Numbers, Money, Time, and Dates in Punjabi

0–10 and the digits

Teens, tens, and the famous irregular zone

11–19 are learnable as a set; the numbers 21–99 are the part even second-language Punjabi speakers drill. You don't need all of them today — learn the tens plus a few you'll hear in prices:

Between the tens, numbers don't build like English 'twenty-one' — 21 is ਇੱਕੀ ikkī, 25 ਪੱਚੀ pachī, 47 ਸੰਤਾਲੀ santālī. Pick them up one at a time; nobody expects a learner to reel off 47 today.

Hundreds, thousands, lakhs

Punjabi uses the South Asian number grouping: ਸੌ sau hundred, ਹਜ਼ਾਰ hazār thousand, ਲੱਖ lakkh hundred thousand, ਕਰੋੜ karoṛ ten million. Prices and populations in India are quoted in lakhs and crores, not millions — a ₹5,00,000 price tag is 'pañj lakkh'.

Money and asking prices

The currency is the rupee — ਰੁਪਇਆ rupaiā (₹). 'How much?' is ਕਿੰਨਾ kinnā — and remember it agrees with the thing's gender: ਦਾ for masculine, ਦੀ for feminine.

No exchange rates here — prices move; the phrase doesn't. 'Example prices' in this course are for practicing the pattern, not real quotes.

Telling time

'What time is it?' is ਕਿੰਨੇ ਵਜੇ ਹਨ? kinne vaje han? — literally 'how many struck?' (ਵਜਣਾ vajṇā 'to strike/ring'). Hours count on the same ikk-do-tinn numbers:

ਸਾਢੇ sāṛhe 'half past', ਸਵਾ savā 'quarter past', ਪਾਉਣੇ pauṇe 'quarter to' — these three words unlock most clock talk.

Days and dates

Days of the week (Indian Punjab uses the standard Indian set) — and everyday time anchors you'll use constantly:

Traditional Sikh/Punjabi month names (Chet, Vaisakh…) also exist, but everyday India runs on the English month names — ਜਨਵਰੀ janvarī, ਅਕਤੂਬਰ aktūbar — which is what we'll use.

Mini practice