A long Hausa number is not memorized as one enormous word. It is built in descending places: thousands, hundreds, tens, and units. Two connectors do different jobs: sha builds 11–19, while da adds a lower numerical section elsewhere.
All forms on this page are (neutral Nigerian Standard Hausa). Ordinary examples use standard boko ɗ in ɗaya/ɗari and no tone or vowel-length marks. Alternative older counting systems are outside this A1 page; the decimal forms taught here are the everyday modern system.
The magnitude forms themselves are introduced with fuller tables on Hundreds and Thousands; this page concentrates on joining all the places.
The construction map
Start with the largest nonzero place and move right. The following map covers the core patterns:
| Range | Pattern | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 11–19 | goma + sha + unit | goma sha bakwai “17” |
| 21–99 | ten + da + unit | hamsin da huɗu “54” |
| 101–999 | ɗari (+ multiplier) + da + remainder | ɗari shida da tara “609” |
| 1,001+ | dubu (+ multiplier) + da + remainder | dubu biyu da goma “2,010” |
Na ƙidaya goma sha shida.
I counted sixteen.
Akwai kujeru talatin da biyu a zauren.
There are thirty-two chairs in the hall.
Mun karɓi saƙonni ɗari huɗu da bakwai.
We received four hundred and seven messages.
Jimillar mutane dubu biyu da ɗari uku da goma sha takwas ce.
The total number of people is two thousand three hundred and eighteen.
The parts are additive: 2,000 + 300 + 18. Hausa makes that structure audible with da, except inside the special teen construction.
Eleven to nineteen use sha, not da
The teen pattern is special: goma sha + unit. In connected speech goma may sometimes be left implicit, but the full forms are safest and clearest for learners.
| Digits | Hausa | Not this |
|---|---|---|
| 11 | goma sha ɗaya | *goma da ɗaya |
| 12 | goma sha biyu | *goma da biyu |
| 14 | goma sha huɗu | *goma da huɗu |
| 17 | goma sha bakwai | *goma da bakwai |
| 19 | goma sha tara | *goma da tara |
Yara goma sha ɗaya ne suka shiga motar.
Eleven children got into the vehicle.
Ta sayi ƙwai goma sha huɗu a kasuwa.
She bought fourteen eggs at the market.
Jirgin zai tashi da ƙarfe goma sha tara.
The flight will depart at 19:00. (formal timetable/24-hour clock)
In the time example, goma sha tara names 19 in the twenty-four-hour clock. The phrase does not reverse into English-style “nineteen o’clock” order because ƙarfe introduces the clock number before it.
From twenty upward, da adds the unit
The exact tens—ashirin, talatin, arba’in, hamsin, sittin, saba’in, tamanin, casa’in—need no connector when nothing follows. When a unit is added, use da.
Motar tana ɗaukar mutum ashirin.
The vehicle carries twenty people.
Na jira minti ashirin da uku.
I waited twenty-three minutes.
Ta cika shekara arba’in da ɗaya jiya.
She turned forty-one yesterday.
An sayar da tikiti casa’in da tara.
Ninety-nine tickets were sold.
Do not insert goma into these numbers. Talatin da shida is structurally “thirty and six,” not “three tens and six” in ordinary contemporary wording.
Add larger places without inventing zero sections
Hundreds and thousands follow the same descending logic. If a place has zero value, skip it.
| Digits | Breakdown | Hausa |
|---|---|---|
| 305 | 300 + 5 | ɗari uku da biyar |
| 470 | 400 + 70 | ɗari huɗu da saba’in |
| 682 | 600 + 80 + 2 | ɗari shida da tamanin da biyu |
| 1,009 | 1,000 + 9 | dubu ɗaya da tara |
| 2,040 | 2,000 + 40 | dubu biyu da arba’in |
| 4,716 | 4,000 + 700 + 16 | dubu huɗu da ɗari bakwai da goma sha shida |
Nisan tafiyar kilomita ɗari uku da biyar ne.
The journey is three hundred and five kilometres.
Asusun yana da naira dubu ɗaya da tara.
The account has one thousand and nine naira.
An buga littattafai dubu huɗu da ɗari bakwai da goma sha shida.
Four thousand seven hundred and sixteen books were printed.
English speakers often feel that a zero place must somehow be pronounced. It is not. In 1,009, dubu ɗaya supplies the thousands and da tara supplies the units; the absent hundreds and tens contribute nothing.
The number follows what it counts
The whole complex expression goes after its noun or unit phrase.
Makarantar tana da ɗalibai ɗari biyar da sittin da uku.
The school has five hundred and sixty-three students.
An kawo buhun shinkafa ɗari biyu da talatin.
Two hundred and thirty sacks of rice were delivered.
Farashin motar naira dubu tara da ɗari takwas ne.
The price of the car is nine thousand eight hundred naira.
English begins with the numeral—563 students. Hausa begins with ɗalibai, then gives ɗari biyar da sittin da uku. The numeral itself does not agree for gender, but the noun phrase still determines agreement elsewhere: a plural group takes plural subject–TAM forms.
A price and time exchange
A: Nawa ne kuɗin jirgin? B: Naira dubu shida da ɗari biyu da hamsin. A: Yaushe za a tashi? B: Da ƙarfe goma sha huɗu da minti talatin.
A: How much is the fare? B: Six thousand two hundred and fifty naira. A: When will it leave? B: At 14:30. (formal timetable/24-hour clock)
The price descends through thousands, hundreds, and tens; there is no units remainder to pronounce. The clock answer contains separate hour and minute expressions: ƙarfe goma sha huɗu plus minti talatin. A colon in digits does not mean the two parts should be fused into one cardinal number.
Read, split, and rebuild
For each numeral, first split it into nonzero values, then say those values in order.
- 57 = 50 + 7 → hamsin da bakwai
- 219 = 200 + 19 → ɗari biyu da goma sha tara
- 804 = 800 + 4 → ɗari takwas da huɗu
- 3,070 = 3,000 + 70 → dubu uku da saba’in
- 5,428 = 5,000 + 400 + 20 + 8 → dubu biyar da ɗari huɗu da ashirin da takwas
Now reverse the task: dubu shida da ɗari uku da biyu is 6,302, not 6,320. The final biyu occupies the units place because there is no tens word before it.
Common Mistakes
1. Replacing teen sha with da.
❌ goma da shida
Incorrect standard form for sixteen.
✅ goma sha shida
Sixteen.
2. Keeping sha above nineteen.
❌ ashirin sha huɗu
Incorrect for twenty-four.
✅ ashirin da huɗu
Twenty-four.
3. Saying an empty place.
❌ dubu biyu da sifili ɗari da biyar
Incorrect ordinary reading of 2,005 — zero hundreds are omitted.
✅ dubu biyu da biyar
Two thousand and five.
4. Reversing the magnitude and multiplier.
❌ huɗu dubu da ɗari biyu
Incorrect English-based order.
✅ dubu huɗu da ɗari biyu
Four thousand two hundred.
5. Moving the complex numeral before its noun.
❌ ɗari biyar da goma littattafai
Incorrect neutral noun-phrase order.
✅ littattafai ɗari biyar da goma
Five hundred and ten books.
Key Takeaways
- Use goma sha + unit for 11–19.
- From 20 upward, use da before an added unit: talatin da huɗu.
- Build hundreds and thousands from the largest nonzero place downward.
- Omit zero places instead of naming them inside an ordinary cardinal.
- Put the entire numeral after the counted noun.
Related Topics
- Numbers Eleven to NineteenA1 — Build the Hausa teens with goma sha plus a unit, keeping the fixed teen pattern distinct from da in numbers above twenty.
- Tens from Twenty to NinetyA1 — Learn the lexical Hausa decade words from ashirin to casa’in and join a unit with da in numbers such as ashirin da uku.
- Hundreds and ThousandsA1 — Build Hausa hundreds and thousands with ɗari and dubu, place their multipliers correctly, and join lower values with da.
- Counting Nouns with gudaA1 — Use the unit counter guda between a counted expression and its numeral, and distinguish its unit meaning from the ordinary cardinal ɗaya ‘one’.
- Cardinals inside Noun PhrasesA1 — Place Hausa cardinal numbers after the noun and its identifying material but before later adjectives and relative clauses.