Numbers in Gevey

Gevey uses numbers for two distinct purposes: to quantify objects and actions, and to identify an object's or action's place within a series or sequence.

Gevey numbers are a type of modifier, though they differ from the classical modifier use described in the Gevey modifiers webpage. There are five distinct uses of numbers in Gevey, each with their own way of doing things:

Number modes:

value root base with li with lha simple compliment active nominal
0 zer zerue lizer ljazer zerix- zeruetl- zer-ei trjazeru
1 (h)ó(n) ónue lon ljon ónix- ónuetl- ón-ei trjonu
2 drja(s) drjasue lidrjas ljadrjas drjasix- drjasuetl- drjas-ei trjadrjasu
3 bes besue libes ljabes besix- besuetl- bes-ei trjabesu
4 vi[l|lj] vilue livil ljavil vilix- viluetl- vil-ei trjavilu
5 fi[n|gj] finue lifin ljafin finix- finuetl- fin-ei trjafilu
6 diz dizue lidiz ljadiz dizix- dizuetl- diz-ei trjadizu
7 (á)de(r) áderue lider ljader derix- deruetl- der-ei trjaderu
8 (é)spe(n) éspenue lispen ljaspen penix- penuetl- pen-ei trjaspenu
9 (h)í[n|gj] ínue lin ljin ínix- ínuetl- ín-ei trjinu
tens (root)k (root)ki li(root)kit lja(root)kit (root)kix- (root)kuetl- (root)k-ei trja(root)ku
hundreds (root)tc (root)tci li(root)tcit lja(root)tcit (root)tcix- (root)tcuetl- (root)tc-ei trja(root)tcu

The following examples should help to explain the various uses of each of the number types:

Object cardinal numbers

Action cardinal numbers

Object ordinal numbers

Action ordinal numbers

Nominalised numbers

Number compounding

There are two suffixes - '-ki' and '-tci' - which are regularly added to the base numbers, which raise that number by a power of 1 (tens) and 2 (hundreds). These suffixes are combined - '-kitci' - to raise the number by a power of 3 (thousands).

Root variations in compounded numbers:

n° - units n¹ - tens n² - hundreds n³ - thousands
ónue óki ótci ókitci
drjasue drjaki drjatci drjakitci
besue beski bestci beskitci
vilue viljki viljtci viljkitci
finue figjki fintci figjkitci
dizue dizgi dizdxi dizgitci
áderue ádeki ádetci ádekitci
éspenue éspeki éspetci éspekitci
ínue ígjki íntci ígjkitci

Number compounding takes place in pairs, with thousands compounding with hundreds, and tens compounding with units. The larger number always goes first. These compounded numbers can then be linked by the special numerical coordinating conjunction 'he' - this normally happens when either half of the equation is not compounded.

For the thousands, the double suffix will break down when applied to a compound number - Gevey counts along the lines of ten hundred and fifty nine or thirty eight hundred and twenty six.

Some additional irregularities need to be watched for. When either 'áderue' or 'éspenue' occur as the second part of a compound number they will both drop their initial vowel; ónue and ínue, on the other hand, both gain an initial 'h'. Watch out for the syllable boundaries:

11 ó.ki.ho.nue 21 drja.ki.ho.nue
12 ó.ki.drja.sue 22 drja.ki.drja.sue
13 ó.ki.be.sue 23 drja.ki.be.sue
14 ó.ki.vi.lue 24 drja.ki.vi.lue
15 ó.ki.fi.nue 25 drja.ki.fi.nue
33 bes.ki.be.sue 45 vilj.ki.fi.nue
68 di.zgis.pe.nue 79 á.de.ki.hi.nue
81 és.pe.ki.ho.nue 97 ígj.kis.pe.nue
101 ó.tci - he - ó.nue 210 drja.tci - he - ó.ki
240 drja.tci - he - vilj.ki 378 bes.tci - he - áde.kis.pe.nue
539 fin.tci - he - bes.ki.hi.nue 723 á.de.tci - he - drja.ki.be.sue
815 és.pe.tci - he - ó.ki.fi.nue 1002 ó.ki.tci - he - drja.sue
2020 drja.ki.tci - he - drja.ki 3500 bes.ki.fin.tci
1964 ó.ki.hin.tci - diz.gi.vi.lue 2792 drja.ki.de.tci - ígj.ki.drja.sue
4851 vilj.kis.pe.tci - figj.ki.ho.nue 9999 ígj.ki.hin.tci - ígj.ki.hi.nue

There are seperate words for 10,000 'miljue' and for 100,000,000 'tastrje', which are placed after their portion of the number. So a number such as 53,612,804,719 (fifty three thousand, six hundred and twelve million, eight hundred and four thousand, seven hundred and nineteen) is rendered in Gevey as:

There's no formal method of punctuating Gevey numbers. Large numbers will tend to be shown in blocks of 4 (as above), which may be separated by spaces, commas or dots. Decimal numbers may have a comma or a dot to show the floating point.

Base 8 counting in Gevey

Gevey is the major mercantile language of the eastern side of the continent of Ewlah. While most native speaking Gevey peoples count using base 10, the non-Gevey speaking populations with whom they trade extensively count using base 8. In fact, most trade outside the Gevey speaking (and the closely related Balhan speaking) centres will be conducted using base 8 arithmetic.

Rather than adapt the Gevey counting system to operate in base 8, merchants instead imported a ready made base 8 counting system spoken by Istran settlers on the eastern seaboard).

Never mix up these two counting systems. The base 8 counting system is used almost exclusively when quoting prices and the like, and will be included in a Gevey sentence as an interjection.

Base 8 counting systems only use 7 numbers, plus zero. In effect, they count 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12 ... 16, 17, 20, 21 ... 66, 67, 70, 71 ... 76, 77, 100, 101, etc.

Base 8 counting in Gevey:

0 zo 00 zae 000 zaa 0000 zou
1 bo 10 bae 100 baa 1000 bou
2 to 20 tae 200 taa 2000 tou
3 vo 30 vae 300 vaa 3000 vou
4 co 40 cae 400 caa 4000 cou
5 go 50 gae 500 gaa 5000 gou
6 lo 60 lae 600 laa 6000 lou
7 mo 70 mae 700 maa 7000 mou

The formation of numbers is entirely regular, with the following three points kept in mind:

base 8 (base 10) translation base 8 (base 10) translation
0 (0) zodxi 1 (1) bodxi
2 (2) todxi 3 (3) vodxi
4 (4) codxi 5 (5) godxi
6 (6) lodxi 7 (7) modxi
10 (8) baedxi 11 (9) baebodxi
12 (10) baetodxi 13 (11) baevodxi
14 (12) baecodxi 15 (13) baegodxi
16 (14) baelodxi 17 (15) baemodxi
20 (16) taedxi 21 (17) taebodxi
22 (18) taetodxi 23 (19) taevodxi
24 (20) taecodxi 36 (30) vaelodxi
50 (40) gaedxi 62 (50) laetodxi
74 (60) maecodxi 106 (70) baalodxi
120 (80) baataedxi 132 (90) baavaetodxi
144 (100) baacaecodxi 145 (101) baacaegodxi
173 (123) baamaevodxi 1750 (1000) boumaagaedxi
3654 (1964) voulaagaecodxi 3721 (2001) voumaataebodxi
1 0610 (4488) bodxadxi laabaedxi 1 1610 (5000) bodxadxi boulaabaedxi

For fractions, Gevey merchants will use Xj-âl-Y-ru-Z - for example 3 and a half becomes vodx-âl-bo-ru-todxi, while 5 and three eighths becomes godx-âl-vo-ru-zaedxi.

Why did the Gevey merchants adopt this system for trading? Quite simply, the people they wanted to trade with only used base 8 (they counted the spaces between the fingers) and were not willing to adapt their counting system to base 10. So, for trading purposes, Gevey is used for the pitch, and Ylstra-Bedin is used for the sale. Merchants are equally at home using both counting systems, and many are able to convert between base 10 and base 8 subconsciously. But when trading in the Gevey native areas, everyone reverts back to base 10 counting.


This page was last updated on Tecunuuntuu-24, 527: Jafcuu-26 Gevile