Numbers in Numi
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Cardinal, ordinal, and various other uses of numerals
This public article was written by [Deactivated User], and last updated on 27 Jan 2017, 00:09.
[comments] nminumbers
1. Hiragana and Numi
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2. Idioms of Numi
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3. Numbers in Numi
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4. Numi nouns
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7. The almighty verb
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?FYI...
This article is a work in progress! Check back later in case any changes have occurred.
This article is a work in progress! Check back later in case any changes have occurred.
The numbers one through ten are straightforward vocabulary in Numi:
| ぬみ | Numi | English |
|---|---|---|
| ひく | hiku | one |
| がん | gan | two |
| ぴと | pito | three |
| ちょお | chō | four |
| へん | hen | five |
| ぎや | giya | six |
| ろ | ro | seven |
| すん | sun | eight |
| たあ | tā | nine |
| み | mi | ten |
Multiples of ten up to ninety are truncated forms of the numbers 2-9 added onto a slightly modified word for ten.
| ぬみ | Numi | English |
|---|---|---|
| がむ | gamu | twenty |
| ぴむ | pimu | thirty |
| ちょむ | chomu | forty |
| へむ | hemu | fifty |
| ぎむ | gimu | sixty |
| ろむ | romu | seventy |
| すむ | sumu | eighty |
| たむ | tamu | ninety |
The numbers in between are just combinations of the ten-multiples with the numerals 1-9.
みひく : mihiku : eleven
みすん : misun : eighteen
がむがん : gamugan : twenty-two
ぎむひく : gimuhiku : sixty-one
The word for 100 is ぼみ (bomi), which is derived from the augmentative prefix ぼ- (bo-). It is like saying that one hundred is a "big ten".
A new root appears for 1000: ゆぱ (yupa). Ten thousand is みゆぱ (miyupa), and one hundred thousand is ぼみゆぱ (bomiyupa): a "big ten thousand".
The two powers of ten up to 100,000 that have unique roots are thus ten (み) and thousand (ゆぱ). The numbers between 100 and 999, and between 1000 and 999,999, are all pronounced as various combinations of the products of those two roots.
350 : thirty-five-ten : pimuhemmi : ぴむへっみ
700 : seventy-ten : romumi : ろむみ
6,000 : six-thousand : giyayupa : ぎやゆぱ
29,000 : twenty-nine-thousand : gamutāyupa : がむたあゆぱ
60,000 : sixty-thousand : gimuyupa : ぎむゆぱ
290,000 : twenty-nine-ten-thousand : gamutāmiyupa : がむたあみゆぱ
The next root is け (ke) for one million. The same pattern continues from there: ten million is みけ (mike); one hundred million is ぼみけ (bomike). One billion is a thousand million: ゆぱけ (yupake). The numbers in between are still broken down into roots of tens, thousands, and millions.
500,000,000 : fifty-ten-million : hemumike : へむみけ
Numbers are typically written with the arabic numerals, but if they must be spelled out and the numbers get very long to pronounce, dots will indicate breaks after one of the root numbers appears (hyphens in the romanization).
427,835 : (forty-two-ten)-(seven-thousand)-(eighty-three-ten)-five :
chomugammi-royupa-sumuhitomi-hen : ちょむがっみ・ろゆぱ・すむひとみ・へん
To form an ordinal number, you add a suffix to the corresponding cardinal number, but that suffix doesn't have the same form for every word. The suffix is a syllable of m plus either the vowel /ɛ/ or /ä/. The choice of vowels depends on the vowel of the last syllable in the cardinal number: if that vowel is in the set /ä i o/, the suffix uses /ɛ/ and is thus め (me). If the final vowel of the cardinal number is in the set /ɛ ɯ/, then the suffix uses /ä/ and is thus ま (ma). Additionally, if the cardinal number ends with an ん (n), it will geminate with the m of the suffix.
It's easier to see the suffix in action than to describe the rule:
| Cardinal form | ぬみ | Numi | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| ひく | ひくま | hikuma | first |
| がん | がっめ | gamme | second |
| ぴと | ぴとめ | pitome | third |
| ちょお | ちょおめ | chōme | fourth |
| へん | へっま | hemma | fifth |
| ぎや | ぎやめ | giyame | sixth |
| ろ | ろめ | rome | seventh |
| すん | すっま | summa | eighth |
| たあ | たあめ | tāme | ninth |
| み | みめ | mime | tenth |
Because it is only the final syllable of the number that affects its ordinal suffix, all numbers higher than ten that end with one of these numerals will act the same way.
みひくま : mihikuma : eleventh
ちょむすっま : chomusumma : forty-eighth
たむたあめ : tamutāme : ninety-ninth
So far all the numerals have been regular (albeit with some phonological variation), but the idea of 'first' is a bit different from all the rest. There is an irregular form, でぞ (dezo), which is a synonym for the regular form ひくま (hikuma). The regular form is used in cases when the item modified is first in a series, and it implies the presence of at least a second and perhaps more. Examples: standing first in line, the first book in a series, and the first planet in our solar system.
でぞ, on the other hand, is used when there may not necessarily be any further entities in the list. Examples of English phrases where you would use this word: a first born child, the first employee in a new company, an action taken first before anyone else thought to, the first thirty days in space. It has more of a sense of newness and originality than an ordering of things or actions. If there are further entities to count (such as second sons), then they use the regular ordinal numbers starting with がっめ (gamme) - second.
There is a third word that can translate as first in English: ばちゅう (bachū). This word modifies a noun that is first in importance. This is the word used for a first prize in a contest, and also for a Prime Minister, or to say that someone is first in all the land at pole vaulting. If there is something below the ばちゅう, it is called にちゅう (nichū). It is similar to the word 'vice-' in English. There may be more than one にちゅう; to continue the previous examples it applies to both second and third prizes, to any number of ministers below a Prime Minister, and to anyone in the land who is really good at pole vaulting but not the absolute best. Neither of these two words is actually a number, but I'm including it in this section because it's a related concept.
Cardinal numbers precede the noun they modify, and serve as counters. Ordinal numbers follow their noun, and act as modifiers that describe its order in space or time. They do not inflect in either position. A noun with a cardinal number is not marked as plural, but the verb's agreement prefix is marked as plural if it is absolutive or ergative (accusative prefixes never show plurality).
すみごぜえじ ぴと らやめお。
su-mi-gozē-ji
2Second person (person)
addressee (you).ERGErgative (case)
TRANS subject; agent-3Third person (person)
neither speaker nor addressee.ACCAccusative (case)
TRANS direct object; patient-eat-PSTPast (tense)
action occurred before moment of speech pito
three raya-meo
cookie-ACCAccusative (case)
TRANS direct object; patient
You ate three cookies.
すみごぜえじ らやめお ぴとめ。
su-mi-gozē-ji
2Second person (person)
addressee (you).ERGErgative (case)
TRANS subject; agent-3Third person (person)
neither speaker nor addressee.ACCAccusative (case)
TRANS direct object; patient-eat-PSTPast (tense)
action occurred before moment of speech raya-meo
cookie-ACCAccusative (case)
TRANS direct object; patient pitome
third
You ate the third cookie.
のにんがじ びいんがん しぇも でぞ。
no-ninga-ji
1First person (person)
speaker, signer, etc; I.ABSAbsolutive (case)
TRANS object, INTR argument-sleep-PSTPast (tense)
action occurred before moment of speech biin-gan
during-two shemo
hour dezo
first
I slept during the first two hours.
"Approximate" numbers behave the same way grammatically.
ののよそべじ びいねつ やどお。
no-n-oyo-sobe-ji
1First person (person)
speaker, signer, etc; I.ABSAbsolutive (case)
TRANS object, INTR argument-PLPlural (number)
more than one/few-ANTIPAntipassive voice (valency)
valency is decreased by one-wait-PSTPast (tense)
action occurred before moment of speech biin-retsu
during-several yadō
day
We waited for several days.
Cardinal numbers come before a verb to indicate how many times it happens (what would be once, twice, etc. in English). Ordinal numbers follow the verb to describe its order in time.
ぴと ゐてにくじ。
pito
three wi-teniku-ji
3Third person (person)
neither speaker nor addressee.ABSAbsolutive (case)
TRANS object, INTR argument-clap-PSTPast (tense)
action occurred before moment of speech
He clapped three times.
るらっみかり ぴとめ。
ru-rammika-ri
2Second person (person)
addressee (you).ABSAbsolutive (case)
TRANS object, INTR argument-pay-NPSTNon-past (tense)
present, continuous and future pitome
third
You will pay third. (i.e. in a group of people who take turns)
のしっぱじ でぞ。
no-shippa-ji
1First person (person)
speaker, signer, etc; I.ABSAbsolutive (case)
TRANS object, INTR argument-speak-PSTPast (tense)
action occurred before moment of speech dezo
first
I spoke first. (i.e. before others had a chance)
Both cardinal and ordinal numbers can be used on their own as pronouns and they take regular inflection for case, number, etc. They can also be incorporated into a verb like any other noun.
にみをいり ぴとめお。
Ni-mi-woi-ri
1First person (person)
speaker, signer, etc; I.ERGErgative (case)
TRANS subject; agent-3Third person (person)
neither speaker nor addressee.ACCAccusative (case)
TRANS direct object; patient-buy-NPSTNon-past (tense)
present, continuous and future pito-meo
three-ACCAccusative (case)
TRANS direct object; patient
I will buy three.
るぴとめぶいんじ。
ru-pitome-buin-ji
2Second person (person)
addressee (you).ABSAbsolutive (case)
TRANS object, INTR argument-third-lose-PSTPast (tense)
action occurred before moment of speech
You lost the third one.
A number-pronoun can also be used in combination with the preposition にこ (niko) to talk about a certain number out of a larger group.
ぬやん がん にこせなみやじゃ。
nuyan
have.1First person (person)
speaker, signer, etc; I gan
two.ABSAbsolutive (case)
TRANS object, INTR argument niko-sena-miya-ja
among-PLPlural (number)
more than one/few-child-that
Two of those children are mine.
To indicate a number as part of a group without specifying the group, add じゃに (jani) as a suffix to the number.
ゐちょおじゃにごぜえじ。
wi-chō-jani-gozē-ji
3Third person (person)
neither speaker nor addressee.ABSAbsolutive (case)
TRANS object, INTR argument-four-part-eat-PSTPast (tense)
action occurred before moment of speech
He ate four of them.
To say both, all three, all four, etc., attach the prefix かる (karu), which means all or every. This word then acts as a pronoun and takes case inflection, even if the noun-group is also explicitly stated.
きみごぜえじ かるがっめお にこせならや。
ki-mi-gozē-ji
3Third person (person)
neither speaker nor addressee.ERGErgative (case)
TRANS subject; agent-3Third person (person)
neither speaker nor addressee.ACCAccusative (case)
TRANS direct object; patient-eat-PSTPast (tense)
action occurred before moment of speech karu-gan-meo
all-two-ACCAccusative (case)
TRANS direct object; patient niko-sena-raya
among-PLPlural (number)
more than one/few-cookie
He ate both of the cookies.
きっみさかちゃじ かるろめお。
ki-n-mi-sakacha-ji
3Third person (person)
neither speaker nor addressee.ERGErgative (case)
TRANS subject; agent-PLPlural (number)
more than one/few-3Third person (person)
neither speaker nor addressee.ACCAccusative (case)
TRANS direct object; patient-break-PSTPast (tense)
action occurred before moment of speech karu-ro-meo
all-seven-ACCAccusative (case)
TRANS direct object; patient
They broke all seven.
((To do: Really big numbers, fractions, multiplicatives, distributives, percentages, zero, negatives, decimals))
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