सय / हजार / लाख / करोड

Large Numbers

Level 2Sounds Like saya, hajāra, lākha ra karōḍa

सय is a hundred, हजार a thousand, लाख a hundred thousand and करोड ten million.

How It Works

Nepali has four everyday big counting words (larger ones such as अर्ब exist). सय is a hundred and हजार is a thousand. The next two are different from English: लाख is a hundred thousand and करोड is ten million.

Put the number before the unit and do not add a joining word: दुई सय (two hundred), पाँच हजार (five thousand), एक लाख (one lakh, or a hundred thousand), पचास लाख (fifty lakhs, or five million).

Daily talk rarely uses a word for million. A million is दस लाख (ten lakhs). A hundred lakhs make a करोड. House prices, salaries and city sizes are given this way: यो घर पचास लाख रुपैयाँको छ (this house costs five million rupees).

The unit stays singular after a number: पाँच हजार, not पाँच हजारहरू. The noun follows the unit: बीस हजार रुपैयाँ (twenty thousand rupees). With rupees, you usually add को when you say the price of a thing, as in the example above.

Examples (4)

  1. यो घर पचास लाख रुपैयाँको छ।

    This house costs five million rupees.

    पचास लाख is fifty lakhs, or five million.

  2. मसँग पाँच सय रुपैयाँ छ।

    I have five hundred rupees.

    पाँच comes before सय.

  3. यो फोन बीस हजार रुपैयाँको हो।

    This phone costs twenty thousand rupees.

    हजार stays singular after a number.

  4. यो सहरमा दस लाख मान्छे बस्छन्।

    A million people live in this city.

    दस लाख is ten lakhs, which is one million.

Common Mistakes

  • Learners say a hundred thousand as a number of thousands.

    यो घर पाँच सय हजार रुपैयाँको छ।
    यो घर पाँच लाख रुपैयाँको छ।

    Nepali counts a hundred thousand as one lakh, so five hundred thousand is पाँच लाख.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

सय / हजार / लाख / करोडLevel 2Large Numbers

Learn This First

Large numbers continue the numbers up to one hundred.