Counting to 10

Helpful links

Online Numbers Game

Cre Shoh? (Numbers Game)

Vocabulary

In this lesson we learn how to count to 10 and to say our age.

The numbers one to ten are:

1. nane
2. jees
3. tree
4. kiare
5. queig
6. shey
7. shiaght
8. hoght
9. nuy
10. jeih

To say how old we are we use "ta mee" ("I am"), then a number word, then "bleeaney d'eash" which means "years old."

If we want to say one or two years old we use "vlein" instead of "bleeaney" and the number words are slightly different to our usual counting words (see below).

We can also use "cha nel mee" to say "I'm not."

The way to ask someone's age is "cre'n eash t'ort?"

ta mee un vlein d'eash ------ I am one year old	ta mee daa vlein d'eash ------ I am two years old	ta mee tree bleeaney d'eash ------ I am three years old
ta mee kiare bleeaney d'eash ------ I am four years old	ta mee queig bleeaney d'eash ------ I am five years old	ta mee shey bleeaney d'eash ------ I am six years old
ta mee shiaght bleeaney d'eash ------ I am seven years old	ta mee hoght bleeaney d'eash ------ I am eight years old	ta mee nuy bleeaney d'eash ------ I am nine yars old
	ta mee jeih bleeaney d'eash ------ I am ten years old

Example conversations

Have a go translating these conversations yourself. If you get stuck take another look at this lesson and/or go back to the previous lesson. If you want to check your answers you can find the English translations here:

Example Conversation Translations

Example 1

(Q) Kys t'ou?

(A) Ta mee corree!

(Q) Cre'n eash t'ort?

(A) Ta mee shiaght bleeaney d'eash.

Example 2

(Q) Vel oo greesit?

(A) Cha nel! Cha nel mee greesit.

(Q) Kys t'ou?

(A) Ta mee çhing.

(Q) Vel oo queig bleeaney d'eash?

(A) Ta, ta mee queig bleeaney d'eash.

Classroom games

With this lesson a favourite classroom game is Corneilyn (Corners).

Rules:

1. One person turns their back, closes their eyes, and counts to jeih (ten).
2. While the counter is counting everyone else moves to one of four corners. Each corner should be given a number (nane, jees, tree, kiare) before the counting starts.
3. For the first count everyone starts in the middle of the room. For later counts everyone starts from the corner they're already in (unless there are four or few people, see below).
4. When the counter reaches jeih everyone should be in a corner. If they're not in a corner they're out and sit down!
5. Without peeking, the counter calls out the number of a corner trying to guess the corner with the most people in it. Whoever is in that corner is out and sits down!
6. Keep going until there are four or fewer people left.
7. When there are four or fewer people left all of the remaining people start from the middle again and can only move to a corner after a count of tree (three).
8. If there are four people left, keep four corners but tell everyone that they need to go to a different corner (first come first served).
9. If there are three people left, use only three corners (nane, jees, tree) and tell everyone that they need to go to a different corner.
10. If there are only two people left, use only two corners (nane and jees) opposite each other and tell each person that they need to go to a different corner.
11. The last person left in the game wins.