Table of Contents
Greek numbers are easier than they look. Learn about twenty words and you can build every number up to 99: the teens are ten plus the unit, the tens all end in -nta, and Greeks write with the same 1, 2, 3 you do. The catch is one, three and four, which change with gender, and that's the part most guides get wrong.
Below you'll find every number from 0 to 100 in Greek script with pronunciation, then the hundreds, thousands and millions, how to say a year like 2026, ordinal numbers, and the ancient letter numerals you still see in Greece today: Αʹ, Βʹ, Γʹ. After that comes the travel part: ordering at a bakery, prices, ferry times and phone numbers.
I live in Athens, and this is how numbers are actually said here today, not textbook Greek. For the rest of the survival vocabulary, see our essential Greek phrases and basic Greek words guides.
Greek Numbers 1–10
The most important three: Dio (2), tria (3), and pende (5) cover a disproportionate amount of everyday use. If you learn only three numbers, learn these.
Ένας, μία or ένα? When One, Three and Four Change
One, three and four are the only numbers under 100 that change with the gender of the noun they count. One has three forms: ένας (E-nas) for masculine nouns, μία (MEE-a) for feminine and ένα (E-na) for neuter. Three and four have two forms each: τρεις and τέσσερις for masculine and feminine nouns, τρία and τέσσερα for neuter ones.
In a café that means ένας καφές (one coffee, masculine), μία μπίρα (one beer, feminine) and ένα νερό (one water, neuter). Get it wrong and you'll still be understood: ένα is the form Greeks use when counting out loud, so it's the safe default. When you count people, switch to the masculine and feminine forms: τρεις άνθρωποι, three people.
Greek Numbers 11–20
The teens in Greek follow a completely consistent pattern: the base number plus -deka (ten), run together. This makes them significantly more regular than English teens.
The pattern: 13–19 are all deka + the base number, with minimal pronunciation change. Dekatria (13) = deka + tria. Dekapende (15) = deka + pende. Once you know 1–12, the rest follow automatically.
11 and 12 are exceptions — endeka (11) and dodeka (12) do not follow the pattern. These are the only two worth memorising as separate items.
How to Pronounce Greek Numbers: Three Rules
Transliterations get you close. These three rules get you the rest of the way.
δ is never a hard d. It's the soft th in this, which is why δύο is THEE-o and δέκα is THE-ka. Say dee-o and you'll still be understood, but you'll sound like a tourist.
Stress the syllable with the accent mark. Every Greek word of more than one syllable carries one: εφτά is ef-TA, έξι is EK-see, εκατό is e-ka-TO. Putting the stress on the wrong syllable is a bigger giveaway than any accent.
χ is a breathy h. It's the sound at the end of Scottish loch, softer before e and i, as in χίλια (HEE-lya), a thousand.
Greek Numbers 20–100: The Tens and Every Number in Between
Once you know the tens, every number up to 99 is the tens followed by the unit. After 1 to 10, these are the numbers you'll hear most, in prices and on ferry timetables.
Building compound numbers: say the tens, then the unit, with no word for and in between. Twenty-five is είκοσι πέντε (ikosi pende) and thirty-two is τριάντα δύο (trianta dio). Above 100 the hundreds come first: 125 is εκατόν είκοσι πέντε. The rule never changes, which is why the full table below is easy to read once you know the tens.
Hundreds, Thousands and Millions in Greek
The hundreds follow the units with a -kosia ending, and from 2,000 up the thousands use χιλιάδες. Two details catch people out: 100 is εκατό on its own but εκατόν before another number, and the hundreds from 200 to 900 change with gender, just like one, three and four.
How to say a year: Greeks read a year as one full number, never in pairs. 2026 is δύο χιλιάδες είκοσι έξι (THEE-o hee-LYA-thes EE-ko-see EK-see), literally two thousand twenty-six. 1821, the year the War of Independence began, is χίλια οκτακόσια είκοσι ένα.
Travel Use-Cases: When You Actually Need These
At a Bakery or Café
The most common numbers scenario. Two of everything.
- Dio kafedes, parakalo — Two coffees, please
- Tris tiropites — Three cheese pies (tiropita is feminine, so three is tris, not tria)
- Pende koulouria — Five sesame rings
In a café or bakery, you will often be using numbers 1–5 more than any others. Ena, dio, tria and a nod at the item is sufficient for most orders.
At a Restaurant or Taverna
- Ena trapezi gia tesseris, parakalo — A table for four, please
- Dio portokaladies — Two orange juices
- Tria suvlakia — Three souvlaki
The number comes before the item in Greek — the same order as English. No grammar knowledge required.
Prices and Money
Understanding prices quoted verbally:
- Deka euro — 10 euros
- Ikosi pende euro — 25 euros
- Ekato euro — 100 euros
- Poso kanei? — How much is it? (the essential question)
In markets and small shops, prices are often said aloud rather than displayed. Knowing the round numbers — 10, 20, 30, 50, 100 — covers most pricing situations.
Reading a price tag: Greece writes prices with a comma for the decimal point and a dot for thousands. 4,50 € is four euros fifty, said tessera kai peninda, and 1.200 € is one thousand two hundred euros. Cents are lepta.
Times and Transport
Ferries, buses, and restaurants use standard 24-hour or 12-hour clock vocabulary:
- Stis ennia — At nine (9:00)
- Stis deka kai misi — At half past ten (10:30)
- Stis dodeka to mesimeri — At noon
- Stis epta to vrady — At seven in the evening
Key time words:
- Misi — half (half past)
- Para — to/before (twenty-to is para ikosi)
- To proi — in the morning
- To vrady — in the evening
The ferry from Piraeus to Hydra departs at specific times — knowing how to read those times in Greek on a board (or understand them when spoken) prevents missed departures.
Phone Numbers and Addresses
Greek phone numbers have ten digits after the country code +30. Mobiles start with 69 and Athens landlines with 210. Greeks read them in groups of two or three, so 69 comes out as εξήντα εννιά (ek-SEEN-da en-NYA) rather than six-nine. If you lose track, ask for it digit by digit, and listen for zero: μηδέν (mee-THEN).
The two numbers worth memorising before you land are 112 for any emergency and 166 for an ambulance. The full list is in our emergency numbers in Greece guide.
House numbers on street signs follow the same vocabulary — number plus street name.
Greek Ordinal Numbers: First to Tenth
Ordinal numbers (first, second, third) appear on menus, in addresses, and in conversation. The most useful:
Ordinals behave like adjectives and agree with the noun: πρώτος (masculine), πρώτη (feminine), πρώτο (neuter). You'll meet them on street signs, where Greek dates become street names: 28is Oktovriou, the 28th of October, is the official name of Patision Avenue in Athens. Floors work the same way, with one trap: πρώτος όροφος, the first floor, is the floor above the ground floor (ισόγειο).
Ancient Greek Numerals: The Letters You Still See Today
Before Arabic digits, Greeks wrote numbers with letters. The system that lasted is the alphabetic, or Ionic, one: nine letters stand for 1 to 9, nine for 10 to 90 and nine for 100 to 900. Three letters that dropped out of the alphabet fill the gaps: ϛ (stigma) for 6, ϟ (koppa) for 90 and ϡ (sampi) for 900. A small mark after the letters, the keraia (ʹ), shows that they are a number and not a word. The same mark placed low, before a letter, multiplies it by 1,000.
To write a number, add the letters together: 12 is ιβʹ (10 + 2), 13 is ιγʹ, 19 is ιθʹ, 20 is κʹ, 26 is κϛʹ and 2026 is ͵βκϛʹ.
Older still is the Attic system used in classical Athens, where each symbol is the first letter of the number's name: Π for pente (5), Δ for deka (10), Η for hekaton (100), Χ for chilioi (1,000) and Μ for myrioi (10,000), with a single stroke, Ι, for one.
Where you'll see them in Greece today: the letter numerals survived as ordinals. Kings and patriarchs (Κωνσταντίνος Βʹ, Constantine II), school years (Αʹ Λυκείου, the first year of upper secondary school), book chapters and Athens' First Cemetery, the Αʹ Νεκροταφείο, all use them. In modern use, 6 is written ΣΤʹ rather than ϛʹ.
I, II, III and IV are Roman, not Greek. If you searched for Greek numbers i, ii, iii, iv, the Greek equivalents are Αʹ, Βʹ, Γʹ and Δʹ.
Greek Number Prefixes in English Words
Many of the number prefixes in English come from Greek: mono- (one) in monologue, di- (two) in dilemma, tri- (three) in triathlon, tetra- (four) in tetrahedron, penta- (five) in pentagon, hexa- (six) in hexagon, hepta- (seven) in heptathlon, octa- (eight) in octagon, deca- (ten) in decade, hecto- (hundred) in hectare and kilo- (thousand) in kilometre. Their modern descendants are in the tables above: πέντε, έξι, εφτά, οκτώ, δέκα, εκατό, χίλια.
Quick Reference Card
Ordering (most used):
1 = ena / mia · 2 = dio · 3 = tria · 4 = tessera · 5 = pende · 10 = deka
Prices (round numbers):
20 = ikosi · 30 = trianta · 50 = peninda · 100 = ekato
Times:
9 = ennia · 10 = deka · 11 = endeka · 12 = dodeka
Key question: Poso kanei? — How much does it cost?
Plan Your Greece Trip
- Basic Greek Words — the essential starter vocabulary
- Essential Greek Phrases — 50+ phrases for every situation
- Ordering Food in Greek — the complete restaurant phrasebook
- Hello in Greek — greetings and how to use them
- Greek Alphabet — how to read road signs and menus
- How to Plan a Trip to Greece — the full planning framework
🇬🇷 Planning a trip to Greece? Use our AI Trip Planner to build your itinerary
Written by
Athens-born engineer · Coordinates a 5-expert Greek team · 50+ years combined field experience
I write every article on this site drawing on real, first-hand expertise — mine and that of four colleagues who live and work across Greece daily: a Peloponnese tour operator, a transfer specialist across Athens, Mykonos & Santorini, a Cretan hotel owner, and a Northern Greece hotel supplier. Nothing here comes from a single visit or desk research.
Informed by 5 Greek experts
Every destination we cover has been visited and vetted by at least one team member — not for a review, but as part of their daily work in Greek tourism.