Nul

These are the numbers:

• ne — zero

• nan — one

• do — two

• sam — three

• tau — four

• lip — five

• yap — six

• sit — seven

• teim — eight

• ning — nine

• ku — ten

• puk — hundred

• kuk — thousand

  • kuk kuk — million

• biyun — billion

  • biyun kuk — trillion

  • biyun kuk kuk — quadrillion

  • biyun biyun — quintillion

Numbers in Ba kom are pronouns. To count a noun, the number is placed after it. For example:

• miu do
  [cat] [two]
  "two cats"

• bai lip
  [sibling] [five]
  "five siblings"

• bel i xul yop ku ning u ning
  [bottle] [of] [alcohol] [malt] [ten] [nine] [and] [nine]
  "ninety nine bottles of beer"

These are the rules for forming complex numbers:

1. Powers of ten are arranged from greatest to least, and separated by u, "and".

   • ku u do
     [ten] [and] [two]
     "twelve"

2. Words for powers of ten (ku, puk, etc.) are multipled by placing a smaller number after them.

   • ku lip
     [ten] [five]
     "fifty"

   • kuk ku
     [thousand] [ten]
     "ten thousand"

3. Words for powers of ten from "hundred" up cannot appear on their own. They must be modified by a multiplying number. If the number is not multiplied, then nan is used.

Important to note:
Ba kom does not use height as a metaphor for quantity; one never speaks of "higher" or "lower" numbers.
Instead, one uses da "big" and nin "small", or mai "much/many" and nimai "little/few".

The word for "number" is nul.
As an intransitive verb, this means "to be of a relative number", e.g. of a majority or minority:

• nul da
  [number] [great]
  "be of a majority"

• nul nin
  [number] [small]
  "be of a minority"

• nul mai
  [number] [many]
  "be of a plurality"

As a transitive verb, nul means "to be … in number."

• Mim nul ku u sam.
  [we] [number] [ten] [and] [three]
  "There are thirteen of us."

• Mi nul sin nan.
  [I] [number] [only] [one]
  "There is only one of me."

The word for "to count" is lik nul, "point at the number".

The word for "to calculate" is kon, "to figure out, to reckon".

The word for "to measure" is laun.

The word for "to be squared, to be multiplied by itself" is kaun. "To the power of" is kaun dit.

Xom nem nul | Numeric pronouns

Numbers can be used per-se as pronouns, but they can also be turned into pronouns by putting yan in front of the number.

Nul ti | Ordinal numbers

Ordinal numbers are formed with the verb ti.
For example:

• ti nan
  [-th] [one]
  "first"

• ti do
  [-th] [two]
  "second"

• ti ku sam u nan
  [-th] [ten] [three] [and] [one]
  "thirty-first"

These phrases can be nominalized. Ti nan can mean either "to be first" or "the first one".

The question word for asking place in an ordered sequence is ti nul mo, "the how-manieth".

Nul dei | Frequency

The number of times that an event occurs is expressed with the verb dei + a number. This should come at the end of a sentence.

• Bak mou dei sam.
  [hit] [door] [time] [three]
  "Knock on the door three times."

• Mi san xa dei nan, wi na san dei do.
  [I] [say] [already] [time] [one], [will] [not] [say] [time] [two]
  "I already said it once, I won't say it twice."

The timeframe is expressed with ta.

• dei do ta an
  [time] [two] [at] [day]
  "twice a day"

• dei sam ta yun
  [time] [three] [at] [week]
  "three times a week"

• dei nan ta yol
  [time] [one] [at] [year]
  "once a year"

Dei dil means "twice a …"

• dei dil yol
  [time] [half] [year]
  "twice a hear"

• dei dil ken
  [time] [half] [hour]
  "every half hour", "twice an hour"

Dei can also mean "every".

• dei yol
  [time] [year]
  "yearly", "annual"

  • dei yol do
    [time] [year] [two]
    "every two years", "biennial"

• dei mel
  [time] [month]
  "monthly"

  • dei mel tau
    [time] [month] [four]
    "every four months"

Nul dil | Fractions

Fractions are formed with the following template:

[numerator] — dil [denominator] — i [noun]

Imagine that the first number is a pronoun, and that there is an omitted i before the word dil, "part":

yan [numerator] — i dil [denominator] — i [noun]

So, nan dil do i, "one half of", can be understood as "one of two parts of".

For example:

• nan dil do i cu
  [one] [part] [two] [of] [metre]
  "half a meter"

• do dil sam i lin
  [two] [part] [three] [of] [litre]
  "two thirds of a litre"

• sam dil tau i tap
  [three] [part] [four] [of] [mile]
  "three quarters of a mile"

Mixed numbers are given like this:

[whole number] u [fraction] i [noun]

For example:

• nan u nan dil do i cu
  [one] [and] [one] [part] [two] [of] [meter]
  "one and a half meters"

In such cases, "half" can be abbreviated as dil.

• nan u dil i cu
  [one] [and] [part] [of] [metre]
  "one and a half meters"

• sam u dil i pung
  [three] [and] [part] [of] [pound]
  "three and a half pounds"

Percentages are given in this way:

[percent] dil puk i [noun]

For example:

• ku sam dil puk i in
  [ten] [three] [part] [hundred] [of] [person]
  "thirty percent of people"

• ku sit u lip dil puk i patal
  [ten] [seven] [and] [five] [part] [hundred] [of] [what is received]
  "seventy-five percent of revenue"

Jo xei | Age

The word for "age" or "lifespan" is jo xei, literally "span/extent of life".

Age is expressed with the verb xei, followed by the age, usually expressed in years. Thus, "to be […] years old" is xei yol.

• Si xei yol mai mo?
  [you] [live] [year] [many] [what]
  "How old are you?"

• Mi xei yol […].
  [I] [live] [year]
  "I am […] years old."

"To turn" is expressed with lu, "become".

• O lu xei yol lip sa mel lan.
  [he/she] [become] [live] [year] [five] [as] [month] [follow]
  "He/she turns five next month."

Ken jun | Units of Measure

Units of measurement follow whatever they measure, optionally with i. This is the opposite of English: in Ba kom, one conceives of measurements as only existing dependant on what they measure.

For example:

• yel i laun do "two kilometers of road", "a measure of road that is two kilometers long"

• xun i wit sam "three inches of soil", "a measure of soil that is three inches deep"

• xul ga i lin nan "one litre of beer"

Here is a list of common units of measurement:

• laun ("measure") — kilometer

• cu ("arm") — metre

• uk ("fingernail") — centimetre

• tap ("stone") — mile, "a stone's throw"

• ping ("foot") — foot

• wit ("finger") — inch

• lin ("flow") — litre, quart

• bing ("drop") — milliliter

• wat ("seed") — gram

• wat kuk ("thousand grams") — kilogram

• pung ("weight") — pound

• gu da ("large barrel") — tonne

• buk ("ox") — acre, "area that one ox can plough in one day"