Circassian numbers 1 to 100: how Kabardian and Adyghe count

Updated September 29, 2026 · 4 min read

Circassian numbers are one of the first things the app teaches: counting to ten comes in the very first section of both courses, after the units on greetings, yourself and family. The surprise comes later. From twenty up, Kabardian (East Circassian) counts in tens, the way English does, while Adyghe (West Circassian) builds several of its tens on twenty.

Every number on this page comes from the Circassian app’s lessons and audio course, in both dialects, and most have a listen button with the audio the lessons use.

Counting from 1 to 10 in Circassian

The first ten numbers are almost the same in both dialects. Only four and five look different on paper, and ten has a slightly different spelling. The Adyghe course also teaches zero, зи.

11 to 19: ten plus a number

From eleven to nineteen, both dialects put ten in front and the number after it. In Kabardian every one of them starts with пщыкIу-: пщыкIуз is eleven and пщыкIутху is fifteen. Adyghe does the same with пшIыкIу-.

The tens: 20 to 100

Here the two dialects part ways. Kabardian names each ten after its digit, with the ending -щI: плIыщI (forty) is built on плI, four, and тхущI (fifty) on тху, five. It works like English “forty” and “fifty”.

Why Adyghe counts in twenties

Look at the Adyghe column and a pattern jumps out. Twenty is тIокIы, and three of the tens are made from it: тIокIитIу (forty) has тIу, two, at the end; тIокIищ (sixty) has three; тIокIиплI (eighty) has four. Forty is two twenties, sixty is three, eighty is four.

Seventy and ninety then add ten on top: тIокIищырэ пшIырэ is “sixty and ten”, тIокIиплIырэ пшIырэ is “eighty and ten”. And fifty is the neatest of all: шъэныкъу joins шъэ, one hundred, with ныкъо, half. Fifty is half a hundred.

Kabardian uses none of this: its seventy is simply блыщI, from блы, seven. If you learn one dialect and then hear the other, the tens are where you are most likely to get lost. Pick one course and stay with it; the app never mixes the two. Kabardian vs Adyghe has more on how the dialects differ.

Bigger numbers: 21, 25, 101, 1000

To join numbers, both dialects add a little tail, -рэ, to each part. The audio course puts it this way for twenty-one and twenty-two: “Listen for twenty, and the number you know, each with a little tail.” So 21 is тIощIрэ зырэ in Kabardian and ТIокIырэ зырэ in Adyghe. It is the same tail that joins other words, as in the Adyghe нанэрэ татэрэ, “mother and father”.

In the audio course the number comes after the thing counted: tea is ordered with Шей пщIы сыхуейщ, “I want ten teas”. With “ten birds” the number even joins the word itself: БзупщIы in Kabardian and БзыуипшIы in Adyghe.

How many? How old are you?

Word for word, the Adyghe question asks “how many years is your age?”, as the audio course points out. Madina, the character in the course, answers that she is twenty-five, which gives you both a question and an answer to practice.

Next step: the everyday phrases (hello, thank you, happy birthday) in both dialects, or the Circassian alphabet if the letters still slow you down.

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Learn to count in Kabardian or Adyghe

The Numbers lessons are in the first section of both courses, with every word read out loud.

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Circassian numbers: frequently asked questions