Numerals

Cardinal numbers

Ones Ten and over 20 and over 30 and over
0 siro 10 (un) des 20 du des 30 tri des
1 un 11 des un 21 du des un 31 tri des un
2 du 12 des du 22 du des du 32 tri des du
3 tri 13 des tri 23 du des tri 33 tri des tri
4 nelu 14 des nelu 24 du des nelu 34 tri des nelu
5 lima 15 des lima 25 du des lima 35 tri des lima
6 luka 16 des luka 26 du des luka 36 tri des luka
7 cheti 17 des cheti 27 du des cheti 37 tri des cheti
8 bati 18 des bati 28 du des bati 38 tri des bati
9 tisa 19 des tisa 29 du des tisa 39 tri des tisa
Ones Tens Hundreds Thousands
1 un 10 (un) des 100 (un) sento 1000 (un) kilo
2 du 20 du des 200 du sento 2000 du kilo
3 tri 30 tri des 300 tri sento 3000 tri kilo
4 nelu 40 nelu des 400 nelu sento 4000 nelu kilo
5 lima 50 lima des 500 lima sento 5000 lima kilo
6 luka 60 luka des 600 luka sento 6000 luka kilo
7 cheti 70 cheti des 700 cheti sento 7000 cheti kilo
8 bati 80 bati des 800 bati sento 8000 bati kilo
9 tisa 90 tisa des 900 tisa sento 9000 tisa kilo

Greater numbers follow the same logic as above.

10'000 = un des kilo
100'000 = un sento kilo
1'000'000 = un mega
10'000'000 = un des mega
100'000'000 = un sento mega
1'000'000'000 = un giga

The numerals that are greater than one hundred are borrowed from the International System of Units (SI). They are used in scientific words in the whole world.

Prefix Symbol Base 10 Decimal
kilo k 10³ 1'000
mega M 10⁶ 1'000'000
giga G 10⁹ 1'000'000'000
tera T 10¹² 1'000'000'000'000
peta P 10¹⁵ 1'000'000'000'000'000
eksa E 10¹⁸ 1'000'000'000'000'000'000
zeta Z 10²¹ 1'000'000'000'000'000'000'000
yota Y 10²⁴ 1'000'000'000'000'000'000'000'000

Cardinal number before noun

Quantity can be expressed with numerals and other quantity-words. They are put before the word or phrase that they qualify.

un sing – one star
du sing – two stars
tri sing – three stars
shau sing – few stars
poli sing – many stars

un dai kursi – one big chair
du dai kursi – two big chairs
tri bon kursi – three good chairs

Ordinal numbers

Ordinal numbers are created with the particle me.

  • un me – first
  • du me – second
  • tri me – third
  • nelu me – fourth
  • lima me – fifth
  • luka me – sixth
  • cheti me – seventh
  • bati me – eighth
  • tisa me – ninth
  • des me – tenth

They are placed before the modified noun like normal adjectives.

un me fen – the first part
du me fen – the second part
tri me fen – the third part

Ordinal number after noun

Another way to form ordinal numbers is to place the number after the noun.

fen un – the first part (part one) fen du – the second part (part two) fen tri – the third part (part three)

Fractions

There are two ways to create fractions. Both of them use the word fen ('part').

The short way is to use ordinal numbers.

un fen du – a half (½)
un fen nelu – one fourth, one quarter (¼)
tri fen nelu – three fourths, three quarters (¾)
un fen sento – one hundredth, one percent (1%)
un fen kilo – one thousandth, one permille (1‰)

The longer way uses the pattern X da Y fen ('X of Y parts').

un da du fen – one of two parts, a half (½)
un da nelu fen – one of four parts, a quarter (¼)
tri da nelu fen – three of four parts, three quarters (¾)
un da sento fen – one of hundred parts, a percent, (1%)
un da kilo fen – one of thousand parts, a permille, (1‰)

Fractions are connected to the noun with da ('of').

un fen du da hor – a half (of an) hour
lima des fen sento da jen – fifty percent of people
du fen tri da keke – two thirds of a cake

Date and time

Days of the week

Days of the week include the word var ('day of the week'). They are numbered starting from Monday. Monday is var un ('weekday one'), Tuesday is var du ('weekday two') and so on.

  1. var un – Monday
  2. var du – Tuesday
  3. var tri – Wednesday
  4. var nelu – Thursday
  5. var lima – Friday
  6. var luka – Saturday
  7. var cheti – Sunday

Months

Names of the months are composed like the names of days but this time the word mes ('month') is used.

  1. mes un – January
  2. mes du – February
  3. mes tri – March
  4. mes nelu – April
  5. mes lima – May
  6. mes luka – June
  7. mes cheti – July
  8. mes bati – August
  9. mes tisa – September
  10. mes des – October
  11. mes des un – November
  12. mes des du – December

Telling time

Time can be told with the word hor ('hour'). The 24 hour clock is the standard.

hor des du – twelve o'clock
hor des du e tri des – twelve thirty, half past twelve
hor du des – eight PM
hor du des e des lima – quarter past eight PM