Numbers in Tok Pisin occur with and without –pela suffixed to them:
1 wan wanpela
2 tu tupela
3 tri tripela
4 foa fopela
5 faiv faipela
6 sikis sikispela
7 seven sevenpela
8 et etpela
9 nain nainpela
10 ten tenpela
Those without –pela attached correspond to the names of the numbers in English and are used for mathematical operations like addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, and for counting money and telling the time, some of which will be presented in more detail later. Numbers beyond ten are not constructed as in English although one may occasionally hear the shorter ones with –pela attached to them, e.g.
elevenpela eleven
eitinpela eighteen
twentipela twenty
Sometimes an older method of counting beyond ten is resorted to in modern contexts to make sure that there is no ambiguity or doubt about what is said. For example, on aircraft where the noise level is high the hostess might say The journey will take thirty-five minutes and will use tripela ten faiv minit for thirty-five . The numbers in this older method of counting are based on ten (except for the hundreds) and are regularly derived. Consider, for example:
11 wanpela ten wan
12 wanpela ten tu
18 wanpela ten et
26 tupela ten sikis
54 faipela ten foa
80 etpela ten
100 wan handet
In the classroom nating, not or siro is used for nought or zero but outside it in everyday life the idea of nothing is expressed by i no gat wanpela (lit. there is not one). Approximations are given by samting olsem, e.g. Em i gat samting olsem fotisikis kina He’s got about K46 (lit. something like K46).