Counting in Mandan

Language overview

Forty-two in Mandan Mandan (Nų́ų́ʔetaa íroo) is an extinct Siouan language of North Dakota in the United States. While its last speaker, Edwin Benson (1931–2016), left us after having been the sole fluent speaker since 2009, Mandan is still taught at the Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish College, in New Town, North Dakota.

Due to lack of data, we can only count accurately up to 100 in Mandan. Please contact me if you can help me counting up from that limit.

Mandan numbers list

  • 1 – máxana
  • 2 – núp
  • 3 – náamini
  • 4 – tóop
  • 5 – kixų́ųh
  • 6 – kíima
  • 7 – kúupa
  • 8 – tétoki
  • 9 – máxpe
  • 10 – pirák
  • 11 – aakmáxana
  • 12 – aaknúp
  • 13 – aaknáamini
  • 14 – aaktóop
  • 15 – aahkixų́ųh
  • 16 – aahkíima
  • 17 – aahkúupa
  • 18 – aaktétoki
  • 19 – aakmáxpe
  • 20 – núphapirak
  • 30 – náaminihapirak
  • 40 – tóophapirak
  • 50 – kixų́ųhapirak
  • 60 – kíimahapirak
  • 70 – kúupahapirak
  • 80 – tétokihapirak
  • 90 – máxpehapirak
  • 100 – hıįsuk
  • 1,000 – hıįsuk íkaakohi

Mandan numbering rules

Now that you’ve had a gist of the most useful numbers, let’s move to the writing rules for the tens, the compound numbers, and why not the hundreds, the thousands and beyond (if possible).

  • Digits from one to nine are rendered by specific words, namely máxana [1], núp [2], náamini [3], tóop [4], kixų́ųh [5], kíima [6], kúupa [7], tétoki [8], and máxpe [9].
  • Tens are formed starting with the multiplier, suffixed with the marker ha (for times), directly followed by the word for ten (pirak), with no space, except for ten itself: pirák [10], núphapirak [20] (2*10), náaminihapirak [30] (3*10), tóophapirak [40] (4*10), kixų́ųhapirak [50] (5*10), kíimahapirak [60] (6*10), kúupahapirak [70] (7*10), tétokihapirak [80] (8*10), and máxpehapirak [90] (9*10).
  • Teens are formed prefixing the unit with aak, a contraction of the postposition áaki that means above: aakmáxana [11], aaknúp [12], aaknáamini [13], aaktóop [14], aahkixų́ųh [15], aahkíima [16], aahkúupa [17], aaktétoki [18], and aakmáxpe [19].
  • Compound numbers above twenty are formed starting with the ten, suffixed with ini and linked to the unit with a hyphen (e.g.: núphapirakini-máxana [21], kixų́ųhapirakini-kíima [56]).
  • The word for hundred is hıįsuk [100].
  • The expression for thousand is hıįsuk íkaakohi [1,000], meaning hundred that is overly full.

Write a number in full in Mandan

Let’s move now to the practice of the numbering rules in Mandan. Will you guess how to write a number in full? Enter a number and try to write it down in your head, or maybe on a piece of paper, before displaying the result.

Books

A grammar of Mandan A grammar of Mandan
by , editors Language Science Press (2024)
[Amazon.com Amazon.com]

Source

  • A grammar of Mandan, by Ryan Kasak (Language Science Press, 2024)

Siouan languages

Assiniboine, Lakota, and Mandan.

Other supported languages

As the other currently supported languages are too numerous to list extensively here, please select a language from the full list of supported languages.