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Our last two lessons under the Twi vocabulary module explored some Twi vocabulary for foods and some Ghanaian dishes/meals. Today, we are going to learn how to count in Twi. This lesson will also form a basis for a later lesson on how to tell time in Twi.

The numbering system in Akan (Twi) is quite simple to grasp. I’ll try to give tips on how to proceed after each set. Let’s not waste time, we’ve got some counting to do.

First, you need to memorise the following.

Video Lesson (Counting 1 – 10)

Number ten in Twi is ‘Edu’, correct? Now, proceeding to the next set of numbers (eleven to nineteen), we do away with all vowel prefixes. So ‘edu’ becomes ‘du’, ɛnan becomes ‘nan’, enum becomes ‘num’. Now, from eleven to nineteen, we simply attach the appropriate number to ‘du’.

Video Lesson (Counting 11 – 20 + Tenth Numbers)

For the next set (twenty-one to twenty-nine) we add the appropriate number to ‘aduonu (twenty)’. This time, however, we separate them in writing, i.e. we do not combine them into a single word as we did with the previous set.

The next sets of numbers (31-40, 41-50, 51-60, 61-70, 71-80, 81-90, 91-100) employ the same mechanism as the previous set. So, what we need to do is memorise the names of the tens (tenth numbers), and simply add the appropriate numbers to them. Let’s look at numbers thirty-one to forty.

The next step is very important. I’m going to give you a tip which, hopefully, will help you to memorize the tenth numbers easily. Let’s check out numbers two to nine again: mmienu, mmiɛnsa, ɛnan, enum, nsia, nson, nwɔtwe, nkron. Take note of the parts in bold letters. The tenth numbers are (roughly) formed by attaching these bold parts to ‘du’ (the root of the number ten). Granted, we’ll be inserting a vowel between this “du” and the parts in bold, but this tip should give you a huge head start.

Now let’s count in tens.

Next, numbers one hundred and one (101) to one hundred and ten (110). We state the number ‘Ɔha (hundred)’, introduce the conjunction ‘ne (and)’ and add the appropriate number.

Let’s continue.

What we are doing is simply adding the numbers we’ve covered so far to ‘Ɔha ne (hundred and)’. Let’s cover one more set.

You get the idea. Let’s now count in the hundreds (100, 200, 300, … 1000). This is also easy. First, we form the plural of  ‘Ɔha’ by replacing its ‘ɔ-’ prefix with ‘a-’ to get ‘Aha’. We then attach to it (Aha) the boldened parts of the numbers mmienu (two), mmiɛnsa (three), ɛnan (four), enum (five), nsia (six), nson (seven), nwɔtwe (eight), nkron (nine). If you recall, we did same when we were counting in tens much earlier.

To proceed from the number one thousand (1000), we follow the same process we used earlier to count from the number one hundred (100).

We continue.

And on it continues.

Let’s now count in the thousands.

In ten thousands:

In hundred thousands:

In millions:

In ten millions:

In hundred millions:

Whew! Quite extensive, isn’t it?

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