Counting to ten in Somali
One to ten, for prices, platforms, rooms and how many beers. Play the ten Somali words against the clock, with a note on how locals really use each one after every answer. All ten are written out below.
All 10 Somali phrases in this lesson
- Midmid
- One
- LaboLA-bo
- Two
- Sadexsa-DEX
- Three
- AfarAH-far
- Four
- Shanshan
- Five
- Lixlikh
- Six
- Toddobatod-DO-ba
- Seven
- Siddeedsid-DEED
- Eight
- Sagaalsa-GAAL
- Nine
- TobanTO-ban
- Ten
Mid is one, also used as the indefinite article. Somali does not mark articles heavily, so context carries the meaning.
Labo is two. Pairs of things often shift to a special form called the "minimal" in Somali grammar, but for simple counting, labo works.
Sadex is three. Up to ten the numbers are relatively regular: afar (four), shan (five), lix (six), todoba (seven), sagal (eight), sagal iyo mid (nine, literally eight and one), toban (ten).
Afar is four. Somali number agreement is loose in everyday speech; people understand even if you do not perfectly mark it on the noun.
Toban is ten. After ten, compounds follow: labotan (twenty, two tens), sadeextan (thirty), afartam (forty), shantan (fifty). The pattern is predictable even if the words are new.