Numbers (1-100)

Here are the numbers 1-10. If you're familiar with Mandarin, you'll notice that the Chinese characters are exactly the same in Teochew.

1 jek8
2 no6
3 san1
4 si3
5 ngou6
6 lak8
7 chek4
8 boih4
9 gao2
10 jap8

And here are the numbers 11-19:

11 jap(4) ek4 十一
12 jap(4) yi6 十二
13 jap(4) san1 十三
14 jap(4) si3 十四
15 jap(4) ngou6 十五
16 jap(4) lak8 十六
17 jap(4) chek4 十七
18 jap(4) boih4 十八
19 jap(4) gao2 十九

You should notice a pattern here. For the most part, the numbers 11-19 can be formed by combining jāp 十 and the ones digit. However, the "1" in 11 and the "2" in 12 use a different translation than what's in the first table. Except for the actual numbers 1 and 2,

  • A "1" in the ones digit should be pronounced ik
  • A "2" in the ones digit should be pronounced yí

Note that if a number has multiple syllables, every syllable except the last undergoes tone change.

We'll continue with the multiples of ten up to 100:

20 yi(7) jap8 二十
30 san1 jap8 三十
40 si(2) jap8 四十
50 ngou(7) jap8 五十
60 lak(4) jap8 六十
70 chek(8) jap8 七十
80 boih(8) jap8 八十
90 gao(6) jap8 九十
100 jek(4) beh4 一百

This also follows a very simple formula. You just place the number in the tens digit before jāp 十. A "2" in the tens digit is always pronounced yí.

For all the other numbers below 100, you can use this formula: (tens digit) jap (ones digit). Here are some examples:

25 yi(7) jap(4) ngou6 二十五
42 si(2) jap(4) yi6 四十二
68 lak(4) jap(4) boih4 六十八
71 chek(8) jap(4) ek4 七十一
99 gao(6) jap(4) gao2 九十九

You can view a list of all of the numbers up to 100 here.