Hokkien numerals

The Hokkien language (incl. Taiwanese) has two regularly used sets of numerals, a colloquial/vernacular or native Hokkien system and literary system that came from Classical Chinese/Middle Chinese that was loaned in for formal written use during medieval times (e.g. Tang, Min, Southern Tang, Song times), similar to the Sino-Xenic pronunciations in Japanese, Okinawan, Korean, Jeju, Vietnamese, etc, but within the Sinitic family to the Min group. Literary and colloquial systems are not totally mutually independent; they are sometimes mixed used. The specific pronunciation of each number depends on the specific dialect of Hokkien (e.g. Amoy-Tong'an, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, Longyan, etc.), which each dialect may either share or use slightly different phonemes and tones on how each dialect may properly count numbers in the Hokkien language for both vernacular and literary systems.

Basic numerals

Number	Literary 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 / et	it / et	蜀	chi̍t / che̍t	tsi̍t / tse̍t
2	二	jī / lī / gī	jī / lī / gī	兩	nn̄g / nňg / nō͘	nn̄g / nňg / nōo
3	三	sam	sam	三	saⁿ	sann
4	四	sù / sìr / sì	sù / sìr / sì	四	sì	sì
5	五	ngó͘ / gó͘ / gú	ngóo / góo / gú	五	gō͘ / gǒ͘ / ňg	gōo / gǒo / ňg
6	六	lio̍k	lio̍k	六	la̍k	la̍k
7	七	chhit / chhet / sit	tshit / tshet / sit	七	chhit / chhet / sit / chhiak	tshit / tshet / sit / tshiak
8	八	pat	pat	八	poeh / peh / piē	pueh / peh / piē
9	九	kiú	kiú	九	káu	káu
10	十	si̍p / se̍p	si̍p / se̍p	十	cha̍p	tsa̍p
20	-	-	-	廿	lia̍p / jia̍p	lia̍p / jia̍p	The sandhi for lī-cha̍p / 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 / piak	pik / piak	百	pah / peeh	pah / peeh
1,000	千	chhian	tshian	千	chheng / chhuiⁿ	tshing / tshuinn
104	萬	bān	bān	-	-	-
106	百萬	pah-bān	pah-bān	桶* / 面桶*	tháng / bīn-tháng	tháng / bīn-tháng	*Used in Philippine Hokkien, instead of pah-bān (百萬)
108	億	ek / iak	ik / iak	-	-	-
1012	兆	tiāu / tiǎu	tiāu / tiǎu	-	-	-	From now on, see Chinese numerals
1016	京	keng	king	-	-	-
1020	垓	kai	kai	-	-	-
1024	秭	chí	tsí	-	-	-
1028	穰	jiông	jiông	-	-	-
1032	溝	ko͘ / kio	koo / kio	-	-	-
1036	澗	kàn	kàn	-	-	-
1040	正	chèng	tsìng	-	-	-
1044	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 / et	jī / lī / gī	sam	sù / sìr / sì	ngó͘ / gó͘ / gú	lio̍k	chhit / chhet / sit / chhiak	pat	kiú	si̍p / se̍p
	khòng	chi̍t / che̍t	nn̄g / nňg / nō͘	saⁿ	sì	gō͘ / gǒ͘ / ňg	la̍k	chhit / chhet / sit / chhiak	poeh / peh / piē	káu	cha̍p
Greater than 10	lêng	it / et	jī / lī / gī	sam	sù / sìr / sì	ngó͘ / gó͘ / gú	lio̍k	chhit / chhet / sit / chhiak	pat	kiú	si̍p / se̍p
	khòng	chi̍t / che̍t	nn̄g / nňg / nō͘	saⁿ	sì	gō͘ / gǒ͘ / ňg	la̍k	chhit / chhet / sit / chhiak	poeh / peh / piē	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/nňg, saⁿ, sì, gō͘/gǒ͘, la̍k, chhit, peh/poeh, káu

	10	20	30	40	50	60	70	80	90
Pah-	n-pah-it	n-pah-lī / jī	n-pah-saⁿ	n-pah-sì	n-pah-gō͘ / gǒ͘	n-pah-la̍k	n-pah-chhit	n-pah-poeh / peh	n-pah-káu
	100	200	300	400	500	600	700	800	900
Chheng-	n-chheng-it	n-chheng-lī / jī	n-chheng-saⁿ	n-chheng-sì	n-chheng-gō͘ / gǒ͘	n-chheng-la̍k	n-chheng-chhit	n-chheng-poeh / 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 / et	jī / lī / gī	sam	sù / sìr / sì	ngó͘ / gó͘ / gú	lio̍k	chhit / chhet / sit / chhiak	pat	kiú	si̍p / se̍p
	chi̍t / che̍t	nn̄g / nňg / nō͘	saⁿ	sì	gō͘ / gǒ͘ / ňg	la̍k	chhit / chhet / sit / chhiak	poeh / peh / piē	káu	cha̍p
thâu-	it / et	jī / lī / gī	sam	sù / sìr / sì	ngó͘ / gó͘ / gú	lio̍k	chhit / chhet / sit / chhiak	pat	kiú	si̍p / se̍p
	chi̍t / che̍t	nn̄g / nňg / nō͘	saⁿ	sì	gō͘ / gǒ͘ / ňg	la̍k	chhit / chhet / sit / chhiak	poeh / peh / piē	káu	cha̍p

Greater than 10

Prefix \ Numeral	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	n×10
tē-	it / et	jī / lī / gī	sam	sù / sìr / sì	ngó͘ / gó͘ / gú	lio̍k	chhit / chhet / sit / chhiak	pat	kiú	si̍p / se̍p
	chi̍t / che̍t	nn̄g / nňg / nō͘	saⁿ	sì	gō͘ / gǒ͘ / ňg	la̍k	chhit / chhet / sit / chhiak	poeh / peh / piē	káu	cha̍p
thâu-	it / et	jī / lī / gī	sam	sù / sìr / sì	ngó͘ / gó͘ / gú	lio̍k	chhit / chhet / sit / chhiak	pat	kiú	si̍p / se̍p
	chi̍t / che̍t	nn̄g / nňg / nō͘	saⁿ	sì	gō͘ / gǒ͘ / ňg	la̍k	chhit / chhet / sit / chhiak	poeh / peh / piē	káu	cha̍p

See also

• Hokkien counter word