Counting in Scots
Language overview
Scots, sometimes called Lowland Scots or Broad Scots, is a West Germanic language that belongs to the Anglic branch. Modern Scots is a sister language of Modern English, as the two diverged independently from the same source, Early Middle English, between 1150 and 1300. It is spoken in Scotland and parts of Ulster in the north of Ireland, by about 1.5 million speakers.
Scots numbers list
- 1 – ane
- 2 – twa
- 3 – three
- 4 – fower
- 5 – five
- 6 – sax
- 7 – seiven
- 8 – aicht
- 9 – nine
- 10 – ten
- 11 – eleiven
- 12 – twal
- 13 – thirteen
- 14 – fowerteen
- 15 – fifteen
- 16 – saxteen
- 17 – seiventeen
- 18 – aichteen
- 19 – nineteen
- 20 – twinty
- 30 – thirty
- 40 – fowerty
- 50 – fifty
- 60 – saxty
- 70 – seiventy
- 80 – aichty
- 90 – ninety
- 100 – ane hunder
- 1,000 – ane thoosand
Scots 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 nocht [0], ane [1], twa [2], three [3], fower [4], five [5], sax [6], seiven [7], aicht [8], and nine [9].
- Numbers eleven and twelve are irregular: eleiven [11] and twal [12]. Numbers from thirteen to nineteen are formed starting with the unit suffixed with -teen, with some exceptions: thirteen or thriteen [13], fowerteen [14], fifteen [15], saxteen [16], seiventeen [17], aichteen [18], and nineteen [19].
- Tens are formed starting with the multiplier digit, suffixed with -ty, with a few exceptions: ten [10], twinty [20], thirty or thretty [30], fowerty [40], fifty [50], saxty [60], seiventy [70], aichty [80], and ninety [90].
- Compound numbers are formed starting with the ten, followed by the unit linked with a hyphen (e.g.: twinty-twa [22], saxty-aicht [68]).
- Hundreds are formed starting with the multiplier digit, followed by the word for hundred (hunder) separated with a space: ane hunder [100], twa hunder [200], three hunder [300], fower hunder [400], five hunder [500], sax hunder [600], seiven hunder [700], aicht hunder [800], and nine hunder [900].
- Thousands are formed starting with the multiplier digit, followed by the word for thousand (thoosand) separated with a space: ane thoosand [1,000], twa thoosand [2,000], three thoosand [3,000], fower thoosand [4,000], five thoosand [5,000], sax thoosand [6,000], seiven thoosand [7,000], aicht thoosand [8,000], and nine thoosand [9,000].
- The word for million is million [106], and the word for billion, billion [109].
Write a number in full in Scots
Let’s move now to the practice of the numbering rules in Scots. 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
Scots Dictionary
editors Collins Dictionaries (2019)
[ Amazon.com]
Ulster-Scots: A grammar of the traditional written and spoken language
by Philip Robinson, editors Ullans Press (2018)
[ Amazon.com]
A Scots Grammar: Scots Grammar and Usage
by ElkeDavid Purves, editors The Saltire Society (2002)
[ Amazon.com]
Source
West Germanic languages
Afrikaans, Alsatian, Bavarian, English, German, Gottscheerish, Hunsrik, Luxembourgish, North Frisian, Pennsylvania German, Plautdietsch, Saterland Frisian, Scots, Swiss German, West Frisian, Wymysorys, and Yiddish.
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.