Numbers in Cape Verdean Creole



Learn numbers in Cape Verdean Creole

Knowing numbers in Cape Verdean Creole is probably one of the most useful things you can learn to say, write and understand in Cape Verdean Creole. Learning to count in Cape Verdean Creole may appeal to you just as a simple curiosity or be something you really need. Perhaps you have planned a trip to a country where Cape Verdean Creole is the most widely spoken language, and you want to be able to shop and even bargain with a good knowledge of numbers in Cape Verdean Creole.

It's also useful for guiding you through street numbers. You'll be able to better understand the directions to places and everything expressed in numbers, such as the times when public transportation leaves. Can you think of more reasons to learn numbers in Cape Verdean Creole?

Cape Verdean Creole (kabuverdianu, língua kabverdian), is a creole language of Portuguese and African languages (mainly Wolof, Mandingo and Temne) spoken on the Cape Verde islands. Not yet standardized, it has a different dialect on each island of the archipelago. Those dialects, or variants, are grouped in two branches: the Sotavento Creoles (south islands) and the Barlavento Creoles (north islands). These different Creoles count globally one million speakers. We will focus here on the Santiago Creole spoken mainly on the Santiago island, one of the Sotavento islands.

List of numbers in Cape Verdean Creole

Here is a list of numbers in Cape Verdean Creole. We have made for you a list with all the numbers in Cape Verdean Creole from 1 to 20. We have also included the tens up to the number 100, so that you know how to count up to 100 in Cape Verdean Creole. We also close the list by showing you what the number 1000 looks like in Cape Verdean Creole.

• 1) um
• 2) dós
• 3) trés
• 4) kuátu
• 5) sinku
• 6) sax
• 7) séti
• 8) oitu
• 9) nóvi
• 10) dés
• 11) ónzi
• 12) duzi
• 13) treizi
• 14) katorzi
• 15) kinzi
• 16) dizasax
• 17) dizaséti
• 18) dizoitu
• 19) dizanóvi
• 20) vinti
• 30) trinta
• 40) korénta
• 50) sunkuénta
• 60) sasénta
• 70) saténta
• 80) oiténta
• 90) novénta
• 100) sem
• 1,000) mil
• one million) um miliom
• one billion) um biliom

Numbers in Cape Verdean Creole: Cape Verdean Creole numbering rules

Each culture has specific peculiarities that are expressed in its language and its way of counting. The Cape Verdean Creole is no exception. If you want to learn numbers in Cape Verdean Creole you will have to learn a series of rules that we will explain below. If you apply these rules you will soon find that you will be able to count in Cape Verdean Creole with ease.

The way numbers are formed in Cape Verdean Creole is easy to understand if you follow the rules explained here. Surprise everyone by counting in Cape Verdean Creole. Also, learning how to number in Cape Verdean Creole yourself from these simple rules is very beneficial for your brain, as it forces it to work and stay in shape. Working with numbers and a foreign language like Cape Verdean Creole at the same time is one of the best ways to train our little gray cells, so let's see what rules you need to apply to number in Cape Verdean Creole

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Digits and numbers from zero to fifteen are specific words, namely zéru [0], um [1], dós [2], trés [3], kuátu [4], sinku [5], sax [6] (or séx), séti [7], oitu [8], nóvi [9], dés [10], ónzi [11], duzi [12], treizi [13], katorzi [14], and kinzi [15]. Sixteen to nineteen are regular numbers, i.e. named after the ten and the digit, and written phonetically: dizasax [10 and 6] (or dizaséx), dizaséti [10 and 7], dizoitu [10 and 8], and dizanóvi [10 and 9].

The tens have specific names based on the matching digits roots except for ten and twenty: dés [10], vinti [20], trinta [30], korénta [40], sunkuénta [50], sasénta [60], saténta [70], oiténta [80], and novénta [90].

Tens and units are regularly linked with a hyphen. However, tens ending with -a (hence between forty and ninety), see their final -a replaced by -i when combined with a unit (e.g.: vinti-trés [23], sunkuénti-sax [56]).

The names for hundreds are also based on the multiplier digit root, followed by the plural form of hundred, except for one hundred: sem [100] (séntus in plural), duzéntus [200], trezéntus [300], kuátuséntus [400], kinhéntus [500], saiséntus [600], sétuséntus [700], oituséntus [800], and nóviséntus [900].

When one hundred is followed by a ten or a unit, sem becomes senti- (e.g.: senti-kuátu [104], senti-trinti-oitu [138]). The other hundreds are followed by the conjunction i (and) (e.g.: trezéntus-i-oitu [308], saiséntus-i-sunkuénti-séti [657]).

One thousand is said mil, and one million um milliom (sometimes also mil mil). When there are several thousands or millions, they are preceded by their multiplier (e.g.: séti mil [7,000], nóvi miliom [9 million]). However, when followed by hundreds, tens or units, mil becomes mili (e.g.: mili-duzéntus-i-trinti-kuátu [1,234]), and million is followed by the conjunction i (e.g.: sinku miliom i saiséntus [5,000,600]). Beyond one thousand, composed numbers are not preceded by i anymore (e.g.: séti miliom kuátu mili-trezéntus [7,004,300]).

Cape Verdean Creole uses the short scale for big scale names creation, where every new word greater than a million is one thousand times bigger than the previous term. Thus, um biliom is 10⁹ (one billion), as in English.