Basic Numbers

1 moko1st ya liboso (or ya yambo)
2 mibale2nd ya mibale
3 misato3rd ya misato
4 minei4thya minei
5 mitano5thya mitano
6 motoba6th ya motoba
7 nsambo7th ya nsambo
8 mwambe8th ya mwambe
9 libwa9th ya libwa
10 zomi10thya zomi

We have in the list above the first ten numbers in Lingala. Along with that we also have a list of ordinal numbers. In English ordinal numbers would be first (1st), second (2nd), etc. Notice that Lingala creates ordinal numbers by adding the word ya before the number.

But what about counting higher than ten? Lingala’s way of counting beyond ten is consistent. Notice the next ten numbers, as well as a few sample numbers beyond twenty. Ordinals continue to work exactly the same as they do in the table above, though we won’t list all of them here.

11zomi na moko21ntuku mibale na moko
12zomi na mibale22 ntuku mibale na mibale
13zomi na misato30 ntuku misato
14zomi na minei31ntuku na moko
15zomi na mitano40ntuku minei
16zomi na motoba50ntuku mitano
17zomi na nsambo60ntuku motoba
18 zomi na mwambe70ntuku nsambo
19 zomi na libwa80ntuku mwambe
20 ntuku mibale90ntuku libwa

When counting from eleven to nineteen, we use zomi plus the word na (with) and then one of the numbers from one to nine. For example: eleven is zomi na moko.

When we reach twenty, instead of using the word zomi, we replace it with ntuku. This word means the same as ten, but is then used to help count the higher numbers. We do this by using ntuku and then one of the numbers from one to nine. So twenty is ntuku mibale, thirty is ntuku misato. Numbers beyond twenty are created in the same was as we did earlier with eleven to nineteen. We say ntuku mibale na moko to mean twenty one.

This principle continues onward with higher numbers. More information on this can be found in the Advanced Numbers article.

Note: While Lingala numbers are used, most Lingala speakers will use French numbers once they reach four or five in Lingala. Knowing the Lingala numbers is useful as some written books and magazines use them. However expect most Lingala speakers to use French, so learning French numbers as well is also very useful to a Lingala learner.

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