Counting in Albanian
Language overview
Albanian (shqip) is an Indo-European language, descendant of the Thraco-Illyrian branch. Divided into two major dialects (Gheg and Tosk), it is the official language of Albania and counts around 6 million speakers.
Albanian numbers list
- 1 – një
- 2 – dy
- 3 – tre
- 4 – katër
- 5 – pesë
- 6 – gjashtë
- 7 – shtatë
- 8 – tetë
- 9 – nëntë
- 10 – dhjetë
- 11 – njëmbëdhjetë
- 12 – dymbëdhjete
- 13 – trembëdhjetë
- 14 – katërmbëdhjetë
- 15 – pesëmbëdhjetë
- 16 – gjashtëmbëdhjetë
- 17 – shtatëmbëdhjetë
- 18 – tetëmbëdhjetë
- 19 – nëntëmbëdhjetë
- 20 – njëzet
- 30 – tridhjetë
- 40 – dyzet
- 50 – pesëdhjetë
- 60 – gjashtëdhjetë
- 70 – shtatëdhjetë
- 80 – tetëdhjetë
- 90 – nëntëdhjetë
- 100 – njëqind
- 1,000 – një mijë
- one million – një milion
- one billion – një miliard
- one trillion – një bilion
Albanian numbering rules
Now that you’ve had a gist of the most useful numbers, let’s move to the writing rules for the tens, the compound numbers, and why not the hundreds, the thousands and beyond (if possible).
- Digits from zero to nine are specific words, namely zero [0], një [1], dy [2], tre [3] (feminine: tri), katër [4], pesë [5], gjashtë [6], shtatë [7], tetë [8], and nëntë [9].
- Ten is dhjetë [10]. From eleven to nineteen, the numbers are formed by agglutinating the digit to the morpheme sequence mbë + dhjetë (meaning onto ten) with no space: njëmbëdhjetë [11], dymbëdhjete [12], trembëdhjetë [13], katërmbëdhjetë [14], pesëmbëdhjetë [15], gjashtëmbëdhjetë [16], shtatëmbëdhjetë [17], tetëmbëdhjetë [18], and nëntëmbëdhjetë [19].
- The tens are formed on the multiplier digit followed by the word ten, except for ten, twenty and forty: dhjetë [10], njëzetnti [20], tridhjetë [30] (dhjetë being feminine, the feminine form of three is used), dyzet [40], pesëdhjetë [50], gjashtëdhjetë [60], shtatëdhjetë [70], tetëdhjetë [80], and nëntëdhjetë [90]. Twenty and forty are formed on the old number name zet, not used anymore, meaning a score—trace of an old vigesimal system. Thus, njëzetnti [20] means one score (një + zet) and dyzet [40], two scores (dy + zet).
- Compound numbers are formed by adding the coordinating conjunction e (and) between the ten and the unit (e.g.: njëzet e dy [22], pesëdhjetë e gjashtë [56]).
- The hundreds are formed by putting together the multiplier digit and the hundred word (qind): njëqind [100], dyqind [200], treqind [300], katërqind [400]…
- Hundreds and tens are linked with the coordinating conjunction e (e.g.: njëqind e një [101], gjashtëqind e trembëdhjetë [613]).
- Thousands are formed by setting the multiplier digit, a space, and the word for thousand (mijë): një mijë [1,000], dy mijë [2,000], tre mijë [3,000]… Thousands, hundreds and tens are linked with the coordinating conjunction e (e.g.: tre mijë e dyqind [3,200], pesë mijë e katërqind e gjashtëdhjetë [5,460]), but thousands and units follow each other with no conjunction (e.g.: një mijë një [1,001]).
- Albanian 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. One million is një milion, një miliard is 109 (the US billion), and një bilion (1012) worths a thousand US billions, the next step, 1015, being një trilion (one quadrillion). Note that the word for million being feminine, the feminine form of three is needed in tri milion [three million].
- Big scale numbers are linked with the same coordinating conjunction e (e.g.: një milion e katërqind e pesëdhjetë mijë [1,450,000], dy miliard e treqind milion e katërqind mijë [2,300,400,000]).
- When used in a cardinal number, the words qind (hundred), mijë (thousand), milion (million), miliard (billion), etc. remain in their singular form. They do have a plural form, qind and mijë taking the suffix -ra, the others the suffix -a, used to indicate an imprecise quantity (e.g.: qindra [hundreds], mijëra [thousands], miliona [millions]).
Write a number in full in Albanian
Let’s move now to the practice of the numbering rules in Albanian. Will you guess how to write a number in full? Enter a number and try to write it down in your head, or maybe on a piece of paper, before displaying the result.
Books
Standard Albanian: A Reference Grammar for Students
by Leonard Newmark, Philip Hubbard, Peter Prifti, editors Stanford University Press (1982)
[ Amazon.com]
Albanais de poche
by Axel Jaenicke, editors Assimil (2010)
[ Amazon.com]
Analyse de la Langue Albanaise
by Louis Benloew, editors BiblioLife (2009)
[ Amazon.com]
Parlons albanais
by Christian Gut, editors L’Harmattan (1999)
[ Amazon.com]
Albanian languages
Albanian, and Arbëresh.
Other supported languages
As the other currently supported languages are too numerous to list extensively here, please select a language from the full list of supported languages.