Æbbro morphology
- Main article: Æbbro
This page gives an extensive description of Æbbro morphological features.
Numerals
The numeral system relies on a decimal base.
The first ten cardinal numbers are noun-like forms on their own:
| aargo | |
| bunaa | |
| leeso | |
| zante | |
| gærne | |
| ddiino | |
| woolu | |
| miizo | |
| hæærtu | |
| laare |
Numerals from 11 to 19 are built with the construction laare + NUM:
| laaraargo | |
| laarebunaa | |
| laareleeso | |
| laarezante | |
| laaregærne | |
| laareddiino | |
| laarewoolu | |
| laaremiizo | |
| laarehæærtu |
The numeral for 11 is irregularly built, by losing the last vowel of laare.
The numerals for (one) hundred and (one) thousand are noun-like forms on their own:
| źoohdi | |
| bbekko |
The numerals for the multiples of tens, hundreds and thousands are built with the construction NUM + -laa / -źoo / -bbe:
| bunaalaa | bunaaźoo | bunaabbe | |
| leesolaa | leesoźoo | leesobbe | |
| zantelaa | zanteźoo | zantebbe | |
| gærnelaa | gærneźoo | gærnebbe | |
| ddiinolaa | ddiinoźoo | diinobbe | |
| woolulaa | wooluźoo | woolubbe | |
| miizolaa | miizoźoo | miizobbe | |
| hæærtulaa | hæærtuźoo | hæærtubbe |
Numbers above the multiples of thousands have no name and are specified by the lesser numerals.
Composite numbers are built by just putting them beside, without any conjunction, in descending order:
- 1985: bbekko hæærtuźoo miizolaa gærne
All cardinal numerals are meant as declinable forms. Case endings are usually attached to last numerals in a composed number. An adjoining noun is always declined in the partitive case, either in singular or plural number. The numerals conveys the case required in the sentence for the noun group.
roo leesone kootohuuppuu tuurkarom I see three houses (lit. I see three of houses)
With semantically uncountable nouns, the numerals, and the noun declined in the singular partitive case, convey the meaning “X units of Y”:
leeso gomooppuu three pieces/parts/balls/etc. of wool
If we want to convey a certain part of a greater amount, “X unity of more Ys”, the construction with the numeral (sometimes declined in the partitive case, instead of the required case), the indefinite adjective argo, every, all, and the adjoining noun declined in the plural partitive case.
roo leesone argoohuuppuu kootohuuppuu tuurkarom I see three of the houses (lit. I see three of all houses)
roo leesoppii argoohuuppuu kootohuuppuu tuurkarom I see three of the houses (lit. I see of three of all houses)
In later texts the noun stops agreeing with the numeral in number. The noun is then firmly declined in singular partitive case.
roo leesone kootoppuu tuurkarom I see three houses (lit. I see three of house)
Ordinal numerals are formed by adding the adjectival endings -ndi / -ndu to the cardinal numeral form:
| aargondu | |
| bunaandu | |
| leesondi | |
| zantendu | |
| gærnendi | |
| ddiinondi | |
| woolundu | |
| miizondi | |
| hæærtundi | |
| laarendu | |
| laaraargondu | |
| laarebunaandu | |
| bunaalaandu | |
| ddiinolaandi |
If the numeral form is composite, the ending is added only to the last numeral form:
- 25th: bunaalaa gærnendi
