Counting in West Frisian

Language overview

Forty-two in West Frisian West Frisian (Frysk) is a language that belongs to the Indo-European family, in the germanic group. Official language of the province of Friesland, in the Netherlands (alongside with Dutch), it counts about 600,000 speakers.

West Frisian numbers list

  • 1 – ien
  • 2 – twa
  • 3 – trije
  • 4 – fjouwer
  • 5 – fiif
  • 6 – seis
  • 7 – sân
  • 8 – acht
  • 9 – njoggen
  • 10 – tsien
  • 11 – alve
  • 12 – tolve
  • 13 – trettjin
  • 14 – fjirtjin
  • 15 – fyftjin
  • 16 – sechtjin
  • 17 – santjin
  • 18 – achttjin
  • 19 – njoggentjin
  • 20 – tweintich
  • 30 – tritich
  • 40 – fjirtich
  • 50 – fyftich
  • 60 – sechtich
  • 70 – santich
  • 80 – tachtich
  • 90 – njoggentich
  • 100 – hûndert
  • 1,000 – tûzen
  • one million – ien miljoen
  • one billion – ien miljard
  • one trillion – ien biljoen

West Frisian 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 zero to twelve are specific words: nul [0], ien [1], twa [2], trije [3], fjouwer [4], fiif [5], seis [6], sân [7], acht [8], njoggen [9], tsien [10], alve [11], and tolve [12].
  • From thirteen to nineteen, the numbers are formed from the matching unit digits, adding the word for ten (tjin) at the end: trettjin [13], fjirtjin [14], fyftjin [15], sechtjin [16], santjin [17], achttjin [18], and njoggentjin [19].
  • The tens are formed by adding the suffix -tich at the end of the multiplier digit, with the exception of ten: tsien [10], tweintich [20], tritich [30], fjirtich [40], fyftich [50], sechtich [60], santich [70], tachtich [80], and njoggentich [90].
  • From twenty-one to ninety-nine, the tens and units are joined with the word -en- (and), but the unit is said before the ten (e.g.: ien-en-tritich [31], fiif-en-fjirtich [45]).
  • Hundred (hûndert) and thousand (tûzen) are not separated from their multiplier by a space (e.g.: twahûndert [200], trijetûzen [3,000], tsientûzen [10,000]).
  • The West Frisian language uses the long scale for big numbers where the naming pattern of the scale words alternates between the -joen and -jard suffixes: miljoen (106, million), miljard (109, billion), biljoen (1012, trillion), biljard (1015, quadrillion), triljoen (1018, quintillion), triljard (1021, sextillion)…

Write a number in full in West Frisian

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

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.