THE NUMERAL

THE NUMERAL

The numeral is a word that denotes an abstract number or the abstract numerical order of objects; it can be a noun, an adjective or a pronoun.

The questions they answer are: how many? how much? which?

Irrespective of their morphological status, numerals are invariable, e.g.

Ten multiplied by two is twenty (noun);

Ten students left by bus (adjective);

Not all the students were present, ten had left earlier (pronoun);

The first (student) asked whether to stay or to leave (pronoun/ noun)

Numerals can be classed according to various criteria, e.g.

1) according to form:

a) simple: one, two, three, nine, ten, eleven etc.

b) compound: twenty two, fifty one etc.

c) by derivation: thirteen, fourteen, thirty, sixty and all the ordinal numeral etc.

2) according to content:

a) cardinal numerals

b) ordinal numerals

c) fractional numerals

d) multiplicative numerals

e) distributive numerals

f) adverbial numerals of recurrence

1. Cardinal numerals

a) cardinal numerals show the number of objects:

1 one 10 ten

2 two 20 twenty

3 three 30 thirty

4 four 40 forty

5 five 50 fifty

6 six 60 sixty

7 seven 70 seventy

8 eight 80 eighty

9 nine 90 ninety

10 ten 100 one hundred

11 eleven 1,000 one thousand

12 twelve 1,000,000 one million

13 thirteen 1,000,000,000 one billion

14 fourteen

15 fifteen

16 sixteen

17 seventeen

18 eighteen

19 nineteen

How to use the cardinal numeral:

numerals hundred, thousand, million, billion do not get a plural suffix when used with numbers, e.g. 3,000 = three thousand, 5,000,000 = five million; however when used to show an indefinite number, they are used in the plural , e.g. thousands and thousands of people, tens of millions of books etc.

use and before the tens, e.g. 1,157 is read one thousand one hundred and fifty seven; 3,004 reads three thousand and four etc.

a comma (,) is used instead of a full stop (.) to separate millions from hundreds of thousands, thousands from hundreds, e.g. 3,457,908 etc. and a full stop (.) instead of a comma (,) in decimal fractions, e.g. 5.7; 234.987 etc.

years are read as follows: the first two figures together and the last two together, e.g. 1991 = nineteen ninety one; 1809 = eighteen oh nine; starting with 2000 the years are read as follows: 2000 = two thousand; normally for the first nine years of each century oh[ou] is used to express 0 (zero), but exceptionally for the first decade of the 21^st century and is used to express 0 (zero) so 2001 is read two thousand and one etc.

the cardinal numeral is also used instead of the ordinal numeral to show the number of a house, bus, flat, chapter, section, volume etc, e.g. book ten; section nine; volume three; flat twenty seven etc.

telephone numbers: there are several ways of reading the telephone numbers; they are usually read figure by figure if the figures are different, e.g. 41 72 45 = four one seven two four five; if there is a kind of symmetry in the number, it may be read by twos, e.g. 41 56 41 = forty one fifty six forty one; if a figure is repeated, it is read "double . "; e.g. 45 33 22 = four five (or forty five) double three double two; or 55 77 08 - double five double seven 0 (oh OR zero) eight etc.

telling the time: the traditional way of telling the time uses prepositions (past and to) and cardinal numerals for hours and minutes etc., e.g. it is twenty to five or it is twenty past five; there is a newer form that has been forced upon users by international use (flights, train etc.) and which consists in the juxtaposition of two cardinal numbers, the first telling the hour and the second telling the minutes, e.g. five twenty five (am or pm); four fifty (am or pm) etc, 1002 becomes ten oh[ou] two; the military have a special way of telling the time, when it is a whole number, e.g. for two o'clock sharp = two hundred hours etc.

2. Ordinal numerals

the first the second

the third the fourth

the fifth etc.

Except the first three ordinal numerals whose form is different, the others are formed from the cardinal numeral, and all are preceded by the.

Uses:

telling the date: the date may be written in various ways, but it is read as follows: the + the numeral + of + name of the month and then the year, e.g. June, 4^th , 2000 = the fourth of June, two thousand etc.

to show regular intervals, e.g. every third week = o data la trei saptamani, twice every second week etc.

3. Fractional numerals

common fractions: 2/3 = two thirds; ¼ =one fourth; 4/6 = four sixths; ½ half; 3 ½ = three and a half etc.

decimal fractions: special attention should be paid to the fact that instead of comma in the European system, a full stop/a period is used in the Anglo-Saxon system, e.g. 5.6; 3.56; 2.8765; 1.2 etc.

4. Multiplicative numerals

Show how many times a quantity or number increases, e.g.

adjectival use:

double - dublu

threefold - intreit

fourfold - impatrit

The form is an ordinal numeral + -fold.

adverbial use:

twice - dublu, indoit, de doua ori

three times, threefold - intreit, de trei ori

four times, fourfold - impatrit, de patru ori

a hundred times - de o suta de ori

5. Distributive numerals

These numerals show the distribution and grouping of objects:

(one) by one - (unul) cate unul

by twos - cate doi

by threes - cate trei

Adverbial numeral of recurrence

Shows how many times an action is repeated or how many times a quantity or number is larger/smaller than another quantity or number, e.g.

once - o data

twice, two times - de doua ori

three times, thrice - de trei ori

four times - de patru ori

once and a half - o data si jumatate

three times a year - de trei ori pe an

many times - de multe ori