As it is noticed above, the cardinals are formed by the preposition “cag” (and), the prefix “ca” (which means collection) and the affix “an”, added to the primitives “usá, duhá, tuló, upáo, lima, unóm, pitó, ualó, siyám, napulo, gatós, yocót, ribo”, the phonetical reasons being taken in consideration. Thus we say:
- caruhaán, not caduhaán,
- catloan, not catuloán,
- cap’atán not caupatán,
- calim’an not calimahán,
- caúnman, not caunoman.
The word “usa” is frequently contracted, especially in familiar language, by the supression of the last vowel. Thus:
| us ca gatos |  | instead of “usá” ca etc. |
| us ca yocót | ||
| us ca ribo |
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In reading the numbers, the English way is followed, the particles “uga may” being sometimes employed especially in cases of large amounts. Thus, to read this number
987654321,
we would say:
“Casiyamán cag ualó cayocót, pitó cagatós caúnman cag limá caribo, ng̃a may upát ca yocót, tuló ca gatós caruhaán cag usá.”
NOTE—In Bisayan, there is no word corresponding to the English zero (0). However, its figure is used in Bisayan. It is suggested that the word “lung̃ág” (empty), or “uaráy” (nothing) be adopted as corresponding to the word “zero” which is derived from modern Latin zephiram from Arabic cafrun, cifrun or sefer (empty).