hamaika ... ehun

Numbers Eleven to a Hundred

Level 1

From 20, Basque counts in twenties: hogei (20), berrogei (40), hirurogei (60), laurogei (80). Add the rest with -ta: hogeita hamar is 20 and 10, or 30.

How It Works

Eleven to nineteen.

  • 11 hamaika, 12 hamabi, 13 hamahiru, 14 hamalau, 15 hamabost
  • 16 hamasei, 17 hamazazpi, 18 hemezortzi, 19 hemeretzi

Most of them are hama- plus a small number, so hamabi is ten and two. Watch the three irregular ones: hamaika (11), hemezortzi (18) and hemeretzi (19). The form hamazortzi is also accepted for 18, but hemezortzi is the main standard form.

Counting in twenties. Basque names the tens in groups of twenty:

  • 20 hogei
  • 40 berrogei (two twenties)
  • 60 hirurogei (three twenties)
  • 80 laurogei (four twenties)
  • 100 ehun

Adding with -ta. To add a number from one to nineteen, attach -ta (a short form of eta, and) to the twenty. The next number is written as a separate word:

  • 21 hogeita bat, 25 hogeita bost
  • 30 hogeita hamar (20 + 10), 35 hogeita hamabost (20 + 15)
  • 50 berrogeita hamar (40 + 10), 57 berrogeita hamazazpi (40 + 17)
  • 70 hirurogeita hamar, 90 laurogeita hamar, 99 laurogeita hemeretzi

So there is no single word for 30, 50, 70 or 90. Think of them as twenty and ten, forty and ten, and so on.

Before the noun. These numbers stand before a bare noun, and the verb is plural: hogei euro (twenty euros), Hamabost urte ditu (She is fifteen). A number that ends in bat, such as hogeita bat, still comes before the noun as a whole: hogeita bat ikasle (twenty-one students). See number + noun without article and age with urte.

Bigger numbers follow in hundreds and thousands, for example ehun eta bat (101).

Examples (6)

  1. Hamabost urte ditu.

    She is fifteen.

    Word by Word: Fifteen year she-has-them.

    Age uses ukan with a plural object. The same sentence also means he is fifteen.

  2. Hogeita bat ikasle daude gelan.

    There are twenty-one students in the class.

    The whole number hogeita bat comes before the noun.

  3. Berrogeita hamar euro dira.

    It's fifty euros.

    Word by Word: Forty-and ten euro they-are.

  4. Hogeita hamar orri irakurri ditut.

    I have read thirty pages.

    orri stays bare, and the verb is plural: ditut.

  5. Nire amonak laurogeita hemeretzi urte ditu.

    My grandmother is ninety-nine.

    Four twenties and nineteen.

  6. Hamaika lagun etorri dira.

    Eleven friends have come.

    In everyday speech hamaika can also mean lots of, as in hamaika aldiz (countless times).

Common Mistakes

  • Building 19 from hama- like the other teens.

    hamabederatzi euro
    hemeretzi euro

    Nineteen is irregular: hemeretzi. Eighteen is hemezortzi.

  • Trying to say thirty as three tens.

    hiru hamar euro
    hogeita hamar euro

    Basque counts in twenties, so thirty is twenty and ten: hogeita hamar.

  • Writing the compound as one word.

    hogeitabat urte
    hogeita bat urte

    Write -ta joined to the twenty and the added number as a separate word: hogeita bat, berrogeita hamar.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

hamaika ... ehunLevel 1Numbers Eleven to a Hundred

Learn This First

Numbers eleven to a hundred build on one to ten.

Learn Next

Patterns that build on this one.

Words in This Pattern

hamaikahemeretzihogeihogeita bathogeita hamarberrogeiberrogeita hamarhirurogeilaurogeiehun