Celebrate Tongan Language week
COUNTING TO 100 in TONGAN
So you want to count in Tongan! The basic level of counting in Tongan is easier then you think. All you have to do is learn the numbers 0-10 then you can count from 1-99. Follow these simple rules.
Counting 1-99 in Tongan
- numbers 0-9 noa, taha, ua, tolu, fā, nima, ono, fitu, valu, hiva
- the number for 10 is hongofulu (hoh-ngoh-foo-loo)
- the number for 100 is teau (teh-ah-oo)
- every other number is literally the words 0-9 combined: twenty becomes two zero – ua noa
- three exceptions to the rule 22, 55 and 99 words shortened to uo ua, nime nima, hive hiva
Example: How do you say the number …. in Tongan?
- 19 (nineteen) – taha hiva
- 44 (fourty four) – fā fā
- 99 (ninety nine) – hive hiva
- 87 (eighty seven) – valu fitu
Test: Can you saying the following numbers in Tongan
- 15 (fifthteen)
- 33 (thirtythree)
- 50 (fifty)
- 11 (eleven)
Replies
Leanne Stubbing (View all users posts) 04 Sep 2013 8:02pm ()Thanks so much for this resource. I used it with my Year 6 students today as their maths warm up. They had to write some numbers in tongan and test a friend to see if they could work them out.
- Anthony Faitaua (View all users posts) 04 Sep 2013 9:19pm ()
Malo e lelei Leanne,
Good on you for sharing it with your class. We will continue to add more Tongan resources until the end of the week.
- Vanitha Govini (View all users posts) 04 Sep 2013 9:26pm ()
Malo Leanne, great idea. It will be great if we could create Maths problems using Tongan language / Tongan cultural contexts. Any ideas?
- Leanne Stubbing (View all users posts) 04 Sep 2013 9:49pm ()
Funnily enough I challenged them to come up with something!
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