Learn How to Speak Tagalog

Lesson 2 Counting and Quantities - Part 1

The Spanish way of counting was used in the Philippines for three hundred years before Americans came in 1898. Because of this, Filipinos have at least four ways of counting and quantifying-- Native Tagalog, Spanish,  English, and Taglish. Taglish combine English and Tagalog. Today we'll talk about the Native Tagalog way of counting.

Counting by One, Zero to Ten:

Zero Wala
One Isa
Two Dalawa or Dalwa
Three Tatlo
Four Apat
Five Lima
Six Anim
Seven Pito
Eight Walo
Nine Siyam
Ten Sampu

Counting by One, Eleven to Twenty

In counting eleven to nineteen, you say LABING and add the numbers one to nine.

Eleven Labing Isa
Twelve Labing Dalawa
Thirteen Labing Tatlo
Fourteen Labing Apat
Fifteen Labing Lima
Sixteen Labing Anim
Seventeen Labing Pito
Eighteen Labing Walo
Nineteen Labing Siyam
Twenty Dalawampu

Counting by Ten, Ten to Ninety

Now that you can count one to nine in Tagalog, we can look at counting to one hundred. The Tagalog word for ten is PU.

We use the Tagalog for one to nine, use the connector NA in the middle, then append with PU. For example, Ten is One of Ten and so we say it as ISA NA PU. Here is ten to ninety, counting by ten:

Ten One of Ten Isa na Pu
Twenty Two of Ten Dalawa na Pu
Thirty Three of Ten Tatlo na Pu
Forty Four of Ten Apat na Pu
Fifty Five of Ten Lima na Pu
Sixty Six of Ten Anim na Pu
Seventy Seven of Ten Pito na Pu
Eighty Eight of Ten Walo na Pu
Ninety Nine of Ten Siyam na Pu

Fluent Tagalog speakers do not say all the syllables of these numbers. Here are the shorter ways of saying these numbers:

Ten Isa na Pu Sampu
Twenty Dalawa na Pu Dalawampu
Thirty Tatlo na Pu Tatlumpu
Forty Apat na Pu Apatnapu (unchanged)
Fifty Lima na Pu Limampu
Sixty Anim na Pu Animnapu (unchanged)
Seventy Pito na Pu Pitumpu
Eighty Walo na Pu Walumpu
Ninety Siyam na Pu Siyamnapu (unchanged)

Using AT to combine numbers for counting

Twenty One Dalawa na pu at Isa
Twenty Two Dalawa na pu at Dalawa
Twenty Three Dalawa na pu at Tatlo
Twenty Four Dalawa na pu at Apat
Twenty Five Dalawa na pu at Lima
Twenty Six Dalawa na pu at Anim
Twenty Seven Dalawa na pu at Pito
Twenty Eight Dalawa na pu at Walo
Twenty Nine Dalawa na pu at Siyam

Using contraction for easier counting

As you can tell, there are more syllables in Tagalog than in English. You can take out one syllable by contraction. Fluent Tagalog speakers often combine PU and AT into a single syllable. Thus 21 to 29 can be counted this way:

Twenty One Dalawa na pu at Isa Dalawa na pu't Isa
Twenty Two Dalawa na pu at Dalawa Dalawa na pu't Dalawa
Twenty Three Dalawa na pu at Tatlo Dalawa na pu't Tatlo
Twenty Four Dalawa na pu at Apat Dalawa na pu't Apat
Twenty Five Dalawa na pu at Lima Dalawa na pu't Lima
Twenty Six Dalawa na pu at Anim Dalawa na pu't Anim
Twenty Seven Dalawa na pu at Pito Dalawa na pu't Pito
Twenty Eight Dalawa na pu at Walo Dalawa na pu't Walo
Twenty Nine Dalawa na pu at Siyam Dalawa na pu't Siyam

Although we have saved one syllable, we're still using too many syllables. We can shortcut DALAWA NA, which is four syllables, into DALAWANG, which is three syllables.

Twenty One Dalawa na pu't Isa Dalawang pu't Isa
Twenty Two Dalawa na pu't Dalawa Dalawang pu't Dalawa
Twenty Three Dalawa na pu't Tatlo Dalawang pu't Tatlo
Twenty Four Dalawa na pu't Apat Dalawang pu't Apat
Twenty Five Dalawa na pu't Lima Dalawang pu't Lima
Twenty Six Dalawa na pu't Anim Dalawang pu't Anim
Twenty Seven Dalawa na pu't Pito Dalawang pu't Pito
Twenty Eight Dalawa na pu't Walo Dalawang pu't Walo
Twenty Nine Dalawa na pu't Siyam Dalawang pu't Siyam

Okay, we have removed two syllables with losing the meaning. At the same time you are learning the inner secret of fluent Tagalog because the techniques we're learning here are used in Tagalog in many ways.

This time we'll take out one more syllable by saying DAL'WA, which is two syllables, instead of DALAWA, which is three syllables. 

Twenty One Dalawang pu't Isa Dal'wang pu't Isa
Twenty Two Dalawang pu't Dalawa Dal'wang pu't Dalawa
Twenty Three Dalawang pu't Tatlo Dal'wang pu't Tatlo
Twenty Four Dalawang pu't Apat Dal'wang pu't Apat
Twenty Five Dalawang pu't Lima Dal'wang pu't Lima
Twenty Six Dalawang pu't Anim Dal'wang pu't Anim
Twenty Seven Dalawang pu't Pito Dal'wang pu't Pito
Twenty Eight Dalawang pu't Walo Dal'wang pu't Walo
Twenty Nine Dalawang pu't Siyam Dal'wang pu't Siyam

Now we have removed three syllables without losing the meaning. There is another  step we want to do to be a fluent Tagalog speaker. Instead of saying WANG in DALWANG, we can say WAM as in DALWAM. There is nothing wrong in saying WANG, it's just that WAM is easier to say because you can close your mouth sooner.

Twenty One Dal'wang pu't Isa Dal'wam pu't Isa
Twenty Two Dal'wang pu't Dalawa Dal'wam pu't Dalawa
Twenty Three Dal'wang pu't Tatlo Dal'wam pu't Tatlo
Twenty Four Dal'wang pu't Apat Dal'wam pu't Apat
Twenty Five Dal'wang pu't Lima Dal'wam pu't Lima
Twenty Six Dal'wang pu't Anim Dal'wam pu't Anim
Twenty Seven Dal'wang pu't Pito Dal'wam pu't Pito
Twenty Eight Dal'wang pu't Walo Dal'wam pu't Walo
Twenty Nine Dal'wang pu't Siyam Dal'wam pu't Siyam

Finally, we clean up by removing apostrophe and space. This does not change the way we say it but it matters to Tagalog readers.  This is the part you should memorize.

Twenty One Dal'wang pu't Isa Dalwamput Isa
Twenty Two Dal'wang pu't Dalawa Dalwamput Dalawa
Twenty Three Dal'wang pu't Tatlo Dalwamput Tatlo
Twenty Four Dal'wang pu't Apat Dalwamput Apat
Twenty Five Dal'wang pu't Lima Dalwamput Lima
Twenty Six Dal'wang pu't Anim Dalwamput Anim
Twenty Seven Dal'wang pu't Pito Dalwamput Pito
Twenty Eight Dal'wang pu't Walo Dalwamput Walo
Twenty Nine Dal'wang pu't Siyam Dalwamput Siyam

About Ray Colorado

Ray Colorado was born in the island of Mindoro, Philippines, where people speak different Filipino languages. Tagalog was his first language. He also speaks Ilocano, Bicol, English and Spanish. He learned these languages because of his father's job - Methodist Evangelist and Pastor. They moved every two years, living in places where people spoke differently. He had to learn each local language in order to survive and win new friends. He also formally studied English and Pilipino, the national language, in elementary, high school, and the University of the Philippines. He started creating Web-based Tagalog lessons in 1999. He moved to United States in 1984. He lives in Fort Worth, Texas, with his wife, former Lura Eden Alampay, and their three sons Marc Dexter, Maxwell Lucas, and Hexel James. He may be reached at ray@coloradobrothers.com.