6. Counting¶

6.1. Basic¶

Basic counting from 1 to 10 is as follows.

Counting¶
Number	Hmong
1	ib
2	ob
3	peb
4	plaub
5	tsib
6	rau
7	xya
8	yim
9	cuaj
10	kaum

6.2. Teens¶

Counting from 11 to 19 is simply adding the single digit numbers ib, ob, …, cuaj to ten kaum.

Count 11 to 19¶
Number	Hmong
11	kaum ib
12	kaum ob
13	kaum peb
14	kaum plaub
15	kaum tsib
16	kaum rau
17	kaum xya
18	kaum yim
19	kaum cuaj

6.3. Tens¶

The prefix for 20, 30, …, 90 are as follows. Add the single digit numbers to these prefixes to create the number you want. For example, 20 is nees nkaum, and so 21 will be nees nkaum ib.

Tens Prefixes¶
Number	Hmong
20	nees nkaum
30	peb caug
40	plaub caug
50	tsib caug
60	rau caum
70	xya caum
80	yim caum
90	cuaj caum

6.4. Hundreds¶

When you get to the hundreds, use the single digit number followed by the word puas.

Hundreds¶
Number	Hmong
100	ib puas
200	ob puas
300	peb puas
400	plaub puas
500	tsib puas
600	rau puas
700	xya puas
800	yim puas
900	cuaj puas

6.5. Thousand and beyond¶

The same pattern for counting the hundreds applies to when you get to the thousand and million marks. Here’s how to say 1,000 and 1,000,000.

To infinity and beyond!¶
Number	Hmong
1,000	ib `txhiab`
1,000,000	ib `vam`

Note

But what about ZERO? How do you say ZERO in Hmong? Hmong people borrowed the word zero from the Lao language. In Lao, zero is sun or spelled ສູນ. The transliteration of sun into Hmong is xoom. Scholars and linguists actively enriching and developing the Hmong language have also proposed alternatives to xoom such as voj. A voj is a noose that you make out of a rope; a noose sure looks like a zero geometrically.

Note

Commonly, the word for one thousand is ib phav. The phav is borrowed from Lao phan or ພັນ.

6.6. Examples¶

Here are some arbitrary counting examples.

Counting Examples¶
Number	Hmong
84	yim caum plaub
1,729	ib txhiab xya puas nees nkaum cuaj
21,555	nees nkaum ib txhiaj tsib puas tsib caug tsib
111,111	ib puas kaum ib txhiaj ib puas kaum ib
17,222,555	kaum xya vam ob puas nees nkaum ob txhiab tsib puas tsib caug tsib

6.7. Ordinal Counting¶

Ordinal counting in Hmong is shown below. Observe the similarity with Mandarin counting.

Ordinal Counting¶
English	Hmong	Mandarin
First	Tuam	Dà
Second	Lwm	Liǎng
Third	Xab	Sān
Fourth	Xwm	Sì
Fifth	Vwb	Wǔ
Sixth	Lwj	Liù
Seventh	Txhij	Qī
Eight	Pej	Bā
Ninth	Cawb	Jiǔ
Tenth	Sij	Shí