Counting in Kabyle

Language overview

Kabyle, or Kabylian (taqbaylit, ⵜⴰⵇⴱⴰⵢⵍⵉⵜ), is a northern Berber language that belongs to the Hamito-Semitic languages family. Spoken in Kabylia, a region in northern Algeria, and by its diaspora, mainly in France, Belgium and Canada, it counts around 6 million speakers. Kabyle is generally written in the Latin alphabet, in the variant known as tamεemrit, and can also be written in the Tifinagh alphabet.

Kabyle 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, namely ziṛu or ilem [0], yiwen (m) / yiwet (f) [1], sin (m) / snat (f) [2], tlata [3], ṛebɛa [4], xemsa [5], setta [6], sebɛa [7], tmanya [8], and tesɛa [9].
• Tens are formed swapping the final a of the multiplier unit with in, except for ten, twenty, and to some extent eighty and ninety: ɛecṛa [10], ɛecrin [20], tlatin [30], ṛebɛin [40], xemsin [50], settin [60], sebɛin [70], tmanyina [80], and tsɛin [90].
• Numbers from eleven to nineteen are formed on the unit root, suffixed with (ṭ)ac: ḥḍac [11], tnac [12], tleṭṭac [13], ṛbeɛṭac [14], xemseṭṭac [15], seṭṭac [16], sebeɛṭac [17], temmenṭac [18], and tseɛṭac [19].
• Compound numbers are formed starting with the unit, followed by the conjunction u, then the ten (e.g.: setta u εecrin [26], tmanya u xemsin [58]).
• When compound, the units one and two are replaced by Arabic loanwords: waḥed [1] (from wahid), tnayn [2] (from ithnan). Thus, we get waḥed u ɛecrin [21], tnayn u tlatin [32]…
• Hundreds are formed starting with the root of the multiplier unit, linked with a hyphen to the word for hundred (mya, from the Arabic mi’a), except for one hundred and two hundred: mya [100], mitin [200], telt-mya [300], ṛebɛ-mya [400], xems-mya [500], sett-mya [600], sebɛ-mya [700], temn-mya [800], and tesɛ-mya [900].
• Thousands are formed starting with the root of the multiplier, linked with a hyphen to the word for thousand (singular: alef; plural: alaf, from the Arabic alf), except for one thousand and two thousand: alef [1,000], juǧ alaf [2,000], tlat-alaf [3,000], ṛebɛ-alaf [4,000], xems-alaf [5,000], sett-alaf [6,000], sebɛ-alaf [7,000], tmany-alaf [8,000], tesɛ-alaf [9,000], ɛecṛ-alaf [10,000], ɛecrin-alaf [20,000], tlatin-alaf [30,000]… mya-alaf [100,000].
• The word for million is amelyun [1 million], from the Arabic malioun.
• The word for billion is amelyar [1 billion], from the Arabic maliâr.

Write a number in full in Kabyle

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

Books

Berber languages

Kabyle, and Tamazight.

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.