Tuesday, August 9, 2011

The Nepali numbers

I'm a little ashamed to admit it, but even after 5-6 years of learning Nepali language (quite casually), I'm still not able to count to a hundred in Nepalese! Sounds amazingly stupid, doesn't it? But only until you see the words for the Nepali numbers! They are tricky, to say the least. At first glance, there's no system in it at all. Like in English, if you can count 1-9 and you know how to say '50' then you can easily figure out how to say fifty-one, fifty-two, fifty-three etc... Not so with the Nepali numbers!

In Nepali, for instance, '30' and '50' are tis and pachas.And '1', '2' and '3' is ek, dui, teen.
  • 31, then, is simply ek-tis
  • 32, do you think it's dui-tis? Wrong! It's båttis. (Where did that bå- come from?)
  • 51, logically, must then be ek-pachas, right? Wrong! It's ekaunnå. (Where did -aunnå come from?)
  • 52, now, is baunnå. There's a little logic to it, since b-something apparently means '2-something', and the unexplained -aunnå apparently means '50'...
  • 53, so you think you've figured it out now?... The system changes slightly, and '53' becomes tri-pånnå... (What happened to the -aunnå that we just figure out?)..........
Beginning to see my difficulties?

But I actually have a solution! All the teach-yourself-Nepali books and materials I've seen, simply list the numbers from 1-100 in a long list. Sometimes broken into 10 small lists. But it still doesn't make sense. Instead, try arranging the numbers in a grid. I can't explain it, but you can start to see some sense in the words for the Nepali numbers! At least I could! Finally!

Here they are, the smart way to learn Nepali numbers:

0
shunya
10
dos
20
bis
30
tis
40
chalis
50
pachas
60
sathi
70
såttri
80
åsi
90
nåbbe
1
ek
11
eghara
21
ekkais
31
ektis
41
ektalis
51
ekaunnå
61
eksåtthi
71
ekhåttår
81
ekasi
91
ekannåbbe
2
dui
12
bhara
22
bais
32
båttis
42
båyalis
52
baunnå
62
båyåsåtthi
72
båhåttår
82
båyasi
92
båyannåbbe
3
teen
13
tærdå
23
tæis
33
tættis
43
trichalis
53
tripånnå
63
trisåtthi
73
trihåttår
83
triyasi
93
triyannåbbe
4
char
14
chowdha
24
chowbis
34
chårtis
44
chåvalis
54
chowbånnå
64
chowsåtthi
74
chowhåttår
84
chowrasi
94
chowrannåbbe
5
panch
15
pandra
25
pachis
35
pointis
45
pointalis
55
påchpånnå
65
painsåtthi
75
panchhåttår
85
påchasi
95
pånchannåbbe
6
chhå
16
shordå
26
chhåbis
36
chhåttis
46
chåyalis
56
chåpånnå
66
chåyåsatthi
76
chåyåhåttår
86
chåyåsi
96
chåyannåbbe
7
saath
17
såtra
27
såttais
37
sointis
47
satchalis
57
såtaunnå
67
såtsåtthi
77
såthåttår
87
såtasi
97
såntannåbbe
8
aath
18
åtharå
28
åthais
38
åthtis
48
åthchalis
58
åthaunnå
68
åthsåtthi
78
åthhåttår
88
åthasi
98
ånthannåbbe
9
nau
19
unnais
29
unåntis
39
unånchalis
49
unånchas
59
unsåtthi
69
unhåttår
79
unasi
89
unannåbbe
99
unansåy

3 comments:

  1. This is great! I can see why u need a grid.
    I need this to count the number of days my Nepali girlfriend is away :)
    Hope it doesn't take more than 100

    ReplyDelete
  2. Very useful and logical - thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Excellent. You've cracked the code!

    ReplyDelete