Numbers and Counting in Samoan

Counting to 10 in Samoan is pretty straight forward: Tasi, lua, tolu, fā, lima, ono, fitu, valu, iva, sefulu. Once you know the Samoan words for the numbers 1 to 10, it’s not too difficult to count to 100.

Samoan numbers are very similar to those of other Polynesian languages.

Here’s how we start:

Numbers 0 – 10

0	O
1	tasi
2	lua
3	tolu
4	fā
5	lima
6	ono
7	fitu
8	valu
9	iva
10	sefulu

 As you can see, the Samoan word for 10 is sefulu.

To count past 10 and into the “teens”, just think about what number you have to add to sefulu. For example, 11 is 10 and 1, so in Samoan, 11 is sefulu and tasi, or sefulu ma le (and the) tasi.

See how that works?

In every day Samoan, we often drop the ‘and the’ (ma le) and just say sefulutasi.

Numbers 11 – 19

11	sefulutasi
12	sefululua
13	sefulutolu
14	sefulufā
15	sefululima
16	sefuluono
17	sefulufitu
18	sefuluvalu
19	sefuluiva

From 20, we switch up the order that we put the numbers together. For example, to say 12, we use the words for 10 and 2 (sefulu ma le lua, or sefululua), but for the number 20, we think 2 and 10 instead. So 20 is lua (2) + sefulu (10), or luasefulu.

This will be the same pattern for 30 (tolu + sefulu), 40 (fā + sefulu), 50 (lima + sefulu) and right up to 90.

And then we just add the incremental numbers. So for 21, we would think 2 + 10 + 1 and say luasefulu ma le tasi, or just luasefulu tasi.

Numbers 20 – 31

20	luasefulu
21	luasefulu tasi
22	luasefulu lua
23	luasefulu tolu
24	luasefulu fā
25	luasefulu lima
26	luasefulu ono
27	luasefulu fitu
28	luasefulu valu
29	luasefulu iva
30	tolusefulu
31	tolusefulu tasi

And our numbers just continue like that right up to 100. Now, our word for 100 is selau. Our word for 200 is lua (2) selau. Our word for 300 is tolu (3) selau. See that?

Our pattern for numbers after 100 (or any hundred) is very simple and predictable, now. For 102, we would say selau ma le lua. For 112, we say selau sefulu lua. For 122, we say selau lua sefulu ma le lua. And for 222, we say lua selau, luasefulu ma le lua.

Got it?

Numbers past 100

100	selau
200	lua selau
300	tolu selua
105	selau ma le lima
163	selau onosefulu (ma le) tolu
258	luaselau limasefulu valu
497	fā selau ivasefulu fitu
1000	(tasi le) afe
1200	tasi le afe luaselau (or afe luaselau)
2350	lua afe tolu selau limasefulu
5126	lima afe selau luasefulu ono
7892	fitu afe valu selau ivasefulu ma le lua

Bonus Lesson: Counting People

All the numbers we’ve mentioned so far are used for all counting situations, but because our culture has a special regard for humans, when we count people, we always add the word ‘to’a’ in front of the number. For example:

I have 3 houses. | E tolu o’u fale.
I have 3 children. | E to’a tolu la’u fānau.
She has 5 dogs. | E lima ana maile.
She has 5 teachers. | E to’a lima ona faiaoga.

So don’t forget. When you’re counting people, it’s respectful to add the word ‘to’a’ before the number.