Afaan Oromo/Chapter 01

Chapter 1: Numbers

Shopping Conversation
Maamila: Makorooniin jiraa? ''Abba suuqi: Jira. Kan akkamii barbaadda?'' ''Maamila: Gosa isa guddaa. Kiiloo walakkaa kenni.'' ''Abba suuqi: Tole. Waan biraa?'' Maamila: Kibiriitiin jira? Abba suuqi: Eeyee, meeqa barbaadda? Maamila: Gatiin isaa meeqaa? Abba suuqi: Darzana tokko qarshii shan. ''Maamila: Mi'aa dha. Hin hir'atu?'' Abba suuqi: Tole, qarshii afur danda'ama. Maamila: Dimshaasha meeqa? Abba suuqi: Afur fi torba saantima shantama qarshii kudha tokko saantima shantama dha. ''Maamila: Kunoo. Galatoomi.'' Abba suuqi: Atis galatoomi.

[For translation see here]

The Numbers in Oromo
Numbers come after the noun they modify, so that “two mangoes” is “mangoo lama”, just as “five birr” is “qarshii shan” and 200 is dhibba lama. Ordinal numbers are formed by adding the suffix -ffaa or -affaa to the number. Fractions can be expressed by saying the numerator as a cardinal number and then the denominator as an ordinal number.

Ordinals
1st &mdash; tokkoffaa 2nd &mdash; lamaffaa 3rd &mdash; sadaffaa 4th &mdash; arfaffaa, afraffa 5th &mdash; shanaffaa 6th &mdash; jahaffaa 7th &mdash; torbaffaa 8th &mdash; saddeetaffaa 9th &mdash; sagalaffaa 10th &mdash; kurnaffaa, kudhaffaa 11th &mdash; kudha tokoffaa …

Fractions
1/2 &mdash; walakkaa (tokko lamaffaa) 1/3 &mdash; siisoo, nuusii (tokko sadaffa) 1/4 &mdash; kurmaana, ruubi (tokko arfaffaa) 7/8 &mdash; torba saddeetaffaa

Combining Numbers
When the same number is repeated, it applies to all items. Thus, “lama lama” means “everything is two (birr)”. Two numbers said together indicate amount of birr for number of items, as in “lama sadii” for “two (birr) for three (items)”.