Quenya Numerals
From UniLang Wiki
The first 11 numerals are:
| minë (1) | atta (2) | neldë (3) | canta (4) |
| lempë (5) | enquë (6) | otso (7) | tolto (8) |
| nertë (9) | cainen (10) | minquë (11) |
As the elves originally used the duodecimal (base-12) number system, they had need for 12 different digits. This is the reason that the symbols for 10 and 11 are included in this table. The number zero is munta.
There are two words for the number 12:
- 12 rasta/yunquë
The word rasta means something like "a dozen", yunquë is used for counting.
The numbers 13 to 19 are made with the suffix –cëa after the first syllable of the number words for 3 to 9:
- 13 nelcëa
- 14 cancëa
- 15 lencëa
- 16 encëa
- 17 occëa
- 18 tolcëa
- 19 nercëa
The multiples of 10, thus 20 to 90, are constructed with the suffix –cainen:
- 20 yucainen
- 30 nelcainen
- 40 cancainen
- 50 lemincainen
- 60 eneccainen
- 70 otsocainen
- 80 tolcainen
- 90 nercainen
- 100 tuxa
To make a number that is not a multiple of 10, we first write the units and then afterwards the multiple of 10 (to speakers of German or Dutch, this is very common):
- 54 canta lemincainen
The numbers between 100 and 200 can be made in the same fashion:
- 140 cancainen tuxa
- 172 atta otsocainen tuxa
Just as for 12, the numbers 110 and 120 can be written in two different ways:
- 110 cainen tuxa/minquecainen
- 120 yucainen tuxa/yunquecainen
To write the numbers 200 to 900 we use the same prefixes as the multiples of 10, but this time with the suffix –tuxa:
- 200 yutuxa
- 300 neltuxa
- 400 cantuxa
etc.
We also know the number words:
- 1000 húmë
- 1 million mindóra
There is still one strange feature of the number words from 20 upwards, when these number words are followed by a noun, the noun is in the partitive plural:
- nelcainen roccoli "thirty horses"
- tuxa ciryali "one hundred ships"
Ordinals
The first three ordinals are irregular:
- first: minya
- second: tatya
- third: nelya
From four until nine we remove the last vowel of the cardinal number and add –ëa:
- four: canta → fourth: cantëa
- five: lempë → fifth: lempëa
- six: enquë → sixth: enquëa
- seven: otso → seventh: otsëa
- eight: tolto → eighth: toltëa
- nine: nertë → ninth: nertëa
Ten is again irregular:
- ten: cainen → tenth: quainëa
But eleven and twelve also follow the normal rule:
- eleven: minquë → eleventh: minquëa
- twelve: yunquë → twelfth: yunquëa
For "half" we have the word perya.
Quotientials
There also exists quotientals that are used when something has happened a certain number of times. They are used as adverbs:
- eru once
- yú twice
- nel thrice (or three times)
- can four times
The higher numbers ar formed with the suffix –llumë:
- lemillumë five times
- enquellumë six times
- cëallumë ten times
- tuxallumë one hundred times
