The Mozambican Ibo People speak a version of Igbo language that has been influenced by centuries of interaction with Arab traders.
They are part of the Proto Bantu (Igbo who joined Central and Southern African tribes to form the Bantu civilization).
The Ibo of Mozambique are also known as Chi Mwani, Kimwani, Mwani or Kiwibo.
Today, we bring you their number system. Notice that they use ‘na’ like Nigerian and Equatorial Guinean Igbo.
For instance, 11 is Iri na otu in mainstream Igbo. It is also Kumi na moja in Mozambican Ibo.
They have such numbers like tano (5) which sounds like ano (4), and nane (8) and themanini (30) which sound like itenani (9) in mainstream Igbo language and elfu (1000) which sounds like ofu/otu (1) in mainstream Igbo language.
Here are the numbers in Mozambican Ibo:
moja (1), mbili (2), natu (3), n’né (4), tano (5)
sita (6), saba (7), nane (8), kenda (9)
kumi (10), kumi na moja (11),kumi na mbili (12)
Ishirini (20), thelathini (30), arubaini (40), hamsini (50)
sitini (60), sabini (70), themanini (80), tisini (90)
mia (100), mia mbili (200)
Elfu (1000) elfu mbili (2000)
In coming days, more will be revealed. Subscribe to our site if you don’t want to miss it.
