Hoisanva (Taishanese) 台山話 – Lesson 2

Numbers, Days of the Week, Months, Colors

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Numbers: Counting from 1 to 100

11 is ten one:        sìp-yīt

12 is ten two:       sìp-ngì

13 is ten three:      sìp-xäm

14 is ten four:       sìp-xï

15 is ten five:        sìp-mˉ

16 is ten six:         sìp-lùk

17 is ten seven:     sìp-tīt

18 is ten eight:      sìp-bät

19 is ten nine:       sìp-giū

20 is two ten:       ngì-sìp                 

21 is two ten one: ngì-sìp-yīt

22 two ten two:    ngì-sìp-ngì and so on to 29 ngì-sìp-giū.

So we have 20 to 29 as: ngì-sìp, ngì-sìp-yīt, ngì-sìp-ngì, ngì-sìp-xäm, sìp-yīt-xï, ngì-sìp-mˉ, ngì-sìp-lùk, ngì-sìp-tīt, ngì-sìp-bät, ngì-sìp-giū

30 is three ten, etc. to 99 by following the same pattern. So we have xäm-sìp, xäm-sìp-yīt,  xäm-sìp-ngì, xäm-sìp-xäm, jï äo giū-sìp-giū.

100 is one hundred: yīt-bäk

Numbers: Counting from 101 to 1,000,000,000

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101 is one hundred zero (lẽng) one: yīt-bäk-lẽng-yīt

102 is one hundred zero two, etc. to 109: yīt-bäk-lẽng-ngì etc. yīt-bäk-lẽng-giū

110 is one hundred one or one hundred one ten: yīt-bäk-yīt or yīt-bäk-yīt-sìp

111 is one hundred one ten one: yīt-bäk-yīt-sìp-yīt

112 is one hundred one ten two, etc. to 119: : yīt-bäk-yīt-sìp-ngì etc. to yīt-bäk-yīt-sìp-giū

120 is one hundred two ten: yīt-bäk-ngì-sìp

121 is one hundred two ten one, etc. to 999: yīt-bäk-ngì-sìp-yīt etc. to giū-bäk-giū-sìp-giū

1,000 is  one thousand: yīt-tëin

1,001 is one thousand zero zero one: yīt-tëin-lẽng-lẽng-yīt

1,002 is one thousand zero zero two, etc. to 1,009: one: yīt-tëin-lẽng-lẽng-ngì etc. to yīt-tëin-lẽng-lẽng-giū

1,010 is one thousand zero one ten: yīt-tëin-lẽng-yīt-sìp

1,011 is one thousand zero one ten one, etc. to 1,099: yīt-tëin-lẽng-yīt-sìp-yīt etc. to yīt-tëin-lẽng-giū-sìp-giū

1,100 is one thousand one hundred: yīt-tëin-yīt-bäk

1,101 is one thousand one hundred zero one, etc. to 9,999: yīt-tëin-yīt-bäk-lẽng-yīt etc. to giū-tëin-giū-bäk-giū- sìp-giū

10,000 is one myriad, i.e. 1 followed by 4 zeros: yīt-màn

10,001 is one myriad zero zero zero one, etc. 99,999: yīt-màn-lẽng-lẽng-lẽng-yīt etc. to giū-màn-giū-tëin-giū bäk-giū-sìp-giū

Note: The English system has 3 digits to a group, while the Chinese system has 4 digits to a group.

For lack of a better modern word, I am using the archaic word myriad to represent 10,000 (written in Chinese as 1,0000).

100,000 is ten myriad: sìp-màn (written in Chinese as 10,0000).

1,000,000 is one hundred myriad: yīt-bäk-màn (written in Chinese as 100,0000).

100,000,000 is yīt-yēik (written in Chinese as 1,0000,0000).

1,000,000,000 is: sìp-yēik (written in Chinese as 10,0000,0000).

Days of the Week

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Months

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Colors

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