It’s kind of a joke that when you learn Toki Pona, you are not happy with its overly simple number system and you create another one. Usually for fun. One number system has got quite a bit of adoption: nasin nanpa pona.
However, as the language went from just being a toy to essentially being used between people to fully communicate, people have problems with numbers. Even for most the people that are fluent. I’ve seen it many times in conferences and other gatherings.
This is a proposal that can solve your problems. I’m a mathematician and thus I like things as simple as they can be. So you don’t need to break your brain with it. As a side result, we can write negative numbers. Big numbers. Small numbers. All the numbers. This can be done. Without being more annoying than the French 40+20+16 system. Hear me out. I’ve got two variants. I advocate for nasin nanpa lukin.
nasin nanpa lukin and nasin nanpa Pi
A) List the number’s digits, as you see them in writing. The two variants below use different choices for the digits.
B) Use sike for a decimal point, weka for a minus sign and pi for $\cdot 10$^ (times 10 to the power of) , so tu pi luka $= 200,000$.
See below for many examples. Mnemonic: The digits with 
are in Toki Pona and those with 
use the number of segments drawn in sitelen pona. The others still make visual sense.
| $0$ | $1$ | $2$ | $3$ | $4$ | $5$ | $6$ | $7$ | $8$ | $9$ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| nanpa lukin | ala | wan | tu | poki | lipu | luka | pan | sona | mama | pipi |
| sitelen pona |  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| choice reason | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
looks like an $8$ | 1 body +2 eyes +6 legs |
| nanpa Pi | ala | wan | tu | tu wan | tu tu | luka | luka wan | luka tu | luka tu wan | luka tu tu |
I used nasin nanpa lukin because the rules (A)-(B) tell you to say the numbers as you see them, and also because the glyphs for the digits are chosen based on how they look.
I also made a speed game about this. Can you beat it by writing numbers fast?
Examples for nasin nanpa lukin:
jan pi mute sona poki li lon tomo pali ni. In these offices there are $73$ people. Or just
jan sona poki li lon tomo pali ni. if context removes the ambiguity.
lipu pi mute seme li lon supa mi? luka lipu. How many books in my shelf? Fifty four.
Feel free to have pi digit to mark it’s a number: jan pi mama = 8 people (so you do not get confused with jan mama, although context usually disambiguates).
| $10$ | wan ala |
|---|---|
| $15$ | wan luka |
| $73$ | sona poki |
| $984$ | pipi mama lipu |
| $100$ | wan ala ala = wan pi tu |
| $6.022 \cdot 10^{23}$ Avogadro's constant |
pan sike ala tu tu pi tu poki |
| $1.79$ My height in cm |
wan sike sona pipi |
| $-66$ | weka pan pan |
| $0.075$ | ala sike ala sona luka |
| $6.62 \cdot 10^{-34}$ Planck's constant |
pan sike pan tu pi weka poki lipu |
| $-0.001$ | weka wan pi weka poki |
| $10^{80}$ atoms in the universe |
wan pi mama ala |
| $10^{10^{100}}$ A googolplex |
wan pi wan pi wan ala ala |
| 9:30 Telling the time |
pipi. poki ala |
| 16:45 Telling the time |
wan sona. lipu luka |
Examples for nasin nanpa Pi.
Use commas to separate the digits (pauses or a when speaking), if necessary, since sometimes you may not be sure whether luka tu was 7 or 52. See it below.
| $22$ | tu, tu = tu a tu |
|---|---|
| $37$ | tu wan, luka tu |
| $352$ | tu wan, luka, tu = tu wan, luka a tu |
| $121$ | wan, tu, wan |
| $1500$ | wan, luka, ala, ala |
| $1500$ | wan sike luka pi tu wan |
| $1{,}400{,}000{,}000{,}000$ $1.4$ trillion |
wan sike tu tu pi wan, tu |
| $6.022 \cdot 10^{23}$ Avogadro's constant |
luka wan sike ala, tu, tu pi tu, tu wan |
| $1.79$ My height in cm |
wan sike luka tu, luka tu tu |
| $50.3$ | luka ala sike tu wan |
| $-27$ | weka tu, luka tu |
| $-100$ | weka wan ala ala = weka wan pi tu |
| $-4.71$ | weka tu tu sike luka tu, wan |
| $10^{-12}$ | wan pi weka wan, tu |
| $-0.033$ | weka ala sike ala tu wan, tu wan |
| 9:30 Telling the time |
luka tu tu. tu wan, ala |
| 16:45 Telling the time |
wan, luka wan. tu tu, luka |
Notes: The word pi is used because if you say “two thousand” = 2 pi 3, then you are saying two of the third (power of ten).
I made the first nasin nanpa Pi in 2021, which mutated in 2026 to its current form. nasin nanpa lukin was devised in 2026 as an improvement of a variant of nasin nanpa Pi I designed in 2023.