How to count in Isthmus Zapotec

Enter a number and read it spelled out in Isthmus Zapotec.

Language overview

Isthmus Zapotec (diidxazá) is a Zapotecan language from the Oto-Manguean languages family spoken in Tehuantepec and Juchitán de Zaragoza, in the Mexican state of Oaxaca, by about 100,000 speakers.
Due to lack of data, we can only count accurately up to 9,999 in Isthmus Zapotec. Please contact us if you can help us counting up from that limit.

Isthmus Zapotec numbering rules

  • Digits from one to nine are specific words: tobi [1], chupa [2], chonna [3], tapa [4], gaayu’ [5], xhoopa’ [6], gadxe [7], xhono [8], and ga’ [9].
  • Isthmus Zapotec uses the vigesimal system, hence the tens are formed on the words for ten and twenty, namely: chii [10], gande [20], gande chii [30] (20+10), chupa late gande [40] (2*20), chupa late gande chii [50] (2*20 + 10), chonna late gande [60] (3*20), chonna late gande chii [70] (3*20 + 10), tapa late gande [80] (4*20), and tapa late gande chii [90] (4*20 + 10).
  • When composed with a digit, numbers from eleven to ninety-nine are formed by saying the ten, then the word ne (and), and the digit (e.g.: gande ne gaayu’ [25], chupa late gande chii ne gadxe [57]).
  • Hundreds are formed by saying the multiplier digit before the word for hundred (gayuaa): ti gayuaa [100] (note the use of another form of the digit one, tobi), chupa gayuaa [200], chonna gayuaa [300]… We can note here again the vigesimal system in use: as gayuaa is formed on gaayu’ (five), it can be read as the contraction of five times twenty.
  • The word for thousand is borrowed from Spanish (mil). Thousands are formed the same way as hundreds: ti mil [1,000], chupa mil [2,000], chupa mil [3,000]… The conjunction ne is set when the unit directly follows the thousand (e.g.: chupa mil ne tapa [2,004]).

Books

Numbers list

1 – tobi
2 – chupa
3 – chonna
4 – tapa
5 – gaayu’
6 – xhoopa’
7 – gadxe
8 – xhono
9 – ga’
10 – chii
11 – chii ne tobi
12 – chii ne chupa
13 – chii ne chonna
14 – chii ne tapa
15 – chii ne gaayu’
16 – chii ne xhoopa’
17 – chii ne gadxe
18 – chii ne xhono
19 – chii ne ga’
20 – gande
30 – gande chii
40 – chupa late gande
50 – chupa late gande chii
60 – chonna late gande
70 – chonna late gande chii
80 – tapa late gande
90 – tapa late gande chii
100 – ti gayuaa
1,000 – ti mil

Links

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