон tokson (90).

Notice the vowels: жетимиш and элүү are front-vowel words, токсон and отуз are back-vowel ones. That is vowel harmony — the law that runs through the whole language: vowels within a word stay in one series, and with practice you start hearing which ending is right before you recall the rule.

Compound numbers, hundreds and a thousand

From here it is pure arithmetic. 21 — жыйырма бир, 47 — кырк жети, 99 — токсон тогуз. A hundred is жүз jüz, two hundred — эки жүз, five hundred — беш жүз. A thousand is миң ming, two thousand — эки миң.

Let's build a long one: 385 is үч жүз сексен беш, literally “three hundred eighty five”. 1999 — миң тогуз жүз токсон тогуз. Numerals do not decline in plain counting — say it and move on.

Pronunciation: three tips

First: stress almost always falls on the last syllable — jyiyrmA, altymYsh, segIz. Second: the double үү in элүү is a long vowel and really is held longer — vowel length distinguishes words in Kyrgyz. Third: read as written — there is no vowel reduction of the Russian kind.

The fastest way to get the sounds right is to listen and repeat: numbers are voiced by a native speaker in the phrasebook, and in the course trainer every number is a flashcard that comes back for review at the right moment.

Where you will need numbers first

Bazaar and taxi prices, phone numbers, time, someone's age — numbers are day-one vocabulary in Bishkek. Ask «канча?» (“how much?”) and the answer will come as a number you will be glad to understand without reaching for a calculator. And an unfamiliar word next to the number is one lookup away in the English–Kyrgyz translator.

Check how ready you are in five minutes with the free level test — and if you want the numbers to stick for good, start with the demo lesson.

A quick cheat sheet with audio: numbers in Kyrgyz from 1 to 10 — every word can be played separately.