Akan Teleteaching Course


Unit 5.5: Notes on grammar 2

Numerals

1. Numerals (see also numeral chart) follow the noun:

1 baaküé 6 nsúéæ 11 duábaàaküé 16 duánsúéæ
2 mmienuá 7 nsoán 12 duámàmienuá 17 duánsoán
3 mmiñnsæé 8 nwõtweá 13 duámàmiñnsæé 18 duánàwõtweá
4 ñnaán/nnaán 9 nkroán 14 duánaán 19 duánkroán
5 enuám/nnuám 10 eduá 15 duánuám 20 aduonu

Examples:
õkraá baaküé "one cat"
adaán mmienuá "two houses"
ntaadeáñ naán "four dresses"
anuaánom nuám "five siblings" (i.e. brothers and sisters)
nnuaá duá "ten trees"

The numerals ñnaán, enuám, eduá loose their prefixes when counting nouns.

"Mirror image": Numerals follow the adjective(s) qualifying the noun: (cf. "Notes on grammar 2" in Unit 2)
õkraá tuntumá baaküé "one black cat"
adaán fññfñá mmienuá "two nice houses"
ntaadeáñ kõkõõá naán "four red dresses"
anuaánom nkuámaa nuám "five junior siblings"
nnuaá nteánten duá "ten big trees"

1.1. Time

a) Hours
Abõá dõán küé. It's one o'clock.
Abõá nnõán mmienuá. It's two o'clock .
Abõá nnõán mmiñnsæé. It's three o'clock.
Abõá nnõn naán. It's four o'clock.
Abõá nnõn nuám. It's five o'clock.
Abõá nnõn nsúéæ. It's six o'clock.
Abõá nnõn nsoán. It's seven o'clock.
Abõá nnõn nwõtweá. It's eight o'clock.
Abõá nnõn nkroán. It's nine o'clock.
Abõá nnõán duá. It's ten o'clock.
Abõá nnõán duábaàaküé. It's eleven o'clock.
Abõá nnõán duámàmienuá. It's twelve o'clock.
b) Exact time
quarter past X Dõán küé abõá apaá hüé simmaá duánuám. It's a quarter past one.
twenty minutes past X Nnõán mmienuá abõá apaá hüé simmaá aduonuá. It's twenty past two.
half past X a) Nnõán mmiñnsæé abõá apaá hüé simmaá aduasæ. It's three thirty.
b) Nnõán mmiñnsæé apaeá muá. It's half past three.
c) Abõá nnõán mmiñnsæé neá fæé.  It's half past three.
twenty minutes to X Akaá simmaá aduonuá na abõá nnõn naán. It's twenty to four.
quarter to X Akaá simmaá duánuám na abõá nnõn naán. It's a quarter to four.

2. Ordinal numbers

nwoáma aâ ñdiá kaán "the first book" lit. "the book which comes first"
ñdaán aâ ñtõá soá mmienuá "the second house" lit. "the house which ranks second"
ataadeáñ aâ ñtõá soá mmiñnsæé "the third dress" lit. "the dress which ranks fourth"
onuaá aâ õtõá soá ñnaán "the fourth sibling" lit. "the brother who ranks fourth"
etc.

3. Iterative numbers

prñkü 'once'
mprñnu 'twice'
mprñnsæ 'three times'
mpñán naán 'four times'
mpñán nuám 'five times'
etc.
mpñán pii 'many times/often'

Go to exercise 3

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