Learn Telugu Numbers: Your Counting Adventure! 🔢

Imagine you have a magic bag of marbles. Each marble has a special Telugu name. Let’s fill your bag with the beautiful sounds of Telugu numbers!

🌟 The Big Picture

Telugu numbers are like a musical scale. Once you learn the first few notes (1-10), you can play any song (any number)! The Telugu script has its own beautiful symbols for numbers, but don’t worry—we’ll learn them step by step, like climbing a ladder.

Our Universal Metaphor: Think of Telugu numbers as building blocks. Small blocks (1-10) stack together to make bigger towers (11-100), and you can even paint them with special colors (ordinal numbers) or attach price tags (currency)!

🧱 Block 1: Telugu Numerals 1-20

The First Ten Building Blocks

These are your foundation stones. Every Telugu number you’ll ever say uses these!

Memory Trick:

• “Okati” (1) sounds like “OK, just one!”
• “Rendu” (2) sounds like “rend” — two pieces!
• “Padi” (10) sounds like “pad” — you need 10 fingers on both pads (hands)!

The Teen Numbers (11-20)

Here’s where it gets fun! Telugu teens have their own unique names—they’re not just “ten plus something.”

Story Time: Imagine “Padi” (10) is a big brother. When smaller numbers (1-9) come to play, they join names! “Padakondu” (11) is like “Padi + Okati” having a party together!

Example:

“నాకు పన్నెండు ఆపిల్స్ ఉన్నాయి” (Naaku pannendu apples unnayi) “I have 12 apples”

🏗️ Block 2: Telugu Numerals 21-100

The Tens Family (20, 30, 40… 100)

Each “tens” number is a team captain. Learn these 8 captains!

Building Any Number (21-99)

The Magic Formula: TENS + UNITS

Just like building with LEGO: pick your tens block, then add your units block!

graph TD
    A[Pick a TENS block<br>20, 30, 40...] --> B[Add a UNITS block<br>1, 2, 3...]
    B --> C[Say them together!]
    C --> D[Example: 45 = నలభై ఐదు<br>Nalabhai + Aidu]

Examples:

Real Life Example:

“మా తాత వయసు డెబ్బై ఐదు” (Maa taata vayasu debbai aidu) “My grandfather’s age is 75”

🎨 Block 3: Ordinal Numbers

Ordinal numbers tell us position or order—like who came first, second, third in a race!

The Pattern: Most ordinal numbers add “-వ” (-va) or “-వది” (-vadi) to the regular number.

Key Ordinal Numbers

Special Note: “First” has two forms:

• మొదటి (Modati) — used more commonly
• ఒకటవ (Okatava) — follows the regular pattern

graph TD
    A[Cardinal Number] --> B[Add -వ/-వది suffix]
    B --> C[Ordinal Number!]
    D[ఐదు = Five] --> E[ఐదవ = Fifth]

Story Example:

“నేను పరుగు పందెంలో మొదటి స్థానం సాధించాను!” “I got first place in the running race!”

💰 Block 4: Numbers for Currency

In India, the currency is the Rupee (₹). In Telugu, we say రూపాయి (Roopaayi) for rupee and పైసా (Paisa) for smaller amounts.

Currency Vocabulary

Saying Prices Like a Local

Pattern: NUMBER + రూపాయిలు (Roopaayilu)

Common Shopping Phrases

Asking the Price:

“ఇది ఎంత?” (Idi entha?) = “How much is this?”

Telling the Price:

“ఇది ముప్పై రూపాయిలు” (Idi muppai roopaayilu) = “This is 30 rupees”

Market Conversation Example:

Buyer: “ఈ మామిడి పండ్లు ఎంత?” (Ee maamidi pandlu entha?) “How much are these mangoes?”

Seller: “కిలో నలభై రూపాయిలు” (Kilo nalabhai roopaayilu) “40 rupees per kilo”

graph TD
    A[🛒 Shopping in Telugu] --> B[Ask: ఇది ఎంత?]
    B --> C[Listen to Number + రూపాయిలు]
    C --> D[Count your డబ్బు!]

🎯 Quick Reference: Your Number Toolkit

The 10 Foundation Numbers

1=ఒకటి, 2=రెండు, 3=మూడు, 4=నాలుగు, 5=ఐదు, 6=ఆరు, 7=ఏడు, 8=ఎనిమిది, 9=తొమ్మిది, 10=పది

The Tens Family

20=ఇరవై, 30=ముప్పై, 40=నలభై, 50=యాభై, 60=అరవై, 70=డెబ్బై, 80=ఎనభై, 90=తొంభై, 100=వంద

Ordinal Magic

Add -వ (-va) to make it ordinal! (మూడు → మూడవ = Third)

Currency Formula

NUMBER + రూపాయిలు = ₹ Amount

🚀 You Did It!

You now have the building blocks to count in Telugu from 1 to 100, describe positions with ordinal numbers, and handle money like a local!

Remember: Every Telugu speaker started exactly where you are. Practice these building blocks, and soon you’ll be counting effortlessly!

చాలా బాగుంది! (Chaala Baagundi!) “Very good!” — That’s what you are! 🌟