Hindi cardinals from eleven to twenty must be learned as whole words. English transparently builds thirteen from three + ten, but modern Hindi तेरह cannot be assembled by saying तीन दस or दस तीन. The forms are historically related to older combinations, and recurring sounds help memory, but they function as individual lexical items today.
Like all ordinary Hindi cardinals, ग्यारह–बीस do not change for gender or case. The following noun does the grammatical work: बारह लड़कियाँ “twelve girls,” बारह लड़कियों से “from twelve girls.”
The forms from 11 to 20
| Value | Devanagari digit | Hindi word | Romanization |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | ११ | ग्यारह | gyārah |
| 12 | १२ | बारह | bārah |
| 13 | १३ | तेरह | terah |
| 14 | १४ | चौदह | caudah |
| 15 | १५ | पंद्रह | pandrah |
| 16 | १६ | सोलह | solah |
| 17 | १७ | सत्रह | satrah |
| 18 | १८ | अठारह | aṭhārah |
| 19 | १९ | उन्नीस | unnīs |
| 20 | २० | बीस | bīs |
Spellings such as पंद्रह reflect standard contemporary practice; you may also encounter the variant पन्द्रह in print. The pronunciation is not a careful sequence pan-da-ra-ha: the cluster and deleted inherent vowels produce pandrah. Likewise सत्रह is satrah, not sataraha.
आज कक्षा में ग्यारह छात्र आए और बारह छात्राएँ आईं।
āj kakṣā meṃ gyārah chātr āe aur bārah chātrāeṃ āīṃ.
Eleven male students and twelve female students came to class today.
इस डिब्बे में बीस छोटे पैकेट हैं।
is ḍibbe meṃ bīs choṭe paikeṭ haiṃ.
There are twenty small packets in this box.
What the historical echoes can—and cannot—tell you
Certain beginnings recall the basic numerals: बा- in बारह is associated with two, ते- in तेरह with three, चौ- in चौदह with four, and अठा- in अठारह with eight. These echoes help recognition. They do not authorize new combinations. Hindi has no productive A1 rule “digit + ten” comparable to English twenty-one.
उन्नीस is especially useful because उन-/उन्- recurs in numbers meaning “one short of the next ten”: उनतीस 29, उनतालीस 39, उनचास 49, and so on. For 19, think “one before twenty,” but treat that as a mnemonic, not a phrase you can split in a sentence.
मेरे पास अभी उन्नीस फ़ाइलें हैं; आख़िरी फ़ाइल शाम तक आएगी।
mere pās abhī unnīs fāileṃ haiṃ; āxirī fāil śām tak āegī.
I have nineteen files right now; the last file will arrive by evening.
रसीद पर सोलह लिखा है, सत्रह नहीं।
rasīd par solah likhā hai, satrah nahīṃ.
The receipt says sixteen, not seventeen.
The second sentence treats the number words as quoted values, so the masculine default लिखा है is natural. The numerals themselves still do not agree.
Counted nouns and case
With eleven through twenty, an ordinary count noun is plural. Masculine -आ nouns show direct plural -ए; many feminine nouns show -एँ. A following postposition triggers oblique plural, commonly -ओं.
हमने चौदह नए कमरे बुक किए हैं।
hamne caudah nae kamre buk kie haiṃ.
We have booked fourteen new rooms.
पंद्रह महिलाओं ने सर्वे पूरा किया।
pandrah mahilāoṃ ne sarve pūrā kiyā.
Fifteen women completed the survey.
In चौदह नए कमरे, both the adjective and masculine noun show direct plural. In पंद्रह महिलाओं ने, ने requires oblique plural महिलाओं. पंद्रह stays exactly the same.
Some nouns have no visible direct-plural change: बीस साल, बारह दिन, and सत्रह आदमी. That does not make them grammatically singular. Verb agreement depends on the syntactic subject, while measure and duration phrases may behave adverbially rather than as subjects.
अठारह लोग बाहर इंतज़ार कर रहे हैं।
aṭhārah log bāhar intazār kar rahe haiṃ.
Eighteen people are waiting outside.
यह फ़ोन बीस दिन में ठीक हो जाएगा।
yah fon bīs din meṃ ṭhīk ho jāegā.
This phone will be repaired within twenty days.
Transactions and schedules
In prices, the count usually precedes रुपये: बारह रुपये, बीस रुपये. Hindi does not require a plural ending on an invariant borrowed unit such as किलो or लीटर.
भैया, ये पेन पंद्रह रुपये का है या बीस रुपये का?
bhaiyā, ye pen pandrah rupaye kā hai yā bīs rupaye kā?
Excuse me, is this pen fifteen rupees or twenty rupees? (informal shop interaction)
ग्यारह बजे वाली बस बारह नंबर के स्टैंड से जाएगी।
gyārah baje vālī bas bārah nambar ke sṭaiṇḍ se jāegī.
The eleven o’clock bus will leave from stand number twelve.
This schedule contains two constructions. ग्यारह बजे names clock time, with the number before fixed बजे. बारह नंबर का/के... uses a number as an identifying label. Colloquial signs may simply show स्टैंड 12. See clock time and duration for half-hours and quarter-hours.
Calendar dates are cardinals
Ordinary Hindi states a day of the month with a cardinal: ग्यारह अक्तूबर, बीस मार्च. English writes October 11 in American order and 11 October in much international usage; Hindi speech normally puts the day number before the month. Do not automatically turn the date into the ordinal ग्यारहवाँ.
कार्यशाला तेरह जून से सोलह जून तक चलेगी।
kāryaśālā terah jūn se solah jūn tak calegī.
The workshop will run from 13 June through 16 June.
मेरी वापसी की टिकट अठारह तारीख़ की है।
merī vāpsī kī ṭikaṭ aṭhārah tārīx kī hai.
My return ticket is for the eighteenth / the 18th.
When the month is understood, Hindi often uses तारीख़: अठारह तारीख़ means “the 18th (date),” although अठारह remains morphologically cardinal. The full ordinal अठारहवाँ can rank an item or mark an anniversary, but it is not required merely because English writes 18th.
Digits and grouping at this range
Values below one thousand need no thousands separator: write 15, १५, 20, or २०, not 1,5 or 2,0. Indian and international comma systems diverge only at larger values, so 11–20 look identical in both. This apparent agreement should not be generalized to lakhs and crores.
In continuous prose, words are natural for small approximate quantities and digits are common in timetables, prices, tables, and technical writing. A ticket might print ₹18, while a speaker says अठारह रुपये.
काउंटर पर टिकट ₹१८ की है, लेकिन ऑनलाइन बीस रुपये की।
kāuṇṭar par ṭikaṭ aṭhārah rupaye kī hai, lekin onlāin bīs rupaye kī.
The ticket is ₹18 at the counter, but twenty rupees online.
Common Mistakes
❌ मेरे पास दस-तीन टिकट हैं।
Incorrect — Hindi does not productively build thirteen as “ten-three.”
✅ मेरे पास तेरह टिकट हैं।
mere pās terah ṭikaṭ haiṃ.
I have thirteen tickets.
❌ सोलह लड़की प्रतियोगिता में हैं।
Incorrect — the feminine count noun must be plural after sixteen.
✅ सोलह लड़कियाँ प्रतियोगिता में हैं।
solah laṛkiyā̃ pratiyogitā meṃ haiṃ.
Sixteen girls are in the competition.
❌ मैंने बारह छात्रों से बात किया।
Incorrect — the oblique plural छात्रों is right, but the feminine objectless expression बात की controls the perfective verb.
✅ मैंने बारह छात्रों से बात की।
maĩne bārah chātroṃ se bāt kī.
I spoke with twelve students.
❌ बैठक बीसवाँ मार्च को है।
Incorrect in a neutral date — use the cardinal बीस before the month name.
✅ बैठक बीस मार्च को है।
baiṭhak bīs mārc ko hai.
The meeting is on 20 March.
Key Takeaways
Memorize ग्यारह, बारह, तेरह, चौदह, पंद्रह, सोलह, सत्रह, अठारह, उन्नीस, बीस as complete words. Their sound shapes contain historical clues, especially उन- “one short” in उन्नीस, but modern Hindi does not construct them with a live digit-plus-ten rule. The cardinal remains unchanged; the noun shows plural and, before a postposition, oblique case. Dates use cardinals, time uses बजे, and prices use the ordinary numeral plus a currency unit.
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Start learning Hindi →Related Topics
- Numbers zero to tenA1 — Learn the Hindi cardinals from zero to ten, how they combine with nouns, and how they appear in prices, times, dates, and measurements.
- Numbers twenty-one to one hundredA1 — Learn the Hindi cardinals from twenty-one to one hundred as a lexical system, with patterns for recognition and accurate use in everyday noun phrases.
- Clock time and durationB1 — Tell clock time, read schedules, and distinguish Hindi expressions for when an event occurs from how long it lasts.
- Dates years and centuriesB1 — Read and write Hindi calendar dates, years, decades, and centuries with the right cardinals, postpositions, and agreement.
- Money prices weights and measuresB2 — Build natural Hindi quantity phrases for rupees, prices, weight, length, volume, and practical transactions.