How to count in Mussau-Emira

Enter a number and read it spelled out in Mussau-Emira.

Language overview

The Mussau-Emira language belongs to the Malayo-Polynesian group (and more specifically to the oceanic sub-group) of the Austronesian family. It is spoken in Papua New Guinea, on the islands of Mussau and Emirau, in the Bismarck Archipelago, and counts about 5,000 speakers.
Due to lack of data, we can only count accurately up to 9,999 in Mussau-Emira. Please contact us if you can help us counting up from that limit.

Mussau-Emira numbering rules

  • Digits from one to nine are specific words, namely sesa [1], lua [2], tolu [3], ata [4], lima [5], nomo [6], itu [7], oalu [8], and sio [9].
  • The tens have specific names based on the digits roots followed by the ligature -nga-, and the suffix -ulu indicating ten: sangaulu [10], luengaulu [20], tolungaulu [30], atingaulu [40], limangaulu [50], nomongaulu [60], itungaulu [70], oalungaulu [80], and siongaulu [90].
  • The compound numbers are built by following the ten by the unit, separated with a space (e.g.: tolungaulu lima [35], itungaulu oalu [78]).
  • The word for hundred is ai, one thousand is airari (airare is another form of it, which seems to be dialectal). Compound numbers with hundreds and thousands are built by setting the multiplier, then a space and the scale name, except when the multiplier is one (e.g.: ai [100], lua ai [200], oalu airari ai siongaulu lua [8,192]).

Books

Numbers list

1 – sesa
2 – lua
3 – tolu
4 – ata
5 – lima
6 – nomo
7 – itu
8 – oalu
9 – sio
10 – sangaulu
11 – sangaulu sesa
12 – sangaulu lua
13 – sangaulu tolu
14 – sangaulu ata
15 – sangaulu lima
16 – sangaulu nomo
17 – sangaulu itu
18 – sangaulu oalu
19 – sangaulu sio
20 – luengaulu
30 – tolungaulu
40 – atingaulu
50 – limangaulu
60 – nomongaulu
70 – itungaulu
80 – oalungaulu
90 – siongaulu
100 – ai
1,000 – airari

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Other supported languages

Supported languages by families
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