Hindi quantity phrases place the number before a currency or measurement unit: पाँच सौ रुपये, दो किलो चावल, तीन मीटर कपड़ा. The basic order resembles English, but the morphology does not. Some nouns change number—एक रुपया, दो रुपये—while standard units such as किलो, लीटर, and मीटर normally remain unchanged after any numeral.
Real transactions also combine exact amounts, fractional vocabulary, Indian digit grouping, rate expressions, and polite requests. The aim is not merely to list units, but to show which word is the grammatical head, what agrees with it, and how the phrase changes before a postposition.
Rupees and paise
The singular is एक रुपया; after larger cardinal numbers, use plural रुपये. One rupee equals one hundred पैसे, with singular पैसा.
इस नोटबुक की कीमत एक सौ बीस रुपये है।
is noṭbuk kī kīmat ek sau bīs rupaye hai.
This notebook costs 120 rupees.
मेरे पास अभी केवल एक रुपया और पचास पैसे हैं।
mere pās abhī keval ek rupayā aur pacās paise haiṃ.
I have only one rupee and fifty paise right now.
काउंटर पर ₹99.50 जमा कीजिए—निन्यानवे रुपये पचास पैसे।
kāuṇṭar par ninyānve rupaye pacās paise jamā kījie—ninyānve rupaye pacās paise.
Please deposit ₹99.50 at the counter—ninety-nine rupees and fifty paise.
The currency symbol normally precedes digits, but the word रुपये follows the number. In accounting or (formal) speech, a decimal may be read with दशमलव; in a shop, splitting it into rupees and paise is more natural.
For quantity questions, कितने रुपये? agrees with plural रुपये, while कितनी कीमत? agrees with feminine कीमत. See कितना, कौन-सा, and कैसा agreement for the larger pattern.
Indian grouping in prices and budgets
Prices above one hundred thousand are normally named with लाख and करोड़. Indian commas group the last three digits and then pairs: ₹1,25,000 is एक लाख पच्चीस हज़ार रुपये. The internationally grouped ₹125,000 denotes the same amount.
इस कार की कीमत ₹12,50,000 है, यानी बारह लाख पचास हज़ार रुपये।
is kār kī kīmat bārah lākh pacās hazār rupaye hai, yānī bārah lākh pacās hazār rupaye.
This car costs ₹12,50,000, that is, twelve lakh fifty thousand rupees.
परियोजना का बजट 3.2 करोड़ रुपये तय किया गया है।
pariyojnā kā bajaṭ tīn daśamlav do karoṛ rupaye tay kiyā gayā hai.
The project budget has been set at 3.2 crore rupees. (formal)
3.2 करोड़ equals तीन करोड़ बीस लाख, or internationally 32,000,000. Do not shift the commas into Western three-digit groups while retaining the words लाख / करोड़; notation and reading must describe the same value.
Weight and volume units stay invariant
Modern metric units are normally unchanged after a number: एक किलो / पाँच किलो, एक लीटर / चार लीटर, एक ग्राम / दो सौ ग्राम. They function as measure units, not ordinary count nouns that need a visible plural suffix.
कृपया दो किलो आलू और पाँच सौ ग्राम मटर तौल दीजिए।
kripayā do kilo ālū aur pā̃c sau grām maṭar taul dījie.
Please weigh out two kilos of potatoes and five hundred grams of peas.
इस टंकी में पचास लीटर पानी आता है।
is ṭaṅkī meṃ pacās līṭar pānī ātā hai.
This tank holds fifty liters of water.
नुस्ख़े में 250 ग्राम आटा और आधा लीटर दूध लिखा है।
nusxe meṃ ḍhāī sau grām āṭā aur ādhā līṭar dūdh likhā hai.
The recipe calls for 250 grams of flour and half a liter of milk.
The digits 250 are naturally read ढाई सौ in this context, though दो सौ पचास is equally exact. The agreement in the last sentence is default masculine singular लिखा है because the recipe lists a coordinated specification as content; speakers can also restructure the sentence around each ingredient.
Count containers behave differently. एक बोतल becomes दो बोतलें in direct plural, while the liquid measured through them remains a mass noun.
यात्रा के लिए पानी की तीन बोतलें रख लो।
yātrā ke lie pānī kī tīn botleṃ rakh lo.
Pack three bottles of water for the journey.
Thus तीन लीटर पानी has an invariant unit, but पानी की तीन बोतलें has a plural count container. The distinction is grammatical, not merely a difference between metric and traditional objects.
Length, distance, area, and temperature
Length and distance use invariant मीटर, सेंटीमीटर, and किलोमीटर. Area often uses वर्ग मीटर, and temperature uses डिग्री.
कमरे के पर्दों के लिए साढ़े चार मीटर कपड़ा काफ़ी होगा।
kamre ke pardoṃ ke lie sāṛhe cār mīṭar kapṛā kāfī hogā.
Four and a half meters of fabric will be enough for the room’s curtains.
गाँव यहाँ से अठारह किलोमीटर दूर है।
gā̃v yahā̃ se aṭhārah kilomīṭar dūr hai.
The village is eighteen kilometers from here.
आज अधिकतम तापमान बयालीस डिग्री सेल्सियस रहेगा।
āj adhiktam tāpmān bayālīs ḍigrī selsiyas rahegā.
Today’s maximum temperature will be forty-two degrees Celsius.
English plurals meters and degrees do not license forms such as मीटरों or डिग्रियों in a simple measurement. Hindi plural or oblique forms can occur when the units themselves are being discussed as countable categories—कई किलोमीटरों में फैला क्षेत्र is possible in particular styles—but a plain measured amount uses the unit unchanged.
Fractional quantities in transactions
Hindi’s lexical fractions are particularly natural with measures: डेढ़ किलो 1.5 kg, ढाई लीटर 2.5 L, सवा मीटर 1.25 m, पौने तीन किलो 2.75 kg, and साढ़े चार मीटर 4.5 m.
डेढ़ किलो संतरे और पौने दो किलो अमरूद दे दीजिए।
ḍeṛh kilo santre aur paune do kilo amrūd de dījie.
Please give me one and a half kilos of oranges and one and three-quarter kilos of guavas.
इस डिब्बे में सवा लीटर तेल आएगा।
is ḍibbe meṃ savā līṭar tel āegā.
This container will hold one and a quarter liters of oil.
These fraction words are fixed except agreeing आधा / आधी / आधे. The noun following आधा that directly names the unit controls the agreement: आधा किलो चीनी, because किलो is masculine, even though चीनी is feminine.
Rates: per kilo, each, and total price
An everyday market rate often uses a compact construction such as सौ रुपये किलो “one hundred rupees a kilo.” More explicit प्रति किलो is common in (formal) labels and careful speech. के हिसाब से means “at the rate of” and is useful when explaining a calculation.
ये आम अस्सी रुपये किलो हैं, लेकिन दो किलो लेने पर डेढ़ सौ रुपये लगेंगे।
ye ām assī rupaye kilo haiṃ, lekin do kilo lene par ḍeṛh sau rupaye lageṅge.
These mangoes are eighty rupees a kilo, but two kilos will cost 150 rupees.
कूरियर कंपनी प्रति किलो दो सौ रुपये लेती है।
kūriyar kampanī prati kilo do sau rupaye letī hai.
The courier company charges two hundred rupees per kilogram. (formal)
पचहत्तर रुपये प्रति मीटर के हिसाब से छह मीटर कपड़े के चार सौ पचास रुपये हुए।
pacahattar rupaye prati mīṭar ke hisāb se chah mīṭar kapṛe ke cār sau pacās rupaye hue.
At seventy-five rupees per meter, six meters of cloth came to 450 rupees.
कुल introduces a total, and कितने हुए? asks what the transaction came to. In ordinary shop talk, a known noun may be omitted because the quantity and rate already identify it.
Case behavior inside a measure phrase
A postposition generally follows the whole measure phrase. The unit often remains visibly unchanged, while an ordinary masculine -आ noun elsewhere would show oblique morphology.
पाँच किलो चावल के लिए यह थैला छोटा है।
pā̃c kilo cāval ke lie yah thailā choṭā hai.
This bag is too small for five kilos of rice.
हमने बीस लीटर पेट्रोल पर लगभग दो हज़ार रुपये खर्च किए।
hamne bīs līṭar peṭrol par lagbhag do hazār rupaye kharc kie.
We spent about two thousand rupees on twenty liters of petrol.
In the first sentence, के लिए follows the entire quantity-plus-material expression. Do not force a plural ending onto किलो merely because the English translation says kilos.
Traditional and regional units
Words such as तोला for precious-metal weight and बीघा for land area still occur. Their exact real-world value may depend on commodity, period, or region; बीघा especially is not nationally uniform. Label such units (regional: South Asia) or explain the local standard in contracts. For technical, medical, and interregional communication, metric units prevent costly ambiguity.
पुराने दस्तावेज़ में ज़मीन का क्षेत्रफल पाँच बीघा लिखा है, लेकिन स्थानीय माप की जाँच ज़रूरी है।
purāne dastāvez meṃ zamīn kā kṣetraphal pā̃c bīghā likhā hai, lekin sthānīy māp kī jā̃c zarūrī hai.
The old document gives the land area as five bighas, but the local definition must be checked. (regional: South Asia)
This is an honest limitation: there is no single conversion for every historical or regional बीघा.
Common Mistakes
❌ इसकी कीमत दो रुपया है।
Incorrect — रुपया has the direct plural रुपये after two.
✅ इसकी कीमत दो रुपये है।
iskī kīmat do rupaye hai.
It costs two rupees.
❌ मुझे तीन किलों चावल चाहिए।
Incorrect — the measure unit किलो remains unchanged in a simple quantity phrase.
✅ मुझे तीन किलो चावल चाहिए।
mujhe tīn kilo cāval cāhie.
I need three kilos of rice.
❌ आधी किलो चीनी दे दीजिए।
Incorrect — आधा agrees with masculine किलो, not with the material चीनी.
✅ आधा किलो चीनी दे दीजिए।
ādhā kilo cīnī de dījie.
Please give me half a kilo of sugar.
❌ ₹1,25,000 को एक लाख पच्चीस रुपये पढ़ा गया।
Incorrect — पच्चीस must be followed by हज़ार in this grouped value.
✅ ₹1,25,000 को एक लाख पच्चीस हज़ार रुपये पढ़ा गया।
ek lākh paccīs hazār rupaye ko ek lākh paccīs hazār rupaye paṛhā gayā.
₹1,25,000 was read as one lakh twenty-five thousand rupees.
Key Takeaways
- Use एक रुपया but दो रुपये; place the currency word after the number.
- Keep standard units such as किलो, लीटर, मीटर, and ग्राम unchanged in simple measured amounts.
- Distinguish units from count containers: तीन लीटर पानी but पानी की तीन बोतलें.
- Read Indian prices through हज़ार, लाख, and करोड़, and keep the notation consistent with the words.
- Use रुपये किलो informally, प्रति किलो formally, and verify regional units such as बीघा before conversion.
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- Hundreds thousands lakh and croreA2 — Build and interpret large Hindi cardinals with सौ, हज़ार, लाख, and करोड़, including exact and approximate number phrases.
- Indian digit grouping and commasA2 — Read and write Indian-grouped numerals by separating the final three digits and then grouping every remaining pair for thousands, lakhs, and crores.
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- कितना कौन-सा and कैसा agreementB1 — Choose and inflect कितना, कौन-सा, and कैसा to ask about quantity, selection, and quality across gender, number, and case.
- से as comparison standardA2 — Use से to set the standard in unequal comparisons, from ordinary adjective contrasts to pronouns, quantities, and सबसे superlatives.