Counting in Mwani

Language overview

Forty-two in Mwani Mwani (Kimwani) is a Bantu language from the Niger-Congo family. Spoken on the coast of the Cabo Delgado Province of Mozambique, it counts about 100,000 speakers.

Due to lack of data, we can only count accurately up to 9,999 in Mwani. Please contact me if you can help me counting up from that limit.

Mwani numbers list

  • 1 – m’moja
  • 2 – mbire
  • 3 – natu
  • 4 – n’né
  • 5 – n’tano
  • 6 – sita
  • 7 – saba
  • 8 – nane
  • 9 – khénta
  • 10 – kumi
  • 11 – kumi na m’moja
  • 12 – kumi na mbire
  • 13 – kumi na natu
  • 14 – kumi na n’né
  • 15 – kumi na n’tano
  • 16 – kumi na sita
  • 17 – kumi na saba
  • 18 – kumi na nane
  • 19 – kumi na khénta
  • 20 – shirini
  • 30 – talatini
  • 40 – arubaine
  • 50 – amusine
  • 60 – sitine
  • 70 – sabine
  • 80 – tamanine
  • 90 – tusuine
  • 100 – mia
  • 1,000 – álufu

Mwani 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 and numbers from one to nine are specific words, namely m’moja [1], mbire [2], natu [3], n’né [4], n’tano [5], sita [6], saba [7], nane [8], and khénta [9].
  • The tens are kumi [10], shirini [20], talatini [30], arubaine [40], amusine [50], sitine [60], sabine [70], tamanine [80], and tusuine [90].
  • Compound numbers are formed by saying the ten, then the coordinator na (and), and the unit (e.g.: talatini na natu [33], tamanine na mbire [82]).
  • Hundreds are formed by setting the multiplier digit after the word for hundred (mia), except for one hundred itself: mia [100], mia mbire [200], mia natu [300], mia n’né [400], mia n’tano [500], mia sita [600], mia saba [700], mia nane [800], and mia khénta [900].
  • Thousands are formed the same way as hundreds, i.e. by setting the multiplier digit after the word for thousand (álufu), except for one thousand itself, unless compound: álufu [1,000], álufu mbire [2,000], álufu natu [3,000], álufu n’né [4,000], álufu n’tano [5,000], álufu sita [6,000], álufu saba [7,000], álufu nane [8,000], and álufu khénta [9,000].
  • Each group of numbers is linked to the others with na (and), tens and units, but also hundreds and tens, thousands and hundreds… (e.g.: mia na m’moja [101], mia sita na amusine na sita [656], álufu m’moja na mia n’né na talatini [1,430]).

Write a number in full in Mwani

Let’s move now to the practice of the numbering rules in Mwani. 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

Bantu languages

Gwere, Kinyarwanda, Lingala, Makhuwa, Mwani, Nyungwe, Punu, Shona, Soga, Swahili, Tsonga, Tswana, Xhosa, Yao, and Zulu.

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.