Counting, prices, the parts of the day, and how to ask someone's age
Numbers are the most immediately useful vocabulary in any language — prices, times, ages, quantities, addresses. Kapampangan numerals are its own, not borrowed from Tagalog, so this lesson gives you words you cannot guess.
| # | Kapampangan | Say it |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | metung / isa | me-TUNG / i-SA |
| 2 | adua | a-DU-a |
| 3 | atlu | at-LU |
| 4 | apat | A-pat |
| 5 | lima | li-MA |
| 6 | anam | A-nam |
| 7 | pitu | pi-TU |
| 8 | ualu | u-A-lu |
| 9 | siyam | si-YAM |
| 10 | apulu | a-PU-lu |
Compare: Tagalog has isa, dalawa, tatlo, apat, lima, anim, pito, walo, siyam, sampu. Some cousins are visible (apat, lima, siyam), but adua, atlu, ualu and apulu are distinctly Kapampangan. You cannot bluff these.
In everyday speech, Spanish numerals (uno, dos, tres…) are also widely used — especially for prices and clock times. Learn the Kapampangan set anyway; it is what makes you sound like you are speaking the language rather than around it.
Kapampangan has two words for "one" and they are not interchangeable.
| Word | Use it when… | Example |
|---|---|---|
| metung | counting actual things | metung a bale — one house |
| isa | reciting the number sequence | isa, adua, atlu… |
So if you are counting mangoes, it is metung. If you are counting out loud for a game, it is isa.
Notice the linker in metung a bale — numbers attach to nouns with the same linker adjectives use. Lesson 15 covers it properly.
| Kapampangan | English |
|---|---|
| labing metung | eleven |
| labing adua | twelve |
| aduang pulu | twenty |
| atlung pulu | thirty |
| dinalan | one hundred |
| libu | one thousand |
The pattern is transparent: labing + digit for the teens, digit + pulu for the tens. If you can count to ten you can count to ninety-nine with two extra words.
| Kapampangan | English |
|---|---|
| kwalta | money |
| piso | peso |
| magkanu? | how much? (a price) |
| pilan? | how many? (a count) |
| mal | expensive |
| mura | cheap |
Magkanu ya ing metung a tinape? — How much is one bread?
Pilan a kapaya? — How many papayas?
Ala kung kwalta. — I have no money.
Magkanu asks a price. Pilan asks a quantity. Asking Pilan? at a market stall when you meant "how much does it cost" will get you a count of the mangoes, not a figure in pesos.
| Kapampangan | English |
|---|---|
| abak | morning |
| ugtu | noon, midday |
| gatpanapun | afternoon |
| bengi | night |
| aldo | day; also sun |
| oras | hour, time |
| bulan | month; also moon |
| banua | year |
These are lesson 2's greetings, now as standalone nouns. Note the pleasing logic of aldo meaning both "day" and "sun", and bulan meaning both "month" and "moon" — the same metaphor English lost when it borrowed month away from moon.
| Kapampangan | English |
|---|---|
| napun | yesterday |
| ngeni | now, today |
| bukas | tomorrow |
Mete ya ing sese ku napun. — My pet died yesterday.
Mapali ya ngeni. — It's hot now.
Time words like these carry a lot of weight in Kapampangan, because the verb system marks aspect rather than tense (lesson 11). It is often the time word, not the verb, that pins an event to a particular day.
Pilan na kang banua?
How old are you?
Literally: "How many now you years?" The na is the particle meaning "now, already" — Kapampangan asks how many years you have reached, not how many you "are".
To answer, give the number plus banua:
Aduang pulu ampong lima kung banua. — I am twenty-five.
Will people actually use Kapampangan numbers? For small counts and traditional contexts, yes. For prices and clock times, Spanish numerals dominate in daily speech. Learn both; you need the Kapampangan set to understand, and Spanish numerals will do for much of your speaking.
Is ualu pronounced "walu"? Effectively yes — the initial u glides. You will see it spelled both ways.
Why is "how old are you" so strange? Because Kapampangan asks how many years you have accumulated, with na marking the "so far." English's "how old are you" is arguably the odder construction.
Numbers unlock transactions, and transactions are where most learners get their first real conversations. Combine this lesson with lesson 18's market vocabulary and you can handle a whole exchange at a Pampanga palengke.
Next: Pamangan — food, in the province that the rest of the Philippines acknowledges as its culinary capital.