Numerals

Learning to count is not very difficult. You should first memorize counting from 1 to 10, and then to 100.

Tibetan Numerals: 0 - 29
0 P+-"}:-í 10 0%t- 20 (m-co-
1 #%m#- 11 0%t-#%m#- 21 (m-co-P-#%m#-
2 #(m=- 12 0%t-#(m=- 22 (m-co-P-#(m=-
3 #=v1- 13 0%t-#=v1- 23 (m-co-P-#=v1-
4 06m- 14 0%t-06m- 24 (m-co-P-06m-
5 T- 15 0%}-T- 25 (m-co-P-T-
6 Hx#- 16 0%t-Hx#- 26 (m-co-P-Hx#-
7 0`o,- 17 0%t-0`o,- 27 (m-co-P-0`o,-
8 0W+- 18 0%}-0W+- 28 (m-co-P-0W+-
9 +]o- 19 0%t-+]o- 29 (m-co-P-+]o-

Note how the spelling of 15 and 18 breaks away from the rule. For 15 the pronunciation is "chö-nga" while 18 is pronounced"chub-gye" (not "cho-gye" as might be expected). There are some other pronunciation variations in the Lhasa dialect. Those will be made clear when we have added sound recordings to this page.

Table with 30 - 100 will be added later.

Usage in a Sentence

The numeral is always placed after the noun in a sentence. You would say "book two", and not "two book". When a noun is qualified with a numeral, it should not be in the plural. You should say "book three", and not "books three" or "three books" . If there is an adjective following the noun, then the numeral should follow the adjective.

Examples:

$:-+{0-#=v1-9}+kí
$:- +{0- #=v1- 9}+k
I book three have.
I have three books.
$:-+{0-+!:-.}-#(m=-9}+kí
$:- +{0- +!:-.}- #(m=- 9}+k
I book white two have.
I have two white books.

 

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