tekau / rau / mano

Larger Numbers

Level 2

E rua tekau is twenty; e toru rau is three hundred; rua mano mā ono expresses 2006 in a year phrase.

How It Works

Tekau, rau, and mano mean ten, hundred, and thousand. A multiplier precedes the unit: e rua tekau is twenty and e toru rau is three hundred. These counting predicates precede the counted noun phrase. Numerical e introduces the two-to-nine multiplier in the illustrated tens and hundreds patterns.

Mā introduces added units in forms such as tekau mā ono, sixteen. Year expressions also place smaller groups after larger ones. Compare rua mano mā ono, 2006, with rua mano, tekau mā ono, 2016. Longer year forms can separate thousands, hundreds, and tens with commas.

Learn the connectors with their particular number pattern rather than inserting mā between every pair of groups. Number forms have no gender agreement, and most counted noun bases remain unchanged.

Examples (4)

  1. E rua tekau mā ono ngā kete.

    There are twenty-six baskets.

    Rua multiplies tekau; mā adds six.

  2. E toru rau ngā pukapuka.

    There are three hundred books.

    Toru counts three groups of one hundred.

  3. i te tau rua mano mā ono

    Time fragment: in the year 2006.

    This year pattern adds six after two thousand.

  4. i te tau kotahi mano, e iwa rau, e whitu tekau mā rua

    Time fragment: in the year 1972.

    Thousands, hundreds, tens, and units appear in descending order.

How It Connects

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

tekau / rau / manoLevel 2Larger Numbers

Learn This First

Introduce ten, hundred and thousand through multipliers before units and smaller groups after larger ones. Learn mā and the descending year groups in their attested patterns rather than inserting one connector everywhere.