Counting in Afrihili

Language overview

Forty-two in Afrihili Afrihili (El-Afrihili) is a zonal auxiliary language designed in 1970 by Ghanaian historian K. A. Kumi Attobrah. Its aim was to be used as a lingua franca throughout all Africa. Its name comes from Africa and Swahili. Afrihili is primarily derived from Swahili and Akan, the Niger-Congo language spoken by its author in southern Ghana, but its lexicon covers various African languages (including Twi, Yoruba, Hausa, Kikongo, Jola-Fonyi, isiZulu, Kinyarwanda, Malagasy), while its semantics is strongly influenced by English, perhaps due to the strong English influence on written Swahili and Akan.

Afrihili numbers list

  • 1 – kana
  • 2 – bari
  • 3 – sade
  • 4 – hudu
  • 5 – digi
  • 6 – seta
  • 7 – fito
  • 8 – nane
  • 9 – tolu
  • 10 – du
  • 11 – dukana
  • 12 – dubari
  • 13 – dusade
  • 14 – duhudu
  • 15 – dudigi
  • 16 – duseta
  • 17 – dufito
  • 18 – dunane
  • 19 – dutolu
  • 20 – duobari
  • 30 – duosade
  • 40 – duohudu
  • 50 – duodigi
  • 60 – duoseta
  • 70 – duofito
  • 80 – duonane
  • 90 – duotolu
  • 100 – keme
  • 1,000 – kalo
  • one million – mili

Afrihili 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 from various origin, namely sifiri [0] (from the Hausa sifiri), kana [1] (from the Yoruba kan), bari [2] (from the Swahili mbili?), sade [3] (from the Oromo sadii?), hudu [4] (from the Hausa hudu), digi [5] (from the Nubian dij-), seta [6] (from the Hausa shidda?), fito [7] (from the Malagasy fito), nane [8] (from the Swahili nane), and tolu [9].
  • Tens are formed starting with the word for ten (du, from the Twi edú), directly followed by the conjunction o and the multiplier digit, except for ten itself: du [10], duobari [20] (10 times 2), duosade [30], duohudu [40], duodigi [50], duoseta [60], duofito [70], duonane [80], and duotolu [90].
  • Compound numbers are formed starting with the ten, then the unit separated with a space (e.g.: duoseta sade [63], duonane digi [85]).
  • Hundreds are formed starting with the word for hundred (keme), directly followed by the conjunction o and the multiplier digit, except for one hundred: keme [100], kemeobari [200] (100 times 2), kemeosade [300], kemeohudu [400], kemeodigi [500], kemeoseta [600], kemeofito [700], kemeonane [800], and kemeotolu [900].
  • When coumpound, hundred and unit are linked with the conjonction na (e.g.: keme na kana [101]).
  • Thousands are formed starting with the word for thousand (kalo), directly followed by the multiplier digit, except for one thousand: kalo [1,000], kalobari [2,000] (1,000 times 2), kalosade [3,000], kalohudu [4,000], kalodigi [5,000], kaloseta [6,000], kalofito [7,000], kalonane [8,000], and kalotolu [9,000].
  • Millions are formed starting with the word for million (mili), directly followed by the conjunction o and the multiplier digit, except for one million: mili [1 million], miliobari [2 millions], miliosade [3 millions]…

Write a number in full in Afrihili

Let’s move now to the practice of the numbering rules in Afrihili. 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.