Láadan/Lessons/21

Counting

0 - 9

The basic numbers are:

Láadan	English	Notes
Rawoho	Zero (0)	The official dictionary technically does not have a word for 0, but rawoho is "none".
Nede	One (1)
Shin	Two (2)
Boó	Three (3)
Bim	Four (4)
Shan	Five (5)
Bath	Six (6)
Um	Seven (7)
Nib	Eight (8)
Bud	Nine (9)

10 - 19

The numbers 11 through 19 are formed by putting the ones value before the tens value, adding "e" as necessary to break up consonants.

Láadan	English
Thab	Ten (10)
Nedethab	Eleven (11)
Shinethab	Twelve (12)
Boóthab	Thirteen (13)
Bimethab	Fourteen (14)
Shanethab	Fifteen (15)
Bathethab	Sixteen (16)
Umethab	Seventeen (17)
Nibethab	Eighteen (18)
Budethab	Nineteen (19)

20 - 99

After that, 20, 30, 40, and so on will have "thab" (10) first, and then the number in that tens place, so 20 would be "ten-two", 30 would be "ten-three", and so on.

Láadan	English
Thab	Ten (10)
Thabeshin	Twenty (20)
Thabebóo	Thirty (30)
Thabebim	Forty (40)
Thabeshan	Fifty (50)
Thabebath	Sixty (60)
Thabebum	Seventy (70)
Thabenib	Eighty (80)
Thabebud	Ninety (90)

Then, to build out 21, 22, 34, 56, etc. you use the tens-value ("Thabeshin") plus ("i") how many ones ("nede").

Láadan	English
Thabeshin	Twenty (20)
Thabeshin i shin	Twenty-two(22)
Thabebim i shan	Forty-five (45)
Thabebud i bud	Ninety-nine (99)

Bigger numbers

Láadan	English
Debe	One hundred (100)
Debe i nede	One hundred and one (100)
Debe i thabeshin i nede	One hundred and twenty-one (121)
Debeshan	Five hundred (500)
Debeshan i nede	Five hundred and one (501)
Debeshan i thabeshin i nede	Five hundred and twenty-one (521)
Thob	One thousand (1,000)
Thobeshin	Two thousand (2,000)
Thobeshin i debeshin i thabeshin i shin	Two thousand, two hundred, and twenty-two (2,200)
Rod	One million (1,000,000)
Merod	One billion (1,000,000,000)

Specifying quantity in a statement

With pronouns, we can specify singular, some (2-5), or many (6+), but how do we explicitly state how many of an item is doing some action, or being affected?

Multiple subjects

For multiple subjects, you will still need to add the plural marker "me-" to your verb, but you can specify a quantity of subjects by putting the number after your subject.

Láadan	English	Breakdown
Bíi eril yod rul thuzheth wa.	The cat ate a cake	rul = cat
Bíi eril meyod rul shin thuzheth wa.	Two cats ate a cake.	me- = plural marker, shin = two

Multiple objects

Let's say you ate three cakes. The number three ("Boó") will go after your object to specify the amount of that object.

Láadan	English	Breakdown
Bíi eril yod le thuzheth wa.	I ate a cake	yod = to eat, thuzh = cake, -th = object marker
Bíi eril yod le thuzheth boó wa.	I ate three cakes.	boó = three.

Multiple recipients/givers

In the case where, perhaps, you're giving cake to three people, your number will go after the recipient.

Láadan	English	Breakdown
Bíi eril ban le thuzheth withediwa.	I gave cake to a person.	ban = to give, with = person, -di = goal marker.
Bíi eril ban le thuzheth withedi boó wa.	I gave cake to three people.
Bíi eril bel le thuzheth withede boó wa.	I took cake from three people.	bel = to take, -de = source marker

Some, many, all, any

You can use the words for "some", "many", "all", and "any" the same way you use an actual number in a sentence - after the subject, the object, or additional case-phrases.

Láadan	English
menedebe or mendebe	many
nedebe or ndebe	few/several
woho	all/every
waha	any

Láadan	English	Breakdown
Bíi eril yod le thuzheth wa.	I ate a cake.
Bíi eril yod le thuzheth nedebe wa.	I ate some cake.
Bíi eril yod le thuzheth menedebewa.	I ate many cakes.
Bíi eril yod le thuzheth woho wa.	I ate all the cake.