Zero to ten
These are the words to learn first. Everything else is built from them.
| Number | Somali | English | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | eber | zero | |
| 1 | kow | one | |
| 2 | laba | two | |
| 3 | saddex | three | |
| 4 | afar | four | |
| 5 | shan | five | |
| 6 | lix | six | |
| 7 | toddoba | seven | |
| 8 | siddeed | eight | |
| 9 | sagaal | nine | |
| 10 | toban | ten |
Two of them carry sounds English does not have. saddex has the doubled d, and siddeed too, so hold the d a little longer. The x at the start of a word like xiddig (star) is a strong h from the throat, but there is no x in the numbers, so you are safe here.
Eleven to nineteen: small number, then iyo, then ten
English hides the maths inside eleven, twelve and thirteen. Somali says it out loud. Eleven is kow iyo toban, one and ten. Fifteen is shan iyo toban, five and ten.
| Number | Somali | English | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | kow iyo toban | eleven | |
| 12 | laba iyo toban | twelve | |
| 13 | saddex iyo toban | thirteen | |
| 14 | afar iyo toban | fourteen | |
| 15 | shan iyo toban | fifteen | |
| 16 | lix iyo toban | sixteen | |
| 17 | toddoba iyo toban | seventeen | |
| 18 | siddeed iyo toban | eighteen | |
| 19 | sagaal iyo toban | nineteen |
The rule: small number, then iyo, then the ten.
iyo simply means "and". Once you know it, every number from 11 to 99 follows the same shape.
The tens
Most of the tens are the small number with -tan on the end: afar becomes afartan, lix becomes lixdan. Twenty, thirty and fifty are the ones to learn on their own.
| Number | Somali | English | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20 | labaatan | twenty | |
| 30 | soddon | thirty | |
| 40 | afartan | forty | |
| 50 | konton | fifty | |
| 60 | lixdan | sixty | |
| 70 | toddobaatan | seventy | |
| 80 | siddeetan | eighty | |
| 90 | sagaashan | ninety | |
| 100 | boqol | one hundred | |
| 1,000 | kun | one thousand |
Twenty-one to ninety-nine
Exactly the same pattern as the teens. Say the small number, then iyo, then the ten.
| Number | Somali | English | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 21 | kow iyo labaatan | twenty-one, one and twenty | |
| 35 | shan iyo soddon | thirty-five, five and thirty | |
| 47 | toddoba iyo afartan | forty-seven, seven and forty | |
| 99 | sagaal iyo sagaashan | ninety-nine, nine and ninety |
Heard it the other way round? Some regions say the ten first, toban iyo kow for eleven or labaatan iyo shan for twenty-five. Neither order is wrong, and people will understand you either way. The small-number-first order is the one taught in schools and used in writing, so it is the one we teach.
Hundreds and thousands
Put a small number in front of boqol or kun to multiply it, and use iyo to add the rest.
| Somali | English | |
|---|---|---|
| boqol | one hundred | |
| laba boqol | two hundred | |
| boqol iyo kow | one hundred and one | |
| laba boqol iyo konton | two hundred and fifty | |
| kun | one thousand | |
| laba kun | two thousand | |
| toban kun | ten thousand | |
| boqol kun | one hundred thousand | |
| malyuun | one million |
First, second, third: add -aad
Ordinal numbers add -aad to the number you already know. Three of them change a little in spelling, so say them out loud: laba becomes labaad, afar becomes afraad, toban becomes tobnaad.
| Somali | English | |
|---|---|---|
| koowaad | first | |
| labaad | second | |
| saddexaad | third | |
| afraad | fourth | |
| shanaad | fifth | |
| lixaad | sixth | |
| toddobaad | seventh, and also the word for week | |
| siddeedaad | eighth | |
| sagaalaad | ninth | |
| tobnaad | tenth |
Toddobaad does two jobs: it is seventh, and it is the word for a week. Seven days, one word.
Common questions
How do you say 11 in Somali?
Kow iyo toban, which literally means one and ten. All the numbers from 11 to 19 follow this shape: the small number, then iyo (and), then toban (ten).
How do you say 99 in Somali?
Sagaal iyo sagaashan: nine and ninety. Sagaal is nine, sagaashan is ninety, and iyo joins them.
Is it kow iyo toban or toban iyo kow?
Both are heard. The small number first, kow iyo toban, is the standard written form and the one taught in schools. Some regions put the ten first in speech. Either way people will understand you.
What does iyo mean?
Iyo means and. It joins numbers (kow iyo toban, one and ten) and it joins words in general, for example aniga iyo adiga, me and you.
How do you say 100 and 1,000 in Somali?
Boqol is one hundred and kun is one thousand. Put a number in front to multiply: laba boqol is two hundred, toban kun is ten thousand.