Counting in Pular

Language overview

Pular belongs to the Senegambian languages of the Niger-Congo family. This variety of Pular is spoken mainly in Guinea, but also in Guinea-Bissau, Mali, and Sierra Leone by the Fula people, also called Fulani, or Fulɓe. It counts around 5 million speakers. The dialect used on this page is the Pular Fuuta, spoken in the area covered by the former Imamate of Futa Jallon, that lasted from 1725 to 1896. The Pular language can be written in the Latin alphabet, the Arabic alphabet and, since its creation in 1989, in the ADLaM alphabet.

Due to lack of data, we can only count accurately up to 999,999 in Pular. Please contact me if you can help me counting up from that limit.

ADLaM script numerals

The ADLaM alphabet has been invented by two young boys of Guinea in 1989, Abdoulaye Barry (aged 10) and his brother Ibrahima (aged 14). Pular was before written using the Ajami script, an adaptation of the Arabic script used for writing African languages, or in an adapted Latin alphabet. ADLaM stands for the first four letters of this alphabet: alif, dâli, lam, mim. This alphabet is now used for most of the Fula language (also know as Fulani or Fulfulde), of which Pular is a dialect.

Pular 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 one to nine are rendered by specific words up to five, and based on five above: go’o [1], ðiði [2], tati [3], nay [4], jowi [5], jeego [6] (5+1), jeeðiði [7] (5+2), jeetati [8] (5+3), and jeenay [9] (5+4). Those digits are used to count things and animals. For counting people, digits from one to nine are: gooto [1], ðiðo [2], tato [3], nayo [4], jowo [5], jeego [6], jeeðiðo [7], jeetato [8], and jeenayo [9].
• Tens are formed starting with the word cappande, then the multiplier digit separated with a space, except for ten and twenty: sappo [10], nogay [20], cappande tati [30], cappande nay [40], cappande jowi [50], cappande jeego [60], cappande jeeðiði [70], cappande jeetati [80], and cappande jeenay [90]. For counting people, twenty is said nogayo [20], and the multiplier digits are the ones for people (e.g.: cappande tato [30])
• Compound numbers are formed starting with the ten, then the unit linked with the conjunction e (e.g.: cappande tati e jeetati [38], cappande jowi e nay [54]).
• Hundreds are formed starting with the plural form of the word for hundred (teemedere in singular; teemeððe in plural), followed by the multiplier digit separated with a space, except for one hundred: teemedere [100], teemeððe ðiði [200], teemeððe tati [300], teemeððe nay [400], teemeððe jowi [500], teemeððe jeego [600], teemeððe jeeðiði [700], teemeððe jeetati [800], and teemeððe jeenay [900].
• Thousands are formed starting with the plural form of the word for thousand (wuluure in singular; guluuji in plural), followed by the multiplier digit separated with a space, except for one thousand: wuluure [1,000], guluuji ðiði [2,000], guluuji tati [3,000], guluuji nay [4,000], guluuji jowi [5,000], guluuji jeego [6,000], guluuji jeeðiði [7,000], guluuji jeetati [8,000], and guluuji jeenay [9,000].
• In compounds numbers with hundreds and thousands, each order of magnitude (unit, ten, hundred, thousand) is linked to the other with the conjunction e (e.g.: guluuji ðiði e temeððe jeeðiði e cappande jowi e tati [2,753]).

Write a number in full in Pular

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

Articles

Source

• Learner’s guide to Pular

Senegambian languages

Nigerian Fulfulde, and Pular.

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.