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 |
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 |
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.
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