Numbers & Numerals

Уӕ райсом хорз

One of the issues I have with most English-Language materials for studying Ossetian is that they are all written for academic papers. To properly understand these papers one must also be fluent in the IPA in order to grasp said language. Using the IPA table, the Ossetian 'ӕ' is written as 'ɐ', whereas the intended IPA corollary is 'ə'; the IPA's 'ɐ' is Ossetian's 'А', as in "Ахуыргонд ысси" - '(he) became learned. See now I'm translating two languages! If you would like to see the English IPA chart, I have posted it on this site under the Fundamentals chapter. That being said, lets begin!

Here are the basic Cardinal Numbers:

иу - One

дыууӕ - Two

ӕртӕ - Three

цыппар - Four

фондз - Five

ӕхсӕз - Six

авд - Seven

аст - Eight

фараст - Nine

дӕс - Ten

Note for 11 to 19: These numbers are created by compounding(putting together) the appropriate number + the number 10, with connecting morphemes and root changes that require focus.

иуӕндӕс - Eleven (the 'ӕн' here is a 'connecting morpheme' as mentioned above).

дыууадӕс - Twelve (here you can see what I mean by 'root change', the letter at the end of 'дыууӕ' changes from 'ӕ' to 'а', before having the 'ten' added, so keep that in mind for future learning).

ӕртындӕс - Thirteen

цыппӕрдӕс - Fourteen

фынддӕс - Fifteen

ӕхсӕрдӕс - Sixteen

ӕвдӕс - Seventeen

ӕстдӕс - Eighteen

нудӕс - Nineteen

дыуын - Twenty

Notes for larger numbers: Iron Ossetian uses a hybrid of two systems for generating larger numbers; decimal and vigesimal, allowing for several options when articulating numerals. Decimal is the way we are used to in English, but the Vigesimal system is alien to most English speakers (unless they understand a language that uses it, such as French). Vigesimal numeric systems uses concepts based on the number '20' to express larger numerals.

For example, let's use the number '35', it can be written two ways:

In the Decimal system - ӕртын фондз (thirty + five)

In the Vigesimal system - фынддӕс ӕмӕ (у)ссӕдз (fifteen and((and='ӕмӕ')) twenty)

As I understand it, either system is acceptable, and their seems to be no standard that constantly applies to situations where you might use one or the other.

Decimal Large Numbers:

ӕрты - Thirty

цыппонр - Fourty

фӕндзай - Fifty

ӕхсай - Sixty

ӕвдай - Seventy

цыппары-ссӕдзы - Eighty

нӕуӕдзӕ - Ninety

сӕдӕ - One Hundred

дыууӕ сӕды/дыууӕ сӕди - Two-Hundred

ӕртӕ сӕды/ӕртӕ сӕди - Three-Hundred

Vigesimal Large Numbers (by twenties):

ссӕдз/инцӕй - Twenty

дӕс ӕмӕ ссӕдз/дӕс ӕма инцӕй - Thirty (lit. 'ten

and twenty')

дыуиссӕдзы/дууинцӕй - Fourty (lit. two twenty)

дӕс ӕмӕ дыуиссӕдзы/дӕс ӕма дууинцӕй - Fifty

ӕртиссӕдз/ӕртинцай - Sixty

дӕс ӕмӕ ӕртиссӕдз/дӕс ӕма ӕртинцӕй - Seventy

цыппарыссӕдзы/цыппаринцай - Eighty

дӕс ӕмӕ цыппарыссӕдзы/дӕс ӕма цыппаринцӕй - Ninety

фондзыссӕдз/фонджинцӕй - One Hundred

*Four-Hundred to Nine-Hundred follow the same pattern. Also worth nothing is the fact that the suffix(es) added to the number hundred, 'ы' and 'и' respectively, are only added if no other numerals follow it, in the sentence.

мийн/мин - One Thousand* (Which is a Turkic loanword)

*Multiple thousands are expressed as 'Cardinal Numeral' + 'Thousand' (The same as in English).

- цыппар мийн - Four Thousand

*Complex numerals are written in the format thousands -->hundreds ->tens ->ones, '2239' is written as 'дыууӕ мийн дыууӕ сӕды ӕрты фараст', using the Decimal system.