Grammar in brief: One, two… first, second

1At a glance

Ask what you’re naming. How many there are: üç. Which one it is, counting along: üçüncü. And a date goes as the calendar shows it, a plain number: üç Mayıs.

How many? üç

It answers: kaç? — how many?
How it’s built: the parts side by side, biggest first: yüz on iki — 112
Example: Bahçede üç kedi var — there are three cats in the garden
Its quirk: bir is also “a”: bir kedi is “one cat” or just “a cat”
In writing: just the digit: 3 kedi

Which in line? üçüncü

It answers: kaçıncı? — which one, counting along?
How it’s built: the number and -⁠ıncı, four ways by harmony, like mı; after a vowel -⁠ncı: ikinci
Example: Kızım ikinci sınıfta — my daughter’s in second grade
Its quirk: only the last word takes the ending: yirmi beşinci; dört softens: dördüncü
In writing: a full stop after the digit: 3. kat reads üçüncü kat

2The key points

Numbers click together like bricks: the parts side by side, biggest first, and nothing in between, no “and”, no hyphen. Bin dokuz yüz yirmi üç is 1923, the year the Republic was declared.
Yüz and bin already mean “a hundred” and “a thousand”, so no bir goes in front: yüz elli, bin iki yüz, yüzüncü. Milyon never goes without it: bir milyon.
The number goes before the word and leaves it alone: beş simit, beşinci simit. No -⁠lar, even with five of them: the number has done the counting. Same after kaç: Kaç simit?

3How it works

	tens	in order
bir1	on	birinci
iki2	yirmi	ikinci
üç3	otuz	üçüncü
dört4	kırk	dördüncü
beş5	elli	beşinci
altı6	altmış	altıncı
yedi7	yetmiş	yedinci
sekiz8	seksen	sekizinci
dokuz9	doksan	dokuzuncu
kaçhow many?	—	kaçıncı

A phone number is read in groups, the way it’s written, each group one number. Two zeros in a row are çift sıfır, “double zero”.

yedi yüz on, çift sıfır, altmış üç— 710 00 63

İlk is first in time, birinci first in a row or a list. Often either will do.

Bugün ilk dersim!— Today’s my first lesson!

A date is a plain number before the month, with no “-⁠th”: just as the calendar shows it.

Babamın doğum günü 1 Mart.— Dad’s birthday is the first of March.

In writing you’ll also see an ordinal with its ending: an apostrophe after the digit, then the ending, 3’üncü, 2’nci. Then there’s no full stop: it’s 3. or 3’üncü, never both.

And in big numbers the thousands are marked off with a full stop, where English has a comma: 1.250 lira, 2.000.000. You’ll see it on every price tag.

4In real life

— Kaç kişisiniz? — Dört kişiyiz.— How many of you are there? — Four.

— Kaçıncı kattasınız? — Altıncı kattayız.— Which floor are you on? — The sixth.

Bu kazak bin iki yüz lira, çok pahalı.This jumper’s twelve hundred lira, that’s far too dear.

Kızım bu yıl birinci sınıfta.My daughter’s in first grade this year.

— Bu ceket yeni mi? — Hayır, ikinci el.— Is that jacket new? — No, second-hand.

Bu benim Türkiye’de ilk bayramım.This is my first bayram in Türkiye.

5Where it’s easy to slip

Not like this	Like this	Why
beş simitler	beş simit	No -⁠lar after a number.
bir yüz lira	yüz lira	Yüz is already “a hundred”.
dörtüncü	dördüncü	Before a vowel the t softens to d.
ikiinci	ikinci	After a vowel, just -⁠nci.
yirminci beşinci	yirmi beşinci	Only the last word takes the ending.
beşinci Mayıs	beş Mayıs	A date takes a plain number.
3.üncü kat	3. kat	A full stop or the ending, not both.

6Check yourself

Four questions, each with two or three rules at once: which number, where the ending goes, which vowel. Every wrong answer slips on exactly one.

1“Our office is on the twenty-fourth floor.” Fill the gap.

Ofisimiz ? katta.

2“There are a hundred and fifty guests in the garden.” Which is right throughout?

3Someone asks about your birthday. The answer: “The seventh of May. My thirtieth!” Which is right throughout?

4You ask the neighbours’ boy what year he’s in at school. Fill the gap.

— ? sınıftasın? — Dördüncü sınıftayım.