Numerals in Hak Ga

Number
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 100 1000 104 108
STdG
Hak Ga
lang2 zit5 ngi4 sam1 si4 ung3 luk5 tit5 bat5 giu3 sip6 bak5 ten1 van4 zit6
HagGa
Pinfa
lang2 yid5 ngi4 sam1 si4 ng3 lug5 qid5 bad5 giu3 sib6 bag5 qian1 van4 yid6
Click here for a Real Audio recording of the sounds of the numbers above.

Numbers greater than 10 are formed by putting the number of tens first then the number of units. So 45 would be FOUR times TEN and FIVE or 'si sip ung', literally four ten five. If there is one or a number of zeros appearing between any number, the rule is only one ZERO need be said. (This is true when writing in chinese, but not when using arabian numerals.) e.g. 1006 would be 'yit ten lang luk' literally ONE THOUSAND ZERO SIX. 10089 = 'yit van lang bat sip giu' literally TEN THOUSAND ZERO EIGHTY NINE. If the number is any whole multiple of 'bak', 'ten', 'van' or higher, then it is not necessary to include 'lang' (ZERO).

Hak Ga makes use of numbers following the Chinese tradition. In the West, numbers greater than a thousand can be written by seperating every third place. e.g. 87654321 can be written 87,654,321. In Chinese however, it is every fourth place. 8765,4321. This would be said and written; bat ten tit bak luk sip ung van, si ten sam bak ngi sip yit. Note the position of the comma. 'van' is 104 and units of 104 influence the way we write and name numerals in chinese much the same way as a THOUSAND = 103 influences Western arithmitic.

11 = sip yit; 12 = sip ngi; 13 = sip sam; .... ; 20 = ngi sip; 21 = ngi sip yit; 22 = ngi sip ngi; ... ; 30 = sam sip; 99 = giu sip siu; 100 = yit bak; 101 yit bak lang yit; 110 = yit bak yit sip; 200 = liong bak; 300 = sam bak; 10023456789 = 100,2345,6789 = yit-bak-yid, lang ngi-ten sam-bak si-sip ung-van, luk-ten tit-bak bat-sip-giu. etc.


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This page was last updated on Wednesday 1st April 1998, previously it was Friday 12 September 1997.
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