Mandinka Numbers 1–20
Numbers are some of the most useful words you can learn — for markets, prices, ages, and directions. Mandinka counting is logical: once you know one to ten, the teens are simply “ten and one,” “ten and two,” and so on.
One to ten
| Mandinka | English | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Kiling | One (1) | Moto kiling. (One car.) |
| Fula | Two (2) | Dinding fula. (Two children.) |
| Saba | Three (3) | Siisee saba. (Three chickens.) |
| Naani | Four (4) | Bungo naani. (Four houses.) |
| Luulu | Five (5) | Moo luulu. (Five people.) |
| Wooro | Six (6) | |
| Worowula | Seven (7) | |
| Sey | Eight (8) | |
| Kononto | Nine (9) | |
| Tang | Ten (10) |
Eleven to twenty, and beyond
| Mandinka | English | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Tang ning kiling | Eleven (11) | “Ning” means “and” — literally ten-and-one. |
| Tang ning fula | Twelve (12) | Ten-and-two. |
| Muwang | Twenty (20) | A special word — not “tang fula”. |
| Tang saba | Thirty (30) | |
| Keme | One hundred (100) | “Keme kiling” or just “keme”. |
| Wuli kiling | One thousand (1,000) |
Notice the pattern: teens are built with “tang ning” (ten and…). Twenty breaks the pattern with its own word, muwang. Master one to ten first, and the rest follows quickly.
Practise these and 300 more everyday words in the Mini Dictionary, or learn the full number system in the Coursebook.