Hand-book of Volapük/Numbers
NUMBERS.
The simple form is the singular number.
The plural number always ends in s.
Man, a man; plural, mans, men. (Man may also be translated, the man, or simply, man. The articles an, a and the are always omitted.) Vom, the woman; voms, the women. Ob, I; obs, we. Om, he; oms, they.
Ol, thou or you; ols, ye or you. In English, you is sometimes singular and sometimes plural. In addressing one person, ol should be used; while ols is used for two or more.
The numerals are always placed after the thing numbered. Man bal, one man. Mans tel, two men. Voms kil, three women.
The first nine numerals end in l, preceded by the vowels in regular order.
The tens are formed by adding s.
Numbers composed of tens and units unite the two parts by ‚e‘, and, balsebal, 11; balsetel, twelve; telsebal, 21; lulsevel, 57; zülsezül, 99.
Tum, hundred; mil, thousand; balion, million; these are preceded by one of the digits. Baltum, 100; teltum, 200; kilmil, 300; folmil foltum, 4400; lulmil lultum lulselul, 5555.
EXERCISE 1.
Vocabulary.
| Buk, book. Del, day. Doab, dollar. Dog, dog. |
Dom, house. E, and. Gan, goose. Jip, sheep. |
Man, man. Mug, mouse. (pronounce moog) Mul, month. |
Pul, boy. Vig, week. Yel, year. |
1. Put all the above nouns into the plural, giving the English meaning of each.
2. Express in Volapük: books, days, men, houses, mice, months, geese, boys, weeks, dollars.
3. Would you use ol or ols in the following sentences?: “Are you an American?” “Will you take seats?”
4. Read these numbers in Volapük: 2, 5, 33, 42, 3, 41, 6, 25, 50, 75, 100, 7, 77, 777, 7777, 8, 18, 6, 99, 15, 13, 64, 51, 84, 77, 333, 1887, 12.
5. Express in Volapük, aloud: 5 men (remember the order is ‘men five’); 3 boys; 12 years; $20; 10 years; 3 months; 6 mice; $50; 16 houses; 3000 books; 100 sheep; 55 boys; 32 years and 10 months; 7 days; one week; 30 days, one month; 365 days; 12 months, 52 weeks, one year; $2769.
6. Read aloud, thinking of the meaning, Mans bals; gan bal; obs; muls kil; doms fol; yels baltum; jips tel; mugs zül; doabs balsetel; buks teltum; muls balsetel; yel bal; dels kiltum mälselul; yel bal; ols; obs tel.
7. Give the English of each of the above phrases.
It is not sufficient to go through these exercises once; they should be repeated again and again, until they can be spoken with the greatest rapidity.
Each Volapük exercise is to be first read aloud, thinking of the meaning, but not of the English words. Then it should be translated into English, the translation written down and compared with the key. After a time the key should be translated back again and compared with the original.
This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.
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