Cardinal Numbers
| Base 10 | Base 8 | Eastern Kēlen (Math/Tech) |
Transitional | Xāmorte Kēlen (Legal/Formal) |
Old Kēlen (Poetic) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | āniþ | ān | ||
| 2 | 2 | ēnne | |||
| 3 | 3 | wijtē | ārre | ||
| 4 | 4 | wijor | ālle | ||
| 5 | 5 | āmme | |||
| 6 | 6 | tē | |||
| 7 | 7 | ōnne | |||
| 8 | 10 | ānor | ōr | ||
| 9 | 11 | ānor aþān | ōr aþān | āru | |
| 10 | 12 | ānor aþēnne | ōr aþēnne | āru aþān | |
| 11 | 13 | ānor awijtē | ōr awijtē | āru aþēnne | |
| 12 | 14 | ānor awijor | ōr awijor | āral | |
| 13 | 15 | ānor aþāmme | ōr aþāmme | āral aþān | |
| 14 | 16 | ānor atē | ōr atē | āral aþēnne | |
| 15 | 17 | ānor aþōnne | ōr aþōnne | āral awijtē | |
| 16 | 20 | ēnnōr | ālu | ||
| 24 | 30 | wijtōr | ēnnaral | ||
| 32 | 40 | āllōr | |||
| 40 | 50 | āmmōr | |||
| 48 | 60 | tēōr | āllaral | ||
| 56 | 70 | ōnnōr | |||
| 64 | 100 | ānoru | ōru | ||
| 72 | 110 | ānoru aþōr | ōru aþōr | tēaral | |
| 96 | 140 | ānoru aþāllor | ōru aþāllor | ŋō | |
| 128 | 200 | ēnnoru | |||
| 144 | 220 | ēnnoru aþēnnor | āralu | ||
| 4096 | 10000 | ōrāen | |||
Cardinal Numbers
Table A lists the various forms of the cardinal numbers in Kēlen. The dialects shown are: the Eastern dialect, often used in less formal documents, and by mathematicians and engineers; the Xāmorte dialect, used in formal situations and law courts, the primary source of Standard Kēlen; Old Kēlen, whose forms are still found in poetry; and some transitional forms found in various places. The official standard forms are indicated by the bold type in boxes, like such.
Kēlen numbers read from left to right. So, "17" parses to "10 and 7" or ōr aþ-ōnne. Likewise, "217" parses to "2 hundred and 10 and 7" or ēnnoru aþ-ōr aþ-ōnne, and "2017" parses to "20 hundred and 10 and 7" or ēnnor ōru aþ-ōr aþ-ōnne. The aþ used in counting is the same as the conjunction aþ, and is reduced to a- before consonants.
When counting, the number follows the noun, which stays singular up to the quantity of four. For counting sticks, then, count japōma ān "one stick" and japōma ēnne "two sticks", japōma wijtē "three sticks", japōma wijor "four sticks", japōmi ēmme "five sticks", japōmi tē "six sticks", etc.
Numbers as Nouns
Numbers can be turned into nouns by putting noun morphology on them. These nouns are grammatically singular, being prefixed with the inanimate ja- or the animate ma-. These nouns do not take any suffixes for plural or collective or distributive.
One can use numbers inflected with singular morphology with singular nouns and collective nouns, though not in the same way. One cannot use them with plural nouns. One can also use inflected numbers as pronouns. For example:
"Give me one stick." sele japōma jān cī SE+1p.sg.goal N.sg(stick) N.sg(one) COMM "Give me one." sele jān cī SE+1p.sg.goal N.sg(one) COMM "Give me six sticks." sele japōmi tē cī SE+1p.sg.goal N.pl(sticks) MOD(six) COMM "Give me six." sele jatē cī SE+1p.sg.goal N.sg(six) COMM "Give me one set of sticks." sele anpōmi ān cī SE+1p.sg.goal N.co(sticks) MOD(one) COMM "Give me six sets of sticks." sele anpōmi tē cī SE+1p.sg.goal N.pl(sticks) MOD(six) COMM "Give me one of the sticks." sele anpōmi jān cī SE+1p.sg.goal N.co(sticks) N.sg(one) COMM "Give me six of the sticks." sele anpōmi jatē cī SE+1p.sg.goal N.pl(sticks) N.sg(six) COMM
As one can see from the examples above, using a bare number with a collective counts sets, while using an inflected singular number with a collective, counts items in a set.
Ordinal Numbers
For ordinal numbers, aside from 'first', the particle nō is affixed to the end of the number. So:
| ēnne | two | ēnne nō | second |
| tē | six | tē nō | sixth |
| ōr aþēnne | twelve | ōr aþēnne nō | twelfth |
| ēnnoru aþōr aþēnne | 217 | ēnnoru aþōr aþēnne nō | 217th |
The word for 'first' is jānnena, and is only used for 'one'.
| ān | one | jānnena | first |
| ālu aþān | 21 | ālu aþān nō | 21st |
The article nō can also be used with inflected numbers, following the pattern in the previous section.
"Give me the first stick." sele japōma jānnena cī SE+1p.sg.goal N.sg(stick) N.sg(first) COMM "Give me the first." sele jānnena cī SE+1p.sg.goal N.sg(first) COMM "Give me the sixth stick." sele japōma tē nō cī SE+1p.sg.goal N.pl(sticks) MOD(six) MOD(-th) COMM "Give me the sixth one." sele jatē nō cī SE+1p.sg.goal N.sg(six) MOD(-th) COMM "Give me the sixth sets of sticks." sele anpōmi tē nō cī SE+1p.sg.goal N.pl(sticks) MOD(six) MOD(-th) COMM "Give me the sixth of the sticks." sele anpōmi jatē nō cī SE+1p.sg.goal N.pl(sticks) N.sg(six) MOD(-th) COMM
Fractions
Fractions are expressed using the old diminutive suffix -isse attached to the denominator. For example, the fraction 1/3 is ān wijtisse and 2/3 is ēnne wijtisse. The fraction 1/2 can be expressed as ān ēnnisse, but is more often expressed as wiē or as jawīja when inflected as a noun.
Some Basic Mathematics
Here are some quick examples of addition (anranā), subtraction (anrapē), multiplication (anrōrū), and division (ankeþāwa).
"5 is 2 plus 3." se āmme to ēnne wijtē nā SE 5 from 2 3 more "2 is 5 less 3." se ēnne to āmme wijtē pē SE 2 from 5 3 less "5 is from the addition of 2 and 3." se āmme to anranā ē ēnne ē wijtē SE 5 from addition & 2 & 3 "2 is from the subtraction 5 with 3." se ēnne to anrapē wijtē jē āmme SE 2 from subtraction 3 against 5 "6 is made from the multiplication of 2 and 3." se tē to anrōrū ē ēnne ē wijtē SE 6 from multiplication & 2 & 3 "2 is made from the division of 6 with 3." se ēnne to ankeþāwa wijtē jē tē SE 2 from division 3 against 6 "2 is 6/3." la ēnne to tē wījtisse LA 2 from 6 /3