Counting in Spokil

Language overview

Forty-two in Spokil Spokil is an international auxiliary language created by the French doctor Adolphe Nicolas, starting in the 1880s. Published in 1904 in his book Spokil, langage international, it never gained success as esperanto was already growing.

Spokil numbers list

  • 1 – bal
  • 2 – gel
  • 3 – dil
  • 4 – vol
  • 5 – mul
  • 6 – fal
  • 7 – tel
  • 8 – kil
  • 9 – pol
  • 10 – hal
  • 11 – halbal
  • 12 – halgel
  • 13 – haldil
  • 14 – halvol
  • 15 – halmul
  • 16 – halfal
  • 17 – haltel
  • 18 – halkil
  • 19 – halpol
  • 20 – genul
  • 30 – dinul
  • 40 – vonul
  • 50 – munul
  • 60 – fanul
  • 70 – tenul
  • 80 – kinul
  • 90 – ponul
  • 100 – hel
  • 1,000 – hil
  • ten thousand – hol
  • one hundred thousand – hul
  • one million – baal

Spokil numbering rules

Now that you’ve had a gist of the most useful numbers, let’s move to the writing rules for the tens, the compound numbers, and why not the hundreds, the thousands and beyond (if possible).

  • Digits from zero to nine are rendered by specific words: nul [0], bal [1], gel [2], dil [3], vol [4], mul [5], fal [6], tel [7], kil [8], and pol [9]. Technically, the letter l added at the end of each digit name (and also of each group of three digits) is an euphonic letter (which means it is present only for the nice sound of it).
  • The tens are formed by suffixing the multiplier digit root with nu and the euphonic l, except for ten: hal [10], genul [20], dinul [30], vonul [40], munul [50], fanul [60], tenul [70], kinul [80], and ponul [90].
  • Compound numbers are formed by directly linking the ten root to the unit root with no space and the final euphonic l (e.g.: gedil [23], fabal [61]).
  • The hundreds are formed by setting the multiplier digit before the word for hundred (hel) separated with a space, except for one hundred itself: hel [100], gel hel [200], dil hel [300], vol hel [400], mul hel [500], fal hel [600], tel hel [700], kil hel [800], and pol hel [900].
  • Coumpound hundreds are formed by composing each digit root and adding the final l (e.g.: banubal [101], bagenul [120], divofal [346]).
  • The thousands are formed by setting the multiplier digit before the word for thousand (hil) separated with a space, except for one thousand itself: hil [1,000], gel hil [2,000], dil hil [3,000], vol hil [4,000], mul hil [5,000], fal hil [6,000], tel hil [7,000], kil hil [8,000], and pol hil [9,000].
  • Coumpound thousands are formed by composing each digit root and adding the final l (e.g.: bagedil vomufal [123,456]). However, two specific words exist for ten thousand (hol [10,000]) and one hundred thousand (hul [100,000]).
  • Large numbers names are following the short scale principle, in which each new term is one thousand times its previous one. They are formed by suffixing the al root by the power of one thousand multiplied by thousand. Thus, we have baal (million, 106, or 1 000*1 0001), then geal (billion, 109, or 1 000*1 0002), and dial (trillion, 1012, or 1 000*1 0003) as attested big numbers names. Following the same rules, we can go on to voal (quadrillion, 1015), mual (quintillion, 1018)… And up to poal (nonillion, 1030).

Write a number in full in Spokil

Let’s move now to the practice of the numbering rules in Spokil. Will you guess how to write a number in full? Enter a number and try to write it down in your head, or maybe on a piece of paper, before displaying the result.

Sources

Auxiliary languages

Afrihili, Ba kom, Babm, Bolak, Ceqli, Digisk Folkspraak, Esperanto, Folkspraak, Globasa, Glosa, Guosa, Idiom neutral, Ido, Intal, Interlingua, Interlingue, Interslavic, Kotava, Langue nouvelle, Latinesce, Latino sine flexione, Lingua Franca Nova, Lingwa de planeta, Mondial, Mondlango, Neolatin, Nove Latina, Pandunia, Panglobish, Ro, Romanid, Slovio, Solresol, Sona, Spokil, Stœchiophonie, Tutonish, Universalglot, Uropi, and Volapük.

Other supported languages

As the other currently supported languages are too numerous to list extensively here, please select a language from the full list of supported languages.