Counting in Rotokas

Language overview

Forty-two in Rotokas Rotokas belongs to the North Bougainville or West Bougainville languages family, a small language family spoken on the island of Bougainville in Papua New Guinea. It is spoken by the Rotokas people, with about 4,000 speakers. It is divided into three dialects: Central Rotokas (the one listed on this page), Aita Rotokas, and Pipipaia. The Rotokas language has the specificity of having the smallest alphabet in use today with only 12 letters, and 11 phonemes.

Rotokas numbers list

  • 1 – katai
  • 2 – erao
  • 3 – vo peva
  • 4 – vo resura
  • 5 – vo vavae
  • 6 – katai vatara
  • 7 – erao vatara
  • 8 – vo peva vatara
  • 9 – vo resura vatara
  • 10 – katai tau
  • 11 – katai tau katai
  • 12 – katai tau erao
  • 13 – katai tau vo peva
  • 14 – katai tau vo resura
  • 15 – katai tau vo vavae
  • 16 – katai tau katai vatara
  • 17 – katai tau erao vatara
  • 18 – katai tau vo peva vatara
  • 19 – katai tau vo resura vatara
  • 20 – erao tau
  • 30 – vo peva tau
  • 40 – vo resura tau
  • 50 – vo vavae tau
  • 60 – katai vatara tau
  • 70 – erao vatara tau
  • 80 – vo peva vatara tau
  • 90 – vo resura vatara tau
  • 100 – katai vovoto
  • 1,000 – katai tuku
  • one million – katai ipu

Rotokas 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, following a quinary numeral system: katai [1], erao [2], vo peva (or vo peruva) [3], vo resura [4], vo vavae [5], katai vatara [6] (1+5), erao vatara [7] (2+5), vo peva vatara [8] (3+5), and vo resura vatara [9] (4+5).
  • Tens are formed starting with the multiplier unit, followed by the word tau, separated with a space: katai tau (or vo vavaerei) [10], erao tau [20], vo peva tau [30], vo resura tau [40], vo vavae tau [50], katai vatara tau [60], erao vatara tau [70], vo peva vatara tau [80], and vo resura vatara tau [90].
  • Compound numbers are formed starting with the ten, followed by the unit separated with a space (e.g.: katai tau erao [12], vo peva tau vo peva vatara [38]).
  • Hundreds are formed starting with the multiplier unit, followed by the word for hundred (vovoto), separated with a space: katai vovoto [100], erao vovoto [200], vo peva vovoto [300], vo resura vovoto [400], vo vavae vovoto [500], katai vatara vovoto [600], erao vatara vovoto [700], vo peva vatara vovoto [800], and vo resura vatara vovoto [900].
  • Thousands are formed starting with the multiplier unit, followed by the word for thousand (tuku), separated with a space: katai tuku [1,000], erao tuku [2,000], vo peva tuku [3,000], vo resura tuku [4,000], vo vavae tuku [5,000], katai vatara tuku [6,000], erao vatara tuku [7,000], vo peva vatara tuku [8,000], and vo resura vatara tuku [9,000].
  • Millions are formed starting with the multiplier unit, followed by the word for million (ipu), separated with a space: katai ipu [1 million], erao ipu [2 million], vo peva ipu [3 million]…

Write a number in full in Rotokas

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

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.