Bangla Numbers, Dates and Time: A Practical Guide

Numbers, dates and time are some of the most frequently needed vocabulary in daily life — for prices, appointments, schedules — which makes them worth learning solidly and early, beyond just recognising a translation when you see one.

Bangla numerals

Bangla numerals (১, ২, ৩...) have their own distinct visual forms, separate from both Western Arabic numerals and Devanagari numerals — worth learning to recognise directly, since numerals appear constantly on price tags, addresses, and printed material throughout Bangladesh and West Bengal, sometimes alongside Western numerals and sometimes not.

Counting basics

Ek (1), dui (2), tin (3), char (4), panch (5), chhoy (6), shat (7), aat (8), noy (9), dosh (10) — the foundation for prices, quantities, and basic counting in everyday conversation.

Telling time

Ekhon koto ta baje? (what time is it now?) is a genuinely useful phrase to know outright, alongside basic time-of-day vocabulary: shokal (morning), dupur (midday), bikel (afternoon), shondha (evening), raat (night).

Days and dates

Bangla has its own names for days of the week and uses both the Gregorian calendar (for most everyday and business purposes) and, in cultural and some official contexts, the Bengali calendar (Bangabda), which follows a different year count and includes its own set of month names — relevant for festivals and some traditional record-keeping.

Practical phrases worth memorising directly

• Koto taka? (how much money/how much does it cost?) — essential for shopping and markets.
• Aajke kobe? (what's today's date?) or simply aaj ki bar? (what day is it today?).
• Koto shomoy lagbe? (how much time will it take?) — useful for travel and planning.

Why this vocabulary deserves early, deliberate focus

Numbers and time vocabulary show up in nearly every practical interaction — shopping, travel, scheduling — far more frequently than most other early vocabulary categories, which makes them a high-value area to prioritise rather than leave to incidental pickup over time.

A quick practice approach

Rather than memorising numbers in isolation, practice them attached to real quantities — prices you see, times on a clock, dates on a calendar — so the vocabulary anchors to something concrete rather than floating as an abstract list.

Look up numbers, time and date vocabulary instantly with English Bangla Dictionary →