First of all, the words for the numbers:
| tasi | » | one | ono | » | six | |
| lua1 | » | two | fitu | » | seven | |
| tolu | » | three | valu | » | eight | |
| fā1 | » | four | iva | » | nine | |
| lima | » | five | sefulu | » | ten |
The word selo is used for the numeral zero. The phrase lēai se mea (nothing) a more common way of saying "none" in everyday speech.
Counting larger numbers is fairly straight-forward:
| sefulu ma le tasi | » | ten and one (eleven) |
| sefulu ma le lua | » | ten and two (twelve) |
| lua sefulu ma le ono | » | two tens and six (twenty-six) |
The ma le (meaning 'and the') in the above examples is optional. Abbreviated forms are just as acceptable: sefulu tasi, sefulu lua , etc.
For numbers above iva sefulu iva (ninety-nine), we need to learn some more words:
| selau | » | hundred | miliona | » | million | |
| afe | » | thousand |
These are joined together with the word ma (and):
| selau ma tasi | » | one hundred and one. |
| selau ma sefulu valu | » | one hundred and eighteen. |
| tolu selau ma lua sefulu fitu | » | three hundred and twenty-seven. |
| iva selau ma iva sefulu iva | » | nine hundred and ninety-nine. |
| lua afe ma fā selau ma valu | » | two thousand, four hundred and eight. |
For numbers which are larger still, or telephone numbers, simply quote each digit:
| tasi ono fitu fitu fitu, lua tasi ono | » | 16, 777, 216 |
Other uses of numbers
The word lona is placed before a number to show that it is part of a sequence:
| lona lua | » | second | lona luasefulu | » | twelfth |
However, different words are used for "first" and "last":
| muamua | » | first | mulimuli | » | final |
The fa'a- prefix can be used to indicate the number of times something happened:
| fa'atasi | » | once | fa'alua | » | twice | |
| fa'atolu | » | thrice | fa'aselau | » | one hundred times |
Fractions
Quarters and halves are expressed in Samoan with borrowed words:
| kuata | » | quarter | afa | » | half |
This also allows for a these two phrases:
| tolu kuata | » | three quarters |
| tasi ma le afa | » | one and a half |
Simple arithmetic
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This page is not complete! Some content is still being migrated and re-formatted from the old site, so there may be some missing links or content below. |
| fa'apopo | » | add together | fa'atele | » | multiply | |
| toe | » | subtract |
Time and date
Because of the extensive vocabulary involved, there is a Date & Time Phrases page. These are a few examples of questions which have numeric answers:
| 'ua ta se fia? | » | what time is it? |
| 'ua ta le lua | » | it's two o'clock. |
| o le a le umi? | » | how long? |
| tolu minute | » | three minutes. |