LESSON III
The Numerals up to one Hundred
- One, ih 一.
- Two, nyi° or °liang 二, 兩.
- Three, san 三.
- Four, s° 四.
- Five, °ng 五.
- Six, lok 六.
- Seven, tshih 七.
- Eight, pah 八.
- Nine, °kyeu 九.
- Ten, zeh 十.
From ten to twenty the numerals are formed by adding the digits after ten.
- Eleven, zeh-ih 十一.
- Twelve, zeh-nyi° 十二, etc.
- Fifteen, zeh-°ng, pronounced °se-°ng 十五.
- Twenty, nyan° 念. (In speaking of the day of the month nyi°-seh is used) 二十.
- Thirty, san-seh 三十. (Lit. three tens. The Z sound in zeh becomes S when preceded by another word.)
- Forty, s°-seh 四十.
- Fifty, °ng-seh 五十.
- Sixty, lok-seh 六十.
- Seventy, tshih-seh 七十.
- Eighty, pah seh 八十.
- Ninety, °kyeu-seh 九十.
- One Hundred, ih pak 一百.
The intervening numbers between twenty and thirty, etc., are formed regularly by adding the digits to the decimals. Thus twenty-one is nyan°-ih. Thirty-one, is san-seh-ih, etc.
Thirty-five is pronounced san-°so-°ng.
In using the numeral with the noun, the classifier of the noun is introduced between the numeral and the noun. Thus “Four men” is s° kuh nyung (四個人) not s° nyung. “Six chairs” is lok tsak iui°-°ts (六隻椅子) not lok iui°-°ts.
In speaking of a thing well understood the noun is often omitted, and we have simply the numeral with the classifier, as lok kuh, tshih tsak, etc.