Counting in Sango

Language overview

Forty-two in Sango The Sango language (Sängö) is a Ngbandi-based creole that belongs to the Ubangian languages of the Niger–Congo languages family. At the same time lingua franca and official language of the Central African Republic, Sango is a tonal language with three tones (high, mid and low, respectively noted by a circumflex, a diaeresis, and no diacritic sign). It counts about 400,000 speakers of native language, and 5 million speakers as second language.

Sango numbers list

  • 1 – ôko
  • 2 – ûse
  • 3 – otâ
  • 4 – usïö
  • 5 – ukü
  • 6 – omënë
  • 7 – mbâsâmbâlâ
  • 8 – miombe
  • 9 – gümbâyä
  • 10 – balë ôko
  • 11 – balë ôko na ôko
  • 12 – balë ôko na ûse
  • 13 – balë ôko na otâ
  • 14 – balë ôko na usïö
  • 15 – balë ôko na ukü
  • 16 – balë ôko na omënë
  • 17 – balë ôko na mbâsâmbâlâ
  • 18 – balë ôko na miombe
  • 19 – balë ôko na gümbâyä
  • 20 – balë ûse
  • 30 – balë otâ
  • 40 – balë usïö
  • 50 – balë ukü
  • 60 – balë omënë
  • 70 – balë mbâsâmbâlâ
  • 80 – balë miombe
  • 90 – balë gümbâyä
  • 100 – ngbangbo ôko
  • 1,000 – sâke ôko
  • one million – kûtu ôko

Sango 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 pärä [0] (which also means egg), ôko [1], ûse [2], otâ [3], usïö [4], ukü [5], omënë [6], mbâsâmbâlâ [7] (or mbârâmbârâ), miombe [8], and gümbâyäwen [9].
  • The tens are formed by setting the word balë before the multiplier digit separated with a space: balë ôko [10], balë ûse [20], balë otâ [30], balë usïö [40], balë ukü [50], balë omënë [60], balë mbâsâmbâlâ [70], balë miombe [80], and balë gümbâyäwen [90].
  • Compound tens are formed by saying the ten, then the conjunction na (meaning and/with), and the unit (e.g.: balë ôko na ukü [15], balë ukü na otâ [53]).
  • The hundreds are built stating the multiplier digit after the word for hundred (ngbangbo): ngbangbo ôko [100], ngbangbo ûse [200], ngbangbo otâ [300], ngbangbo usïö [400], ngbangbo ukü [500], ngbangbo omënë [600], ngbangbo mbâsâmbâlâ [700], ngbangbo miombe [800], and ngbangbo gümbâyäwen [900].
  • The thousands follow the same structure, the word for thousand being sâke (or sâki, which means bag) : sâke ôko [1,000], sâke ûse [2,000], sâke otâ [3,000], sâke usïö [4,000], sâke ukü [5,000], sâke omënë [6,000], sâke mbâsâmbâlâ [7,000], sâke miombe [8,000], and sâke gümbâyäwen [9,000].
  • In compound numbers, each group of digits (tens, hundreds, thousands, millions) is linked with na (e.g.: ngbangbo mbâsâmbâlâ na balë ûse na otâ [723], sâke otâ na ngbangbo usïö na balë gümbâyä na omënë [3,496]).
  • The word for million is kûtu.

Write a number in full in Sango

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

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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.