Counting in Tok Pisin
Language overview
Tok Pisin is an English creole language spoken in Papua New Guinea. With about 4 million speakers, it is one of Papua New Guinea’s official languages, the two others being English and Hiri Motu. Tok Pisin is also known as New Guinea Pidgin, Melanesian Pidgin English and Neo-Melanesian, and counts about 120,000 speakers.
Tok Pisin numbers list
- 1 – wan
- 2 – tu
- 3 – tri
- 4 – foa
- 5 – faiv
- 6 – sikis
- 7 – seven
- 8 – et
- 9 – nain
- 10 – ten
- 11 – wanpela ten wan
- 12 – wanpela ten tu
- 13 – wanpela ten tri
- 14 – wanpela ten foa
- 15 – wanpela ten faiv
- 16 – wanpela ten sikis
- 17 – wanpela ten seven
- 18 – wanpela ten et
- 19 – wanpela ten nain
- 20 – tupela ten
- 30 – tripela ten
- 40 – fopela ten
- 50 – faipela ten
- 60 – sikispela ten
- 70 – sevenpela ten
- 80 – etpela ten
- 90 – nainpela ten
- 100 – wan handet
- 1,000 – tausen
- one million – wan milien
Tok Pisin 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 where one can recognize English digit names in their pronunciation, namely siro [0], wan [1], tu [2], tri [3], foa [4], faiv [5], sikis [6], seven [7], et [8], and nain [9].
- The tens are built from the multiplier number, followed by the ending -pela (which also transforms the digits into adjectives), then the word ten, except for ten itself: ten [10], tupela ten [20], tripela ten [30], fopela ten [40], faipela ten [50], sikispela ten [60], sevenpela ten [70], etpela ten [80], and nainpela ten [90].
- From eleven to ninety-nine, the numbers are built by saying the ten, then the digit separated by a space, with the exception of ten which becomes wanpela ten (e.g.: wanpela ten tu [12], sikispela ten seven [67]).
- The hundreds are built by putting the multiplier unit before the word hundred (handet): wan handet [100], tu handet [200], tri handet [300]… The thousands follow the same structure, the word for thousand being tausen: tausen [1,000] (with no one unit), tu tausen [2,000], tri tausen [3,000]…
- One million is said wan milien and the millions follow the same rule as the thousands.
Write a number in full in Tok Pisin
Let’s move now to the practice of the numbering rules in Tok Pisin. 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
Papua New Guinea Tok Pisin English Dictionary
by C. A. Volker, editors Oxford University Press Australia (2008)
[ Amazon.com]
Tok Pisin The easy way
by Frank Mihalic, editors Wantok Publications Inc. (1982)
[ Amazon.com]
English-based creoles and pidgins
Aukan, Sranan Tongo, and Tok Pisin.
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.