Zomi Numbers

Base Numbers (1-10)

Number	Zomi	Notes
1	khat
2	nih
3	thuum	long uu
4	lii	long ii
5	ngaa	long aa
6	guk
7	sagih
8	giat
9	kua
10	sawm

Tens, Hundreds, Thousands

Zomi numbers build like Lego blocks – each prefix snaps onto the base:

Value	Zomi	Breakdown
10	sawm	base
11	sawm le khat	10 + and + 1
12	sawm le nih	10 + and + 2
20	sawm nih	10 + 2 (two tens)
100	zakhat	za + khat
200	zanih	za + nih
300	zahthuum	zah- + thuum
400	zahlii	zah- + lii
500	zahngaa	zah- + ngaa
1,000	tulkhat	tul + khat
2,000	tulnih	tul + nih
5,000	tulngaa	tul + ngaa
10,000	tulsawm	tul + sawm
30,000	tulsawmthuum	tul + sawm + thuum
100,000	tengkhat	teng + khat
400,000	tengzalii	teng + za + lii
1,000,000	tankhat	tan + khat
3,000,000	tamthuum	tan + thuum

Number Prefixes

Prefix	Value	Example
za- / zah-	hundred	zakhat (100), zahthuum (300)
tul-	thousand	tulkhat (1000)
teng-	hundred-thousand	tengkhat (100,000)
tan- / tam-	million	tankhat (1,000,000)

Sound change: za- becomes zah- before certain numbers (thuum, lii, ngaa).
This is a natural smoothing – za + thuum → zahthuum (easier to say).

Example Numbers in Context

Kum sawm le nih → 12 years
Mi tulkhat      → 1000 people
Zanih val       → about 200
Tulsawm zolo    → 10,000+ (more than 10,000)

Numbers in Time Expressions

Phrase	Meaning	Usage
Sagih ni sung	for 7 whole days	durative (throughout)
Sagih ni in	in 7 days	punctual (within)
Ni thum ciang	after 3 days	future reference
Kum zakhat	100 years	century

Important difference:
- sung = "for the whole time" (continuous)
- in = "within the time" (point)