Counting in Afrikaans

Enter a number and get it written in full in Afrikaans.

Language overview

Afrikaans is an Indo-European language derived from Dutch and classified as Low Franconian West Germanic. Mainly spoken in South Africa and Namibia, it has about 5 million speakers.

Afrikaans numbering rules

  • Digits and numbers from zero to twelve are specific words, namely nul [0], een [1], twee [2], drie [3], vier [4], vyf [5], ses [6], sewe [7], ag [8], nege [9], tien [10], elf [11], and twaalf [12].
  • From thirteen to nineteen, numbers are built like English teens, i.e. by adding the -tien suffix after the unit: dertien [13], veertien [14], vyftien [15], sestien [16], sewentien [17], agtien [18], and negentien [19].
  • The tens are formed by adding the -tig suffix at the end of the matching digit (except for ten itself), often with a slight orthographic and phonetic change in the digit: tien [10], twintig [20], dertig [30], veertig [40], vyftig [50], sestig [60], sewentig [70], tagtig [80], and neëntig [90].
  • From twenty-one to ninety-nine, the tens and units are joined with the en (and) word, the unit being said before the ten (eg. een-en-dertig [31], vyf-en-dertig [35]).
  • Hundreds (based on the word for hundred, honderd) and thousands (based on the word for thousand, duisend) are built by saying the multiplier unit right before the scale word with no spacing (e.g.: eenhonderd een-en-twintig [121], eenduisend tweehonderd negentien [1,219]).
  • The Afrikaans language uses the long scale for big numbers where every new word greater than a million is one million times bigger than the previous term. Thus, een miljard is 109 (the US billion), and een biljoen (1012) worths a thousand US billions.

Books

A Grammar of AfrikaansA Grammar of Afrikaans
by , editors Walter de Gruyter (1993)
[Amazon.com Amazon.com]

Parlons AfrikaansParlons Afrikaans
by , editors L’Harmattan (2005)
[Amazon.com Amazon.com]

L’afrikaans de pocheL’afrikaans de poche
editors Assimil (1999)
[Amazon.com Amazon.com]

Numbers list

1 – een
2 – twee
3 – drie
4 – vier
5 – vyf
6 – ses
7 – sewe
8 – ag
9 – nege
10 – tien
11 – elf
12 – twaalf
13 – dertien
14 – veertien
15 – vyftien
16 – sestien
17 – sewentien
18 – agtien
19 – negentien
20 – twintig
30 – dertig
40 – veertig
50 – vyftig
60 – sestig
70 – sewentig
80 – tagtig
90 – neëntig
100 – eenhonderd
1,000 – eenduisend
one million – een miljoen
one billion – een miljard
one trillion – een biljoen

West Germanic languages

Afrikaans, Alsatian, Bavarian, English, German, Luxembourgish, North Frisian, Pennsylvania German, Plautdietsch, Saterland Frisian, Swiss German, and West Frisian.

Other supported languages

Supported languages by families
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