Counting in Tolaki

Language overview

Forty-two in Tolaki Tolaki (To’olaki) is an Austronesian language that belongs to the Celebic languages group, and more precisely to the Bungku-Tolaki languages group. It is the major language of Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia. Tolaki counts about 330,000 native speakers.

Tolaki numbers list

  • 1 – o’aso
  • 2 – oruo
  • 3 – otolu
  • 4 – o’omba
  • 5 – olimo
  • 6 – o’ono
  • 7 – opitu
  • 8 – hoalu
  • 9 – osio
  • 10 – hopulo
  • 11 – hopulo o’aso
  • 12 – hopulo oruo
  • 13 – hopulo otolu
  • 14 – hopulo o’omba
  • 15 – hopulo olimo
  • 16 – hopulo o’ono
  • 17 – hopulo opitu
  • 18 – hopulo hoalu
  • 19 – hopulo osio
  • 20 – rua-mbulo
  • 30 – tolu-mbulo
  • 40 – pato-mbulo
  • 50 – lima-mbulo
  • 60 – onoma-mbulo
  • 70 – pitu-mbulo
  • 80 – halu-mbulo
  • 90 – sio-mbulo
  • 100 – aso-etu
  • 1,000 – aso-sowu

Tolaki 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, namely o’aso [1], oruo [2], otolu [3], o’omba [4], olimo [5], o’ono [6], opitu [7], hoalu [8], and osio [9].
  • Tens are formed starting with a form of the multiplier root, linked by a hyphen to the word mbulo, except for ten and forty: hopulo [10], rua-mbulo [20], tolu-mbulo [30], pato-mbulo [40], lima-mbulo [50], onoma-mbulo [60], pitu-mbulo [70], halu-mbulo [80], and sio-mbulo [90].
  • Compound numbers are formed starting with the ten, followed by the unit separated with a space (e.g.: tolu-mbulo opitu [37], lima-mbulo hoalu [58]).
  • Hundreds are formed starting with a form of the multiplier root, linked by a hyphen to the word etu, except for four hundred and six hundred: aso-etu [100], rua-etu [200], tolu-etu [300], pato-etu [400], lima-etu [500], noma-etu [600], pitu-etu [700], halu-etu [800], and sio-etu [900].
  • Thousands are formed starting with a form of the multiplier root, linked by a hyphen to the word sowu, except for six thousand: aso-sowu [1,000], rua-sowu [2,000], tolu-sowu [3,000], omba-sowu [4,000], lima-sowu [5,000], onoma-sowu (or ono-sowu) [6,000], pitu-sowu [7,000], halu-sowu [8,000], and sio-sowu [9,000].
  • The word for million (juta) is a loanword from Indonesian: aso juta [1 million], rua juta [2 million], tolu juta [3 million]…

Write a number in full in Tolaki

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

Source

  • Number in Tolaki (pdf), by Mark Donohue & Owen Edwards, in Papers from 12-ICAL, Volume 1 (2014)

Trans-New Guinea languages

Abui, Huli, Lavukaleve, Ndom, Savosavo, Sawila, Tobelo, 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.