Counting in Tagalog: two number systems, one simple rule
Why Filipinos say “dalawang mangga” but “bente pesos” — and how to never mix them up.
Like Cebuano, Tagalog runs on two number systems side by side: native Filipino numbers and a Spanish set left over from three centuries of colonial trade. The rule of thumb: native numbers for counting things; Spanish numbers for money, telling time, and often age. Filipinos switch without thinking — after this page, so will you.
isaone
dalawatwo
tatlothree
apatfour
limafive
animsix
pitoseven
waloeight
siyamnine
samputen
labing-isa, labindalawa…eleven, twelve… (labing- + number)
dalawampu / tatlumputwenty / thirty
isang daanone hundred
uno, dos, tres…the Spanish set, alive in daily use
onse, dose, trese…11, 12, 13…
bente20
bente-singko25
trenta30
singkwenta50
syento / isang daan100
mil1,000
dalawang mansanastwo apples (native number + the -ng linker)
tatlong pandesal pothree pandesal, please
Bente pesos langJust twenty pesos (money = usually Spanish)
Tig-singkwenta poFifty each
alas-dos ng hapontwo in the afternoon (time = Spanish, always)
alas-syete y medyaseven thirty
Bente-singko anyos na akoI'm 25 (age: Spanish or native both heard)
una, ikalawa, ikatlofirst, second, third (ordinals: ika- + number)
When a number counts a noun, Tagalog glues them with a linker: dalawa + mansanas → dalawang mansanas. (Cebuano does the same job with ka — duha ka mangga.) Ask prices with Magkano?, quantities with Ilan?, and expect a Spanish number back at any market. Vendors are the best free number tutors in the Philippines.
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