| 1 | moko | 1st | ya liboso (or ya yambo) |
| 2 | mibale | 2nd | ya mibale |
| 3 | misato | 3rd | ya misato |
| 4 | minei | 4th | ya minei |
| 5 | mitano | 5th | ya mitano |
| 6 | motoba | 6th | ya motoba |
| 7 | nsambo | 7th | ya nsambo |
| 8 | mwambe | 8th | ya mwambe |
| 9 | libwa | 9th | ya libwa |
| 10 | zomi | 10th | ya 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.
| 11 | zomi na moko | 21 | ntuku mibale na moko |
| 12 | zomi na mibale | 22 | ntuku mibale na mibale |
| 13 | zomi na misato | 30 | ntuku misato |
| 14 | zomi na minei | 31 | ntuku na moko |
| 15 | zomi na mitano | 40 | ntuku minei |
| 16 | zomi na motoba | 50 | ntuku mitano |
| 17 | zomi na nsambo | 60 | ntuku motoba |
| 18 | zomi na mwambe | 70 | ntuku nsambo |
| 19 | zomi na libwa | 80 | ntuku mwambe |
| 20 | ntuku mibale | 90 | ntuku 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.