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, Ndom, 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.