Balinese numbers: 1 to 10

Balinese (Basa Bali) is an interesting language and even the number system takes a while to figure out.

When counting things like bananas and DVD’s for example, the form of the word changes from the number. The forms for the first 7 numbers used in counting are different from the basic numbers. In this case you add ‘ng’ to the end of the word. Add to that there are kasar (rough or low) forms of words as well as alus (high) forms, your head starts to spin when learning Balinese.

Here are the Balinese numbers from 1 to 10.

Basic number…….Counting number
1 besik, siki……………….siki a-
2 dua………………………duang
3 telu………………………telung
4 pat………………………petang
5 lima………………………limang
6 nem, enam……………….nem
7 pitu………………………pitung
8 kutus…………………….kutus
9 sia………………………..sia
10 dasa…………………….dasa

Strangley to us westerners, Balinese has ‘classifier’ words which are use in context with certain nouns. For example, the classifier ‘bulih‘ is used for oblong fruits and stalks.

‘Biu telung bulih‘ (three bananas)

The classifier ‘bungkul‘ is used for round objects and buildings.

‘Nya kutus bungkul‘ (Eight coconuts)

The classifier ‘puun‘ is used for trees.

‘Punyan nyuh duang puun‘ (Two coconut trees).

We’ll get into more numbers tomorrow.