Counting in Nyungwe

Language overview

Forty-two in Nyungwe The Nyungwe language (cinyungwe), is a Bantu language belonging to the Niger–Congo language family. Spoken on the south bank of the Zambezi River in the Tete province of Mozambique, from the border with Zambia to Doa in Mutarara district, it is considered a trade language, or a lingua franca. The Nyungwe language counts about 440,000 speakers.

Due to lack of data, we can only count accurately up to 10,000 in Nyungwe. Please contact me if you can help me counting up from that limit.

Nyungwe numbers list

  • 1 – posi
  • 2 – piri
  • 3 – tatu
  • 4 – nai
  • 5 – xanu
  • 6 – tant’atu
  • 7 – chinomue
  • 8 – sere
  • 9 – f’emba
  • 10 – k’umi
  • 11 – k’umi na ibodzi
  • 12 – k’umi na ziwiri
  • 13 – k’umi na zitatu
  • 14 – k’umi na zinai
  • 15 – k’umi na zixanu
  • 16 – k’umi na zitant’atu
  • 17 – k’umi na zinomue
  • 18 – k’umi na zisere
  • 19 – k’umi na zif’emba
  • 20 – mak’umi mawiri
  • 30 – mak’umi matatu
  • 40 – mak’umi manai
  • 50 – mak’umi maxanu
  • 60 – mak’umi matant’atu
  • 70 – mak’umi manomue
  • 80 – mak’umi masere
  • 90 – mak’umi maf’emba
  • 100 – dzana
  • 1,000 – churu

Nyungwe 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 rendered by specific words, namely paribe (or papezi) [0], posi (or bodzi, modzi) [1], piri [2], tatu [3], nai [4], xanu [5], tant’atu [6], chinomue [7], sere [8], and f’emba [9].
  • Tens are formed starting with the plural form of the word for ten (k’umi in singular, and mak’umi in plural), followed by the multiplier digit prefixed with ma- (with a different form for two and seven), except for ten itself: k’umi [10], mak’umi mawiri [20], mak’umi matatu [30], mak’umi manai [40], mak’umi maxanu [50], mak’umi matant’atu [60], mak’umi manomue [70], mak’umi masere [80], and mak’umi maf’emba [90].
  • Compound numbers are formed starting with the ten, then the conjonction na and the unit prefixed by zi-, with a different form for one, two and seven (e.g.: k’umi na ibodzi [11], mak’umi mawiri na ziwiri [22], mak’umi matant’atu na zitatu [63], mak’umi masere na zinomue [87]).
  • Hundreds are formed starting with the plural form of the word for hundred (dzana in singular, and madzana in plural), followed by the multiplier digit prefixed with ma- (with a different form for two and seven), except for one hundred: dzana [100], madzana mawiri [200], madzana matatu [300], madzana manai [400], madzana maxanu [500], madzana matant’atu [600], madzana manomue [700], madzana masere [800], and madzana maf’emba [900].
  • Thousands are formed starting with the plural form of the word for thousand (churu in singular, and bzuru in plural), followed by the multiplier digit prefixed with bzi- (with a different form for two and seven), except for one thousand: churu [1,000], bzuru bziwiri [2,000], bzuru bzitatu [3,000], bzuru bzinai [4,000], bzuru bzixanu [5,000], bzuru bzitant’atu [6,000], bzuru bzinomue [7,000], bzuru bzisere [8,000], and bzuru bzif’emba [9,000].

Write a number in full in Nyungwe

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

A Numeração em Moçambique A Numeração em Moçambique
by , editors Lulu.com (2008)
[Amazon.com Amazon.com]

Source

  • A Numeração em Moçambique, by Paulus Gerdes (in Portuguese)

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.