The following is a list of names of the numbers from 1 to 10 in several different languages. You might notice that there are significant similarities between all of the Indo-European languages.
English | one | two | three | four | five | six | seven | eight | nine | ten |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
German | eins | zwei | drei | vier | fünf | sechs | sieben | acht | neun | zehn |
Swedish | ett | två | tre | fyra | fem | sex | sju | åtta | nio | tio |
Norwegian | en | to | tre | fire | fem | seks | syv | åtte | ni | ti |
French | un | deux | trois | quatre | cinq | six | sept | huit | neuf | dix |
Italian | uno | due | tre | quattro | cinque | sei | sette | otto | nove | dieci |
Spanish | uno | dos | tres | cuatro | cinco | seis | seite | ocho | nueve | diez |
Portuguese | um | dois | três | quatro | cinco | seis | sete | oito | nove | dez |
Catalan | un | dos | tres | quatre | cinc | sis | set | vuit | nou | deu |
Latin | unus | duo | tres | quattor | quinque | sex | septem | octo | novem | decem |
Russian | odin | dva | tri | chetyre | pyat' | shest' | sem' | vosem' | devyat' | desyat' |
Polish | jeden | dwa | trzy | cztery | pięć | sześć | siedem | osiem | dziewięć | dziesięć |
Welsh | un | dau | tri | pedwar | pump | chwech | saith | wyth | naw | deg |
Greek | eîs | dúo | treîs | téssares | pénte | hex | heptá | októ | ennéa | déka |
Finnish | yksi | kaksi | kolme | neljä | viisi | kuusi | seitsemän | kahdeksan | yhdeksan | kymmenen |
Basque | bat | bi | hiru | lau | bost | sei | zazpi | zortzi | beheratzi | hamar |
Sanskrit | ekab | dvi | trayah | chatvarah | pancha | shash | sapta | ashta | nava | dasha |
Swahili | moja | bili | tatu | 'nne | tano | sita | sabbah | nanne | tissa | kumi |
Arabic | wahed | ithnain | thelatha | arba'a | hamza | sitta | seba'a | themania | tisa'a | ashara |
See also numbers from 11 to 20 in different languages.
Out of the above languages, only Finnish, Basque, Swahili, and Arabic are not Indo-European languages. Note that the Basque language has no known relationship with any other language and cannot be assigned to any language family. The Basque language is called an isolate. You may notice how different the numbers in Basque are from those in any other language.
If you can fill me in on any other languages, please e-mail me at mathlair@allfunandgames.ca.
See also some other word-related mathematical recreations, more math activities for kids, and interesting facts about languages.