Language/Lingala/Vocabulary/Numbers

Numbers in Lingala

Rules

Numbers As with colours, a lot of Kinois prefer to use the French words numbers, but it’s still useful to know the Lingala numbering system.

Lingala numbers will probably seem a bit complex at first, but once you learn the basics, you’ll quickly come up to speed.

As with a lot of numbering systems, the most common, useful and important numbers to learn are from one to 10. These are then incorporated and combined to form all of the larger numbers.

1-10

So, from one to 10, the Lingala numbers are:

1 – moko

2 – mibale

3 – misato

4 – minei

5 – mitano

6 – motoba

7 – nsambo

8 – mwambi

9 – Iibwa

10 – zomi

11-19

For the ‘teens’, simply add zomi (10) and na (and) and then the appropriate number.

So, from 11 to 19, the Lingala numbers are:

11 – zomi na moko

12 – zomi na mibale

13 – zomi na misato

14 – zomi na minei

15 – zomi na mitano

16 – zomi na motoba

17 – zomi na nsambo

18 – zomi na mwambi

19 – zomi na libwa

20-90

For the ‘-ties’ – 20 through 90 – it seems a little more complicated, but if you approach it with an open mind, it starts to make sense. In English, the ‘-ty’ in the ‘-ties’ – twen-ty, thir-ty, for-ty, etc. comes at the end of the word. Lingala simply puts that numerical reference point at the beginning of the number instead of the end.

And in Lingala, the ‘-ty’ is replaced word ntuku. As you’ll see, ntuku is used at the beginning of every number from 20 through 99 (and then again for every number between 120 and 199, 220 and 299 and so forth).

So, for numbers between 20 and 20, begin with ntuku and then mibale (which denotes ‘two’ and is used to indicate that it is a 20 value) and then add the appropriate other numbers as needed.

20 – ntuku mibale

21 – ntuku mibale na moko

22 – ntuku mibale na mibale and so on…

For 30 to 39, start with ntuku and then misato (‘three’, so as to indicate that it is a 30 value) and then the appropriate number:

30 – ntuku misato

31 – ntuku misato na moko

32 – ntuku misato na mibale and so on…

And the same system is used for the rest of the numbers from 40-99:

40 – ntuku minei

50 – ntuku mitano

60 – ntuku motoba

70 – ntuku nsambo

80 – ntuku mwambi

90 – ntuku libwa

100-999

Once you get to 100, a new prefix is added to indicate that the number is in the hundreds. Like the ‘-ties’ prefix, the Lingala prefix for ‘hundred’ – nkama – comes at the beginning. So for 100 to 110, start with nkama and then add the other appropriate number:

100 – nkama

101 – nkama na moko

102 – nkama na mibale

For 111-119, begin with nkama and zomi and then add the other numbers:

110 – nkama na zomi

111 – nkama na zomi na moko

112 – nkama na zomi na mibale

Follow the same system for 120 to 199, starting with nkama, then ntuku, and then the other numbers. And continue to same approach for the rest of the hundreds:

200 – nkama mibale

300 – nkama misato

400 – nkama minei

500 – nkama mitano

600 – nkama motoba

700 – nkama nsambo

800 – nkama mwambi

900 – nkama libwa

1,000 -

Once you get to 1,000, a new prefix – nkoto – is used, again at the beginning of the number, and ahead of any other prefixes and numbers that follow. Nkoto follows the same pattern as nkama:

1,000 – nkoto moko

1,001 – nkoto moko na moko

1,002 – nkoto moko na mibale

1,011 – nkoto moko na zomi na moko

1,012 – nkoto moko na zomi na mibale

1,020 – nkoto moko na nkutu mibale

1,021 – nkoto moko na nkutu na moko

1,022 – nkoto moko na nkutu na mibale

1,100 – nkoto moko na nkama moko

1,101 – nkoto moko na nkama moko na moko

1,200 – nkoto moko na nkama mibale

2,000 – nkoto mibale

2,001 – nkoto mibale na moko

2,100 – nkoto mibale na nkama moko

Summary

English	Lingala
zero	libúngútulú
one	moko
two	míbalé
three	misatu
four	mine
five	mitano
six	sambo
seven	motoba
eight	mwambe
nine	libwá
ten	dzomi
eleven	dzomi na moko
twelve	dzomi na míbalé
thirteen	dzomi na misato
fourteen	dzomi na mínei
fifteen	dzomi na mitano
sixteen	dzomi na motoba
seventeen	dzomi na sambo
eighteen	dzomi na mwambe
nineteen	dzomi na libwa
twenty	ntuku míbalé
twenty-one	ntuku míbalé na moko
thirty	ntuku misato
forty	ntuku minei
fifty	ntuku mitano
sixty	ntuku motoba
seventy	ntuku sambo
eighty	ntuku mwambe
ninety	ntuku libwa
one hundred	nkama
one thousand	nkoto
one million	epúná/ efúku
some / a couple	míbalé

Source

https://lobalingala.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/23042014-loba-lingala.pdf

Other Lessons

• Daily routines
• On the road
• Contractions
• Complex numbers
• Water
• At the market
• Directions
• Binomials
• Family
• Feelings and Emotions