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Grammar - Quantifiers
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Quantifiers are determiners indicating quantity such as three, all and many.

Numerals

As in many languages, numerals are caught between classes. In their most common attributive form they resemble common adjectives and therefore follow the nouns they modify:

nia vai

car six

six cars

bukim yem

king three

three kings

Kah numerals were designed to be easily distinguishable from one another:

Kah

Translation

meng

nil, zero

kwa

one

sun

two

yem

three

pan

four

jom

five

vai

six

teo

seven

dia

eight

sasta

nine

nini

ten

Tens

Tens are created by simply combining the words for a numeral with the word nini for "ten".

sun + nini

sunini

twenty

yem + nini

yenini

thirty

pan + nini

panini

forty

jom + nini

jonini

fifty

vai + nini

vainini

sixty

teo + nini

teonini

seventy

dia + nini

dianini

eighty

sasta + nini

sastanini

ninety

When tens and basic numbers are combined, they are simply placed after one another:

nini pan

fourteen

sunini teo

twenty seven

sastanini yem

ninety three

It is allowed to add the word ai "and" in between as well:

nini ai pan

fourteen

sunini ai teo

twenty seven

sastanini ai yem

ninety three

 

Hundred and up

The powers of ten up til one billion are listed below:

Kah

Translation

mel

hundred

pol

thousand

dua

ten thousand

wisti

hundred thousand

bena

million

nungu

ten million

gos

hundred million

kas

billion

Please note that this approach is different from the classic English decimal system, as it is dealing with powers of thousand instead!

Powers of ten are treated the same way as ten and form compounds with basic numerals. Compare:

 sunini - twenty

 yenini - thirty

 panini - fourty

 jonini - fifty

 vainini - sixty

 teonini - seventy

 dianini - eighty

 sastanini - ninety

 sumel - two hundred

 yemel - three hundred

 pamel - four hundred

 jomel - five hundred

 vaimel - six hundred

 teomel - seven hundred

 diamel - eight hundred

 sastamel - nine hundred

 

 sumpol - two thousand

 yempol - three thousand

 pampol - four thousand

 jompol - five thousand

 vaipol - six thousand

 teopol - seven thousand

 diapol - eight thousand

 sastapol - nine thousand

 sundua - twenty thousand

 yendua - thirty thousand

 pandua - forty thousand

 jondua - fifty thousand

 vaidua - sixty thousand

 teodua - seventy thousand

 diadua - eighty thousand

 sastadua - ninety thousand

In a way, the division of powers of ten is a decimal system just like the basic numbers:

 101  (ten) - nini

 102  (hundred) - mel

 103  (thousand) - pol

 104  (ten thousand) - dua

 105  (hundred thousand) - wisti

 106  (million) - bena

 107  (ten million) - nungu

 108  (hundred million) - gos

 109  (billion) - kas

 1010 ( ten billion) - ninya

 1011 ( hundred billion) - nikwanya

 1012 ( trillion) - nisunya

 1013 ( ten trillion) - niyenya

 1014 ( hundred trillion) - nipanya

 1015 ( quadrillion) - nijonya

 1016 ( ten quadrillion) - nivainya

 1017 ( hundred quadrillion) - niteonya

 1018 ( quintillion) - nidianya

 1019 ( ten quintillion) - nisastanya

 1020 ( hundred quintillion) - suninya

 1021 ( sextillion) - sunikwanya

 1022 ( ten sextillion) - sunisunya

 1023 ( hundred sextillion) - suniyenya

 1024 ( septillion) - sunipanya

 1025 ( ten septillion) - sunijonya

 10100  - melenya

These numbers combined look like the following:

 11 - nini kwa

 12 - nini sun

 13 - nini yem

 14 - nini pan

 15 - nini jom

 16 - nini vai

 17 - nini teo

 18 - nini dia

 19 - nini sasta

 20 - sunini

 21 - sunini kwa

 22 - sunini sun

 23 - sunini yem

 28 - sunini dia

 36 - yenini vai

 89 - dianini sasta

 147 - mel panini teo

 565 - jomel vainini jom ("fivehundred sixty five")

 705 - teomel jom

 5,824 - jompol diamel sunini pan

 2,500,444 - sumbena jomwisti pamel panini pan

 

Ordinal numbers

Ordinal numbers are expressed by adding the possessive marker na before the number in question:

nia na vai

car of six

the sixth car

bukim na yem

king na three

the third king

kwanya na teo

lesson of seven

the seventh lesson, lesson seven

 

Unbound forms

Numerals can be marked with the nominal prefixes u- and a- in order to derive unbound forms of numerals:

uyu sun

Person two

the two persons

aya sun

thing two

the two things

uyu vai tengi kaichu

person six can escape

Six people managed to escape

usun

two:animate

the two persons

asun

two:inanimate

the two things, the pair

uvai tengi kaichu

six:animate can escape

Six (people) managed to escape

 

Decimal fractions

Decimal fractions are characterized by a bastan "comma" like in most non-anglophone languages:

0.25  -  0,25 (meng bastan sunini jom)

0.347  -  0,347 (meng bastan yemel panini teo)

3.14  -  3,14 (yem bastan nini pan)

When the numbers get to complicated, they can be simply put after one another as well in speech instead of breaking them down in hundreds, tenths and such:

3.14159 - yem bastan kwa pan kwa jom sasta

Vulgar fractions

Vulgar fractions are built by adding the root -mbe "part, share" to a numeral:

sun + mbe

sumbe

one half

yem + mbe

yembe

one third

pan + mbe

pambe

one quarter, fourth

jom + mbe

jombe

one fifth

vai + mbe

vaimbe

one sixth

teo + mbe

teombe

one seventh

dia + mbe

diambe

one eighth

sasta + mbe

sastambe

one ninth

nini + mbe

ninimbe

one tenth

mel + mbe

melembe

one hundred, percent

pol + mbe

polombe

one thousand, promille

These fractions can be modified by cardinal numerals in order to express more complicated quantities:

yembe sun

two thirds

pambe yem

three quarters

sunini-sastambe teo

7/29

Quantifiers

Quantifiers in Kah behave like numerals in respect to their place in noun phrases:

uyu wi

Person much

many people

moso wi

milk much

much milk

wana yo

woman all

all women, every woman

wana sun yo

woman two all

both women

 

A list of common quantifiers in Kah is:

wi – much, many

wi tunti – more, more than

wi tio – most, most of all

vivi - too, too much

si – little, few

si tunti – less, less than

si tio – least, least of all

yo – all, every