Hokkien numerals

The Hokkien language has two regularly used sets of numerals, a colloquial or native Hokkien system and literary system. Literary and colloquial systems are not totally mutually independent; they are sometimes mixed used.

Numerals
Hàn-jī	數字
Pe̍h-ōe-jī	Sò͘-jī
Tâi-lô	Sòo-jī

Basic numerals

Number	Literary or Sinoxenic system			Colloquial or vernacular system			Note
	Hàn-jī	Pe̍h-ōe-jī	Tâi-lô	Hàn-jī	Pe̍h-ōe-jī	Tâi-lô
0	零	lêng	lîng	空	khòng	khòng
1	一	it	it	蜀[1]	chi̍t	tsi̍t
2	二	jī	jī	兩	nn̄g	nn̄g
3	三	sam	sam	三	saⁿ	sann
4	四	sù	sù	四	sì	sì
5	五	ngó͘	ngóo	五	gō͘	gōo
6	六	lio̍k	lio̍k	六	la̍k	la̍k
7	七	chhit	tshit	七	chhit	tshit
8	八	pat	pat	八	peh	peh
9	九	kiú	kiú	九	káu	káu
10	十	si̍p	si̍p	十	cha̍p	tsa̍p
20	-	-	-	廿	jia̍p	jia̍p	The sandhi for jī-cha̍p (二十)
30	-	-	-	卅	sa̍p	sa̍p	The sandhi for saⁿ-cha̍p (三十)
40	-	-	-	卌	siap	siap	The sandhi for sì-cha̍p (四十)
100	百	pek	pik	百	pah	pah
1,000	千	chhian	tshian	千	chheng	tshing
10^4	萬	bān	bān	-	-	-
10^8	億	ek	ik	-	-	-
10^12	兆	tiāu	tiāu	-	-	-	From now on, see Chinese numerals
10^16	京	keng	king	-	-	-
10^20	垓	kai	kai	-	-	-
10^24	秭	chí	tsí	-	-	-
10^28	穰	jiông	jiông	-	-	-
10^32	溝	ko͘	koo	-	-	-
10^36	澗	kàn	kàn	-	-	-
10^40	正	chèng	tsìng	-	-	-
10^44	載	chài	tsài	-	-	-

Cardinal numbers

For cardinal numbers usage, the colloquial system is usually used. For example, one should use chi̍t ê lâng for the meaning of "a person" instead of using *it ê lâng. However, a notable exceptions for numerals 1 and 2 appears while the number is greater than 10.

Situation \ Numeral	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Less than 10	lêng	it	jī	sam	sù	ngó͘	lio̍k	chhit	pat	kiú	si̍p
	khòng	chi̍t	nn̄g	saⁿ	sì	gō͘	la̍k	chhit	peh	káu	cha̍p
Greater than 10	lêng	it	jī	sam	sù	ngó͘	lio̍k	chhit	pat	kiú	si̍p
	khòng	chi̍t	nn̄g	saⁿ	sì	gō͘	la̍k	chhit	peh	káu	cha̍p

For "few hundred and ten, twenty or thirty" or "few thousand and few hundred", in Hokkien the prefixes pah- or chheng- are used instead of the lengthy way, which requires the speaker to state "how many chheng, how many pah, and how many cha̍p".

In the table, n is substituted by chi̍t, nn̄g, saⁿ, sì, gō͘, la̍k, chhit, peh, káu

	10	20	30	40	50	60	70	80	90
Pah-	n-pah-it	n-pah-jī	n-pah-saⁿ	n-pah-sì	n-pah-gō͘	n-pah-la̍k	n-pah-chhit	n-pah-peh	n-pah-káu
	100	200	300	400	500	600	700	800	900
Chheng-	n-chheng-it	n-chheng-jī	n-chheng-saⁿ	n-chheng-sì	n-chheng-gō͘	n-chheng-la̍k	n-chheng-chhit	n-chheng-peh	n-chheng-káu

Fractional numerals

For expressing fractions, one should use the sentence pattern like "cardinal number + hun-chi + cardinal number"; for example, gō͘ hun-chi it (五分之一) for "one fifth" (1/5). Note that the colloquial set of numerals is used in fractional numerals with still the exception of numerals 1 and 2, which should use the literary set as it and jī.

For expressing decimals, one should only use the literary numeral set with tiám (點) for the decimal mark. For example, one may say π equals sam tiám it-sù-it-ngó͘-kiú-jī-lio̍k-ngó͘-sam (3.141592653).

In addition, some special fraction can be expressed in other simpler forms. For percentage, one can still use the sentence pattern of hun-chi as pah hun-chi cha̍p (百分之十) for "ten percent" in most situations; however, for native speakers, the suffix -siâⁿ (成) for "n×10 percents" is used more commonly, so the "twenty percents" should be nn̄g-siâⁿ (兩成). Note that the numeral set used with the suffix -siâⁿ is totally the colloquial one with no exception.

In Taiwan, the term pha-sian-to͘ is also used for fractional numerals, but one should use the sentence term as "cardinal number + ê pha-sian-to͘"; for example, chhit-cha̍p ê pha-sian-to͘ (70%). The term was introduced in Japanese rule era from Japanese language; it's a Japanese loanword originating from English with the meaning of "percent" (paasento; パーセント). The use of pha-sian-to͘ is sometimes simplified as a suffix -pha; for example, cha̍p-peh-pha (18%).

Ordinal numbers

For ordinal numbers, when the numerals are preceded by the prefix tē (第), the colloquial set is used with the exception of numeral 1 and 2; when the numerals are preceded by the prefix thâu (頭), there is no exception to use the colloquial set when the number is smaller than 10, but once the number is greater than 10, the exception of numeral 1 and 2 appears again. Note that the system with prefix thâu is usually added by counter words, and it means "the first few"; for example, thâu-gō͘ pái means "the first five times". Thâu-chhit (number seven) sometimes means thâu-chhit kang (first seven days). It means the first seven days after a person died, which is a Hokkien cultural noun that should usually be avoided.

Smaller than 10

Prefix \ Numeral	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
tē-	it	jī	sam	sù	ngó͘	lio̍k	chhit	pat	kiú	si̍p
	chi̍t	nn̄g	saⁿ	sì	gō͘	la̍k	chhit	peh	káu	cha̍p
thâu-	it	jī	sam	sù	ngó͘	lio̍k	chhit	pat	kiú	si̍p
	chi̍t	nn̄g	saⁿ	sì	gō͘	la̍k	chhit	peh	káu	cha̍p

Greater than 10

Prefix \ Numeral	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	n×10
tē-	it	jī	sam	sù	ngó͘	lio̍k	chhit	pat	kiú	si̍p
	chi̍t	nn̄g	saⁿ	sì	gō͘	la̍k	chhit	peh	káu	cha̍p
thâu-	it	jī	sam	sù	ngó͘	lio̍k	chhit	pat	kiú	si̍p
	chi̍t	nn̄g	saⁿ	sì	gō͘	la̍k	chhit	peh	káu	cha̍p

See also

• Hokkien counter word

References

1. 閩南語詞彙. Archived from the original on 2016-03-14.