The Khoekhoegowab Numeral System

Khoekhoegowab distinguishes between cardinal numbers and ordinal numbers.

1 CARDINAL NUMBERS

The basic cardinal numbers from one to ten show interesting variation.

Numbers beyond ten built on the numbers given above. For example, the number eleven (11) is counted as ten-plus-one, twelve (12) as ten-plus-two, etc. These numbers get the suffix “ǀa” attached at the end (except for full numbers, see later). The number twenty is literally, two-tens (i.e. 2×10)

As seen above, when you read a two digit number in Khoekhoegowab, you start from the biggest value, similar to English. Consider number 19 (from above), it starts with the tens first (disi), followed by the units (khoese) and the suffix ‘ǀa’, i.e. Disi-khoese-ǀa (literally “ten-nine-ǀa”).

Remember (from above) that full numbers do not get the suffix ǀa (see below). Moreover, full numbers (until ninety) result from units multiplied by ten (disi). As shown previously for twenty (20) two-ten (i.e. two times ten); but also three-ten (i.e. three times ten) for thirty, and nine-ten (i.e. nine times ten) for ninety (see all below). The number hundred is known as kaidisi ‘big ten’

Hundreds, tens and units may be divided with the conjunction tsî, especially if a number is more complex. Consider the following examples:

(Full) Hundreds follow the logic seen for tens above, i.e. until nine hundred, units are multiplied by kaidisi ‘a hundred’. For example, two-hundred (i.e. two times a hundred) for two hundred, three-hundred (i.e. three times a hundred) for three hundred, etc. (see below). One thousand is known as ǀoadisi ‘the full ten’

2 ORDINAL NUMBERS

Khoekhoegowab ordinal numbers get the suffix ‘ǁî’ added to the (cardinal) number, except for the first one (first) which has a unique ordinal number.