Klao Lesson #1: Numerals + Counting!
For your first lesson, let's off with something easy: how to count or slɛ̀!
One - Dôɛ Two - Sɔ́n Three - tan Four - nyìɛ̀ Five - Mù
My favorite thing about Kru is that it is a base five language. This means every value after five is modified with five as the root. For example, instead of "five (mù)" being followed by "six," it is followed by "five plus one (mùnéɛ́do)". Néɛ́ is your modifier. Think of it as saying "plus" in your number. The notable exception is "nine(sopádo)".
Six - mùnéɛ́do Seven - mùnéɛ́sɔ́n Eight - mùnéɛ́tan Nine - sopádo
When you reach ten, you get a new value (puɛ). You start again from ten, the modifier, and your values up to ten.
Ex: 12 is Puɛnéɛ́do, while 18 is Puɛnéɛ́mùnéɛ́tan.
Ten - Puɛ Eleven - Puɛnéɛ́do Twelve - Puɛnéɛ́sɔ́n Thirteen - Puɛnéɛ́tan Fourteen - Puɛnéɛ́nyìɛ̀ Fifteen - Puɛnéɛ́mù Sixteen - Puɛnéɛ́mùnéɛ́do Seventeen - Puɛnéɛ́mùnéɛ́sɔn Eighteen - Puɛnéɛ́mùnéɛ́tan Nineteen - Puɛnéɛ́sopahdo
It may look tedious but the rule is fairly simple.
This rule continues into the rest of the tens values with a twist, so pay attention:
Ten and Twenty are the only unique tens values with their own unique root. The rest of the tens are multiples of twenty with ten added to them if they're odd. So 40 is 20 x 2, while 70 is 20 x 3 + 10. From there, you follow the same steps as in the tens. So your new number construction is as follows: Wlòh (sɔ́n or nyìɛ̀) néɛ́ puɛ (ones value).
Here is a series of twenty to best explain:
Twenty - Wlòh Twenty-one - Wlòhnéɛ́dôɛ Twenty-two - Wlòhnéɛ́sɔ́n Twenty-three - Wlòhnéɛ́tan Twenty-four - Wlòhnéɛ́nyìɛ̀ Twenty-five - Wlòhnéɛ́mù Twenty-six - Wlòhnéɛ́mùnéɛ́do Twenty-seven - Wlòhnéɛ́mùnéɛ́sɔ́n Twenty-eight - Wlòhnéɛ́mùnéɛ́tan Twenty-nine - Wlòhnéɛ́sopádo Thirty - Wlòhnéɛ́puɛ (20 + 10)
There's even bigger numbers of course. But the get slightly easier.
100 - wlòhmù (20 x 5) 200 - wlòhpuɛ (20 x 10) 1000 - fug͡bɛ̀ 2000 - fug͡bɛ̀ sɔ́n (1000 x 2)
Think you got all that? Great! Practice with this Quizlet!