Numbers
Anthologica Universe Atlas / Universes / Emily / Transemilian / Morphology / Pronouns and adjectives / Numbers

Numbers


Transemilian numbers (at least below a million) are adjectives, and they immediately follow the noun, coming before any other adjectives. The basic numerals are:
  • one: коул /koul/
  • two: шка /ʃka/
  • three: грім /grim/
  • four: фтеу /ɸtɛu/ (note the spelling)
  • five: сцу /stsu/
  • six: лъян /ljan/
  • seven: ғьдэ /ʝdɛ/
  • eight: ги /ɟi/
  • nine: еньтла /eɲtla/
  • ten: клэ /klɛ/
To form the numbers 11 through 19, the smaller number is added to клэ:
  • eleven: клэкоул
  • twelve: клэшка
  • thirteen: клэгрім
  • fourteen: клэфтеу
  • fifteen: клэсцу
  • sixteen: клэлъян
  • seventeen: клэғьдэ
  • eighteen: клэги
  • nineteen: клэеньтла
Due to the adjacency of the vowels э and е, the word клэеньтла is usually pronounced as though it were spelled клэіньтла.

For numbers larger than 19, the numerals two through nine are prefixed onto the word for ten: "twenty" is шкаклэ, "thirty" is грімклэ, "forty" is фтеуклэ, etc. However, the word for "ninety" is not *еньтлаклэ but еньклэ. The numbers between these are formed the same as eleven through nineteen: 21 is шкаклэкоул. 22 is шкаклэшка, 23 is шкаклэгрім, and so on, all the up to еньклэеньтла "99".

Higher numbers are formed through similar compounding. The basic roots for larger numbers are:
  • 100: сулӭм /suʎɛm/
  • 1,000: щам /ʃtʃam/
  • 10,000: кмом /kmom/
  • 100,000: тёчнам /tjotʃnam/
Thus, 107 is сулӭмғьдэ; 4,669 is фтеущамлъянсулӭмлъянклэеньтла; 25,301 is шкакмомсцущамгрімсулӭмкоул; and 854,989 is гитёчнамсцукмомфтеущаменьсулӭмгиклэеньтла.

Note: when грім precedes any of these elements—грімклэ, грімсулӭм, грімщам, грімкмом, грімтёчнам—it is pronounced as though it were written грін. As in the form for "ninety", еньтла becomes ень when prefixed to the other numbers (еньсулӭм, енькмом, еньтёчнам, but енщам).

All the numbers described above, despite their length, are "simple" adjectives and decline as such, taking case suffixes (but not number suffixes). As mentioned above, these numerals immediately follow the noun, preceding any other adjectives. Thus, the genitive of "the 37 red cars" is эімаутоцоюр грімклэғьдэюр сталцочаюр.

Complex numbers


Once we reach a million, however, the situation becomes somewhat more complicated. The numbers for million, billion, trillion, and so on are not adjectives in Transemilian but nouns, and the nouns that they refer to—that, if the numbers were smaller, they would modify—are forced into the partitive case and, grammatically speaking, modify the number! Thus, while the dative of "one thousand cigarettes" would be кацігарэтацокъӭл щамкъӭл, the dative of "one million cigarettes" is камілъёнкъӭл кацігарэтацоздінь, and the dative of "three million cigarettes" is камілъёнцокъӭл грімкъӭл кацігарэтацоздінь (note the plural suffix on "million"). The determiner prefix on the number matches that of the noun.

Furthermore, when we extend these numbers, the extended number follows the large number in the comitative case. Thus, the dative of "three million and twenty-four cigarettes" is камілъёнцокъӭл грімкъӭл кашкаклэфтеукя кацігарэтацоздінь, with "three million" in the dative, "twenty-four" in the comitative, and "cigarettes" in the partitive; the dative of "six billion two hundred million sixty-five cigarettes" is камілъярцокъӭл лъянкъӭл камілъёнцокя шкасулӭмкя калъянклэсцукя кацігарэтацоздінь.

The words for these larger numbers are:
  • million: мілъён /miljon/ (1,000,000)
  • billion: мілъяр /miljar/ (1,000,000,000)
  • trillion: білъён /biljon/ (1,000,000,000,000)
  • quadrillion: білъяр /biljar/ (1,000,000,000,000,000)
  • quintillion: трілъён /triljon/(1,000,000,000,000,000,000)
  • sextillion: трілъяр /triljar/ (1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000)

Ordinal numbers


Ordinal numbers (e.g. "first", "fifteenth", "twenty-third") are formed with the suffix -ган /gan/, which attaches to the end of the number adjective but before any other suffixes. Stress shifts to this suffix: коулган is /koul'gan/, not */'koulgan/. Thus:
  • the 1st apple: эімӭлкан коулган
  • the 12th apple: эімӭлкан клэшкаган
  • the 100th apple: эімӭлкан сулӭмган
  • the 6,254th apple: эімӭлкан лъянщамшкасулӭмсцуклэфтеуган

In complex numbers, the ordinal suffix attaches to the numeral noun (e.g. "million", "billion", etc.). It does not attach to further numbers within the complex number, and the "base" noun (that is, the noun that there are a million of) is partitive and plural just as with cardinal numbers.
  • the 1,000,000th apple: эімілъёнган эімӭлканцоздінь
  • the 1,000,001st apple: эімілъёнган коулкя эімӭлканцоздінь

Orthography


Most numbers are written as numerals rather than spelled out; the decimal point is a comma and the digit separator is a period. If the number is simple (i.e. less than 1,000,000), it follows the noun and bears the case suffix: 91къӭл, 327щэ, 5.891здінь, etc. If the number is 1,000,000 or larger, it is written before the noun and bears the appropriate determiner prefix and case suffix (but not the plural suffix, even if this would be present when spelled out), and the noun must be written in the partitive. Thus, the accusative translations for "the x red apples" are:
  • the 100 red apples: эімӭлканцове 100ве сталцове
  • the 3,570 red apples: эімӭлканцове 3.750ве сталцове
  • the 1,000,000 red apples: эі1.000.000ве эімӭлканцоздінь сталцоздінь
  • the 1,000,001 red apples: эі1.000.001ве эімӭлканцоздінь сталцоздінь
  • the 1,000,000,000,000 red apples: эі1.000.000.000.000ве эімӭлканцоздінь сталцоздінь
  • the 2,000,000,000,000 red apples: эі2.000.000.000.000ве эімӭлканцоздінь сталцоздінь
  • the 17,334,198,431,562 red apples: эі17.334.198.431.562ве эімӭлканцоздінь сталцоздінь
Similarly, ordinal numbers are usually written as numerals:
  • the 12th apple: эімӭлкан 12ган
  • the 100th apple: эімӭлкан 100ган
  • the 2,045,889th apple: эі2.045.889ган эімӭлканцоздінь