Numbers 1-10

Chapter 14

In this chapter, we are going to cover something simple, but necessary: the numbers 1–10.

I’ll give you the following:

  • 1-10
  • some commentary on variation, etc.
  • information on the basics of using numbers in noun phrases (e.g., “two houses” in English)

Numbers 1-10

Number Bambara
1 kelen
2 fila1
3 saba
4 naani
5 duuru2
6 wɔɔrɔ
7 wolonfila3
8 segin4
9 kɔnɔntɔn
10 tan

  1. Pronounced [fla] in normal or rapid speech↩︎

  2. Also luuru or looru in Jula↩︎

  3. Or wolonwula↩︎

  4. Typically pronounced with an English [sh] sound↩︎

Use with nouns

Using these numbers with nouns is very straightforward. You simply place the number after the noun. For instance:

adamaden + saba
human being + three

‘three human beings’

Or:

kalo + kɔnɔntɔn
month/moon + nine

‘nine months’

Note that in neither case did I need to make adamaden or kalo plural; the number next to the noun is enough to signal that there’s multiple of them.

And yes, it’s true that we haven’t covered pluralization yet—we will in "Plurals"!

(👋 Make sure to turn on the sound! Read the Flashcard overview.)

Coming soon n'Ala sɔnna!

kelen
one
fila [fla]
two
saba
three
naani
four
duuru
five
looru
five [possible Jula variant]
wɔɔrɔ
six
wolonfila
seven
wolonwula
seven [possible Bambara variant]
segin
eight
kɔnɔntɔn
nine
tan
ten
fu
zero; nothing
joli
how many; how much
adamaden
human being
kalo
month; moon

 

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