Counting in Ndom

Language overview

Forty-two in Ndom Ndom belongs to the Trans–New Guinea languages family of Papuan languages, and more precisely to the Kolopom languages family. Ndom is spoken on Yos Sudarso Island in Papua province, Indonesia. It counts about 1,200 speakers.

Due to lack of data, we can only count accurately up to 100 in Ndom. Please contact me if you can help me counting up from that limit.

Ndom numbers list

  • 1 – sas
  • 2 – thef
  • 3 – ithin
  • 4 – thonith
  • 5 – meregh
  • 6 – mer
  • 7 – mer abo sas
  • 8 – mer abo thef
  • 9 – mer abo ithin
  • 10 – mer abo thonith
  • 11 – mer abo meregh
  • 12 – mer an thef
  • 13 – mer an thef abo sas
  • 14 – mer an thef abo thef
  • 15 – mer an thef abo ithin
  • 16 – mer an thef abo thonith
  • 17 – mer an thef abo meregh
  • 18 – tondor
  • 19 – tondor abo sas
  • 20 – tondor abo thef
  • 30 – tondor abo mer an thef
  • 40 – nif abo thonith
  • 50 – nif abo mer an thef abo thef
  • 60 – nif abo tondor abo mer
  • 70 – nif abo tondor abo mer an thef abo thonith
  • 80 – nif thef abo mer abo thef
  • 90 – nif thef abo tondor
  • 100 – nif thef abo tondor abo mer abo thonith

Ndom 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).

  • The Ndom language uses a senary numeric system, i.e. based on the digit six. The numbers names are created using both addition and multiplication on this base. Digits from one to six have specific names: sas [1], thef [2], ithin [3], thonith [4], meregh [5], and mer [6].
  • From seven to eleven, the numbers are formed by addition, using the conjonction abo: mer abo sas [7] (6+1), mer abo thef [8] (6+2), mer abo ithin [9] (6+3), mer abo thonith [10] (6+4), and mer abo meregh [11] (6+5).
  • Twelve uses the multiplication, with the particule an: mer an thef [12] (6*2).
  • From thirteen to seventeen, the addition is used again, on top of twelve: mer an thef abo sas [13] (6*2+1), mer an thef abo thef [14] (6*2+2), mer an thef abo ithin [15] (6*2+3), mer an thef abo thonith [16] (6*2+4), and mer an thef abo meregh [17] (6*2+5).
  • As multiple of six, eighteen has a special word: tondor [18] (6*3).
  • From nineteen to thirty-five, the addition is used again, on top of eighteen: tondor abo sas [19] (18+1), tondor abo thef [20] (18+2)… tondor abo mer abo sas [25] (18+7)… tondor abo mer an thef [30] (18+6*2)… tondor abo mer an thef abo meregh [35] (18+17).
  • Thirty-six, square of six, has a special word: nif [36] (6*6).
  • From thirty-seven to seventy-one, the addition is used again, on top of thirty-six: nif abo sas [37] (36+1), nif abo thef [38] (36+2)… nif abo tondor [54] (36+18)… nif abo tondor abo mer abo thef [62] (36+18+6+2)… nif abo tondor abo mer an thef abo meregh [71] (36+18+6*2+5).
  • Seventy-two is a multiple of thirty-six (but without the an particule): nif thef [72] (36*2).
  • Above seventy-two, the addition is used again, on top of it: nif thef abo sas [73] (72+1), nif thef abo mer an thef abo ithin [87] (72+6*2+3), nif thef abo tondor [90] (72+18), nif thef abo tondor abo mer abo ithin [99] (72+18+6+3).
  • One hundred is nif thef abo tondor abo mer abo thonith [100] (72+18+6+4).

Write a number in full in Ndom

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

Trans-New Guinea languages

Abui, Huli, Ndom, Savosavo, Sawila, Tolaki, and Western Pantar.

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.