How to Count in Tagalog Using Spanish Loanwords

Last time, I wrote how to count using native Tagalog words. This time, I’ll be writing how to count in Tagalog using Spanish loanwords.

Spelling Variance: Tagalog vs Spanish

The numbers are actually almost the same with their original Spanish counterparts except that some spellings were changed in order to make up for letters that are not part of the Tagalog alphabet.

For example, “cuatro” is written in Tagalog as “kuwatro” (there is no C in the Tagalog alphabet, so it is replaced with the letter K) “cinco” as “singko,” “seis” as “sais,” “ocho” as “otso,” “nueve” as “nuwebe,” (there is no letter V in the Tagalog alphabet so it is replaced with the letter B) and “diez” as “diyes” (Z is replaced with the letter S).

For hundreds, we use the numbers 2-9 followed by the word “siyentos” which means “hundreds.” One hundred is simply “siyento,” although when saying one hundred (100) in Tagalog, we usually say the native Tagalog word (“isang daan”)or its English counterpart.

E.g.

Native Tagalog

Customer: Magkano? (How much)
Seller: Isang daan.

(sounds okay ^_^d )

Spanish Loanword

Customer: Magkano?
Seller: Syento.

(sounds weird ^_^; )

E.g.

Person 1: Ilan? (How many)
Person 2: Isang libo

(sounds okay ^_^d)

Person 1: Ilan
Person 2: Mil

(sounds weird. ^_^; )

For thousands, we use the numbers 2-9 followed by the word “mil” which means “thousand.” One thousand is simply “mil;” however, like in the case of “one hundred,” we usually use either the native Tagalog word (“isang libo”) or its English counterpart to say “one thousand.”

The same thing goes for counting millions, except that “mil” is replaced with “milyones” (millions). One million is simply “milyon” but we usually say “isang milyon” instead of “milyon” alone.

That’s about it. You can find a more detailed list of the numbers as well as some number combinations on the tables above.

Should you have any questions, feel free to ask. (^_^)