Counting in Latvian
Language overview
Latvian language (latviešu valoda) belongs to the Baltic group of the Indo-European family. Official language of Latvia, it counts about 1.5 million speakers.
Latvian numbers list
- 1 – viens
- 2 – divi
- 3 – trīs
- 4 – četri
- 5 – pieci
- 6 – seši
- 7 – septiņi
- 8 – astoņi
- 9 – deviņi
- 10 – desmit
- 11 – vienpadsmit
- 12 – divpadsmit
- 13 – trīspadsmit
- 14 – četrpadsmit
- 15 – piecpadsmit
- 16 – sešpadsmit
- 17 – septiņpadsmit
- 18 – astoņpadsmit
- 19 – deviņpadsmit
- 20 – divdesmit
- 30 – trīsdesmit
- 40 – četrdesmit
- 50 – piecdesmit
- 60 – sešdesmit
- 70 – septiņdesmit
- 80 – astoņdesmit
- 90 – deviņdesmit
- 100 – simts
- 1,000 – tūkstoš
- one million – miljons
- one billion – miljards
- one trillion – triljons
Latvian 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 have two forms: a masculine form and a feminine one. Masculine numbers are: nulle [0], viens [1], divi [2], trīs [3], četri [4], pieci [5], seši [6], septiņi [7], astoņi [8], and deviņi [9]. As for feminine numbers, they are: nulle [0], viena [1], divas [2], trīs [3], četras [4], piecas [5], sešas [6], septiņas [7], astoņas [8], and deviņas [9].
- From ten (which is desmit) up, there is only one gender and the following noun is always set to genitive. The noun remains subject to declension, except for numbers between ten and nineteen, and simple tens (10, 20, 30…).
- From eleven to nineteen, cardinal numbers end with -padsmit, meaning on ten, and begin with the root of the digit: vienpadsmit [11], divpadsmit [12], trīspadsmit [13], četrpadsmit [14], piecpadsmit [15], sešpadsmit [16], septiņpadsmit [17], astoņpadsmit [18], and deviņpadsmit [19].
- Tens end with -desmit (ten) preceded by the ten digit, except for ten itself: desmit [10], divdesmit [20], trīsdesmit [30], četrdesmit [40], piecdesmit [50], sešdesmit [60], septiņdesmit [70], astoņdesmit [80], and deviņdesmit [90].
- Hundreds are formed by putting the word for hundred (simt) after the multiplier unit root with no space, with the exception of one hundred itself: simts [100] (note the -s at the end), divsimt [200], trīssimt [300], četrsimt [400], piecsimt [500]…
- Thousands are formed the same way, by attaching the word for thousand (tūkstoš, or tūkstoši, in nominative plural) after the multiplier unit, with the exception of one thousand itself: tūkstoš [1,000], divtūkstoši [2,000], trīstūkstoši [3,000], četrtūkstoši [4,000], piectūkstoši [5,000]…
- Compound numbers are formed by putting the ten before the unit (e.g.: trīsdesmit divi [32], četrdesmit trīs [43], piecdesmit četri [54]), the hundred before the ten and the unit (e.g.: divsimt trīsdesmit pieci [235], trīssimt viens [301]), the thousand before the hundred, the ten and the unit (e.g.: tūkstoš deviņsimt septiņdesmit viens [1,971], divtūkstoši četri [2,004]).
- Latvian uses the short scale system as English to create big numbers: each name of number bigger than one million is one thousand times bigger than the previous one. Thus, we have miljons (one million, 106), miljards (one billion, 109), triljons (one trillion, 1012), kvadriljons (one quadrillion, 1015)…
- The scale words from thousand up have to be set in genitive when following a number, as any other noun (e.g.: desmit tūkstošu [10,000], trīs miljonu [3 million], septiņi miljardu [7 billions]).
Write a number in full in Latvian
Let’s move now to the practice of the numbering rules in Latvian. 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
Colloquial Latvian: The Complete Course for Beginners
by Dace Prauli, Christopher Moseley, editors Routledge (2010)
[ Amazon.com]
Latvian-English/English-Latvian Dictionary & Phrasebook
by Amanda Zaeska Jatniece, editors Hippocrene Books (2004)
[ Amazon.com]
Guide de conversation letton
by Bernard Christophe, editors Assimil (2010)
[ Amazon.com]
Le letton de poche
by Bernard Christophe, editors Assimil (2007)
[ Amazon.com]
Parlons letton
by Justyna Petit, Daniel Petit, editors L’Harmattan (2007)
[ Amazon.com, Kindle - Amazon.com]
Baltic languages
Latvian, and Lithuanian.
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.