An Actual Lesson on Counting in Tagalog

In Tagalog, there are two number systems. One of them is made entirely out of Tagalog words, and the other is heavily influenced by Spanish. This entry will explain how to count using both systems as well as their individual uses.

Tagalog numbers

The numbers in this system are entirely made from Tagalog words and are commonly used for telling time and dates in formal situations. Here’s a little table to help you memorize it:

zero	wala/sero
one	isa
two	dalawa
three	tatlo
four	apat
five	lima
six	anim
seven	pito
eight	walo
nine	siyam
ten	sampu
eleven	labing-isa
twelve	labing-dalawa
thirteen	labing-tatlo
twenty	dalawampu
twenty-one	dalawampu’t isa
thirty	tatlumpu
thirty-one	tatlompu’t isa
forty	apatnapu
forty-one	apatnapu’t isa
fifty	limampu
fifty-one	limampu’t isa
sixty	animnapu
sixty-one	animnapu’t isa
seventy	pitumpu
seventy-one	pitumpu’t isa
eighty	walumpu
eighty-one	walumpu’t isa
ninety	siyamnapu
ninety-one	siyam na pu't isa
one hundred	isang daan
two hundred	dalawang daan
three hundred	tatlong daan
four hundred	apat na daan
five hundred	limang daan
six hundred	anim na daan
seven hundred	pitong daan
eight hundred	walong daan
nine hundred	siyam na daan
one thousand	isang libo
one million	isang milyon

Okay, I lied. It wasn’t a little table. Gah.

So now you understand how Tagalog numbers can be pretty long. I mean, just saying “one thousand twenty-four” already translates to “sampung libo dalawampu’t apat.” That’s ten freaking syllables. Nobody has time for that, and that’s why native Tagalog speakers tend to reserve these numbers for telling time in formal situations. Because, you know, nothing says you’re formal like a mouthful of numbers.

Other than that, they can also be used as ordinal numbers like when saying that something came first, second, etc. The only exception to this is using the Spanish word “una” when saying “first.” Tagalog numbers can also be used to describe someone’s age whether the situation is formal or informal, but they can still be replaced by Tagalog-Spanish numbers.

Tagalog-Spanish numbers

This number system is a lot more common than the previous one, and it repeats a lot of Spanish numbers. The only difference between this and the original Spanish numbers is that this system is spelled a bit differently. So if you’re good at counting in Spanish, then you’ll be good at counting this way. But just in case you’re not familiar with either, here’s another “little” table to help you remember:

zero	sero
one	uno
two	dos
three	tres
four	kwatro
five	sinko
six	sais
seven	siyete
eight	otso
nine	nuwebe
ten	diyes
eleven	onse
twelve	dose
thirteen	trese
twenty	beynte
twenty-one	beynteuno
thirty	trenta
thirty-one	trentauno
forty	kwarenta
forty-one	kwarentauno
fifty	singkwenta
fifty-one	singkwentauno
sixty	seisenta
sixty-one	seisentauno
seventy	setenta
seventy-one	setentauno
eighty	otsenta
eighty-one	otsentauno
ninety	nobenta
ninety-one	nobentauno
one hundred	siyento
two hundred	dos siyentos
three hundred	tres siyentos
four hundred	kwatro siyentos
five hundred	kinyentos
six hundred	sais siyentos
seven hundred	syete siyentos
eight hundred	otso siyentos
nine hundred	nuwebe siyentos
one thousand	mil
one million	milyon

Hopefully you’ve noticed that these numbers are a lot shorter than Tagalog ones. Going back to our example number of “one thousand twenty-four”, saying that number in the Tagalog-Spanish system would translate to “mil beyntekwatro.” See how easy that is? And that’s why this system is more commonly used, especially in telling time, dates, and ages in casual situations.

Summary

Tagalog numbers are generally are less common, and reserved for telling the time and dates in formal situations as well as being used in ordinal numbers. Tagalog-Spanish numbers are much more, and tell the time and date in informal situations. Additionally, both can be used to describe a person’s age whether the conversation is formal or not.