Grammar: Cardinal and ordinal numbers

Grammar Points

Cardinal numbers

Ordinal numbers

Class 1 of noun

Class 3 of noun

Grammar

Kibariko - Cardinal Numbers -

In the first place, let’s deal with Cardinal Numbers (Kibariko) 1 – 10. Stems of the cardinal numbers words are shown in the first column:

Numbers 1-10	English	Ingero	Examples
ri-mwe	One	Petero aravuga rimwe gusa	Peter will talk only once.
ka-biri	Two	Abahungu barakora kabiri	Boys will work twice.
ga-tatu	Three	Abakobwa barasoma gatatu	Girls will read three times
ka-ne	Four	Abagabo barabyina kane	Men will dance for times.
ga-tanu	Five	Aba barimu barigisha gatanu	These teachers will teach five times.
ga-tandatu	Six	Abakozi be barahinga gatandatu	He employees will work six times.
ka-rindwi	Seven	Abagore basenga karindwi	Women do pray seven times.
u-munani	Eight	Abaforomo baje hano inshuro munani	Nurses came here eight times.
i-cyenda	Nine	Abaririmbyi bahinduye kacyenda	Singers have changed nine times.
i-cumi	ten	Abaturanyi bawe bambonye ka cumi	Your neighbors saw me ten times.
Zero/ubusa	zero	Nabonye zero/ubusa mu kizami.	I got zero in the test

Note:

It is important to note that in Kinyarwanda “zero” is used with other nine digits to make round numbers. For example: 10, 30, 50, 200, 7000, 460000 etc. The English word zero may be either written as “izero” in Kinyarwanda and it may be translated with the Kinyarwanda word “ubusa”. You can say: umubare “icumi” ufite izero imwe (10), naho ijana ni amazero abiri (100) – the number “ten” (10) is written with one zero, whereas “hundred” (100) is with two zeros.

Note: Numbers from one through seven must have prefixes according to the class of noun modified. Whereas for eight (umunani), nine ( icyenda), and ten (icumi) forms are invariable. Here are the numbers with the first class agreement. The prefixes are the same as for verbs, except the first class singular.

Prefix+Stem	Cardinal	Noun+Cardinal	Prefix	English
umu-ntu	u-mwe	umuntu umwe	u-	one person
aba-ntu	ba-biri	abantu babiri	ba-	two persons
aba-gabo	ba-tatu	abagabo batatu	ba-	three men
aba-gore	ba-ne	abagore bane	ba-	four women
aba-sore	ba-tanu	abasore batanu	ba-	five young men
aba-rimu	ba-tandatu	abarimu batandatu	ba-	six teachers
aba-kobwa	ba-rindwi	abakobwa barindwi	ba-	seven girls

aba-kozi	munani	abakozi munani	--	eight workers
aba-ana	cyenda	abana cyenda	--	nine children
aba-hinzi	cumi	abahinzi cumi	--	ten farmers

Note: The numerals lose their initial vowel when they immediately follow a noun, otherwise they keep it. See the following table.

Ibitabo munani	Eight books
Abana cyenda	Nine children
Inka cumi	Ten cows

Mbese ufite ibitabo byinshi? Oya, mfite umunani gusa.	Do you have many books? No, I only have eight.
Mbese ufite abakozi benshi? Oya, mfite icyenda gusa.	Do you have many employees? No, I only have nine.
Mbese ufite abanyesuri benshi? Oya, mfite icumi gusa.	Do you have many students? No, I only have ten.

abana

abahinzi

imirimo

intebe munani cyenda cumi

ibikombe

ameza

udutabo

Cardinal Numbers (kibariko) 11 – 20. Stems of the cardinal numbers words are shown in the following table as applied to:

*Numbers 11-20*		*English*	*Ingero ‘examples’*
cumi n’ umwe	11	Eleven	abana cumi n’umwe
cumi na babiri	12	Twelve	abahungu cumi na babiri
cumi na batatu	13	Thirteen	abakobwa cumi na batatu
cumi na bane	14	Fourteen	abagabo cumi na bane
cumi na batanu	15	Fifteen	abalimu cumi na batanu
cumi na batandatu	16	Sixteen	abakozi cumi na batandatu
cumi na barindwi	17	Seventeen	abagore cumi na barindwi
cumi n’umunani	18	Eighteen	abaforomo cumi n’umunani
cumi n’icyenda	19	Nineteen	abaririmbyi cumi n’icyenda
makumyabiri	20	Twenty	abaturanyi makumyabiri

Cardinal Numbers (kibariko) 20 – 100.

*Numbers 20-100*		*English*	*Ingero ‘examples’*
makumyabiri	20	Twenty	abana makumyabiri
mirongwitatu	30	Thirty	abahungu mirongwitatu
mirongwine	40	Fourty	abakobwa mirongwine
mirongwitanu	50	Fifty	abagabo mirongwitanu
mirongwitandatu	60	Sixty	abarimu mirongwitandatu
mirongwirindwi	70	Seventy	abakozi mirongwirindwi
mirongwinani	80	Eighty	abagore mirongwinani
mirongocyenda	90	Ninety	abaforomo mirongocyenda
ijana	100	Hundred	abaririmbyi ijana
ijana na cumi	110	Hundred and ten	abaturanyi ijana na cumi

Cardinal Numbers (kibariko) 200 – 11000.

*Numbers 200-1000*		*English*	*Ingero ‘examples’*
maganabiri	200	Two hundred	abana magana abiri
maganatatu	300	Three hundred	abahungu magana atatu
maganane	400	Four hundred	abakobwa magana ane
maganatanu	500	Five hundred	abagabo magana atanu
maganatandatu	600	Six hundred	abarimu magana atandatu
maganarindwi	700	Seven hundred	abakozi magana arindwi
maganamunani	800	Eight hundred	abagore magana munani
maganacyenda	900	Nine hundred	abaforomo magana cyenda
igihumbi	1000	One thousand	abaririmbyi igihumbi
igihumbi n‘ijana	1100	One thousand one hundred	abaturanyi igihumbi n’ijana

Cardinal Numbers (kibariko) 2000 – 10000.

Numbers 2000 -100000		English	*Ingero,examples*
Ibihumbi bibiri	2000	Two thousand	amafranga ibihumbi bibiri
Ibihumbi bitatu	3000	Three thousand	amafranga ibihumbi bitatu
Ibihumb bine	4000	Four thousand	amafranga ibihumbi bine
Ibihumbi bitanu	5000	Five thousand	amafranga ibihumbi bitanu
Ibihumbi bitandatu	6000	Six thousand	amafranga ibihumbi bitandatu
Ibihumbi birindwi	7000	Seven thousand	amafranga ibihumbi birindwi
Ibihumbi munani	8000	Eight thousand	amafranga ibihumbi munani
Ibihumbi cyenda	9000	Nine thousand	amafranga ibihumbi cyenda
Ibihumbi cumi	10 000	Ten thousand…..	amafranga ibihumbi cumi….
Ibihumbi ijana	100 000	One hundred thousand	amafranga ibihumbi ijana

Example of other cardinal number:

Makumyabiri na kane	24
Mirongwitanu na gatanu	55
Mirongwirindwi na gatatu	73
Mirongomunani n’icyenda	89
Ijana n’umunani	108
Maganabiri na mirongwitandatu na karindwi	267
Maganacyenda na cumin na kabiri	912
Igihumbi na maganane na mirongwitatu n’icyenda	1 439
Ibihumbi bibiri n’icyenda	2 009
Ibihumbi cumi na bitanu maganatatu na mirongwirindwi na gatandatu	15 376
Ibihumbi ijana na bitatu maganacyenda na cumi na rimwe	103 911
Miliyoni munani	8 000 000 000

The class agreement with cardinal numbers:

Class 1	1 umwe	2 babiri	3 batatu	4 bane	5 batanu	6 batandatu	7 barindwi
Class 2	umwe	ibiri	itatu	ine	itanu	itandatu	irindwi
Class 3	imwe	ebyiri	eshatu	enye	eshanu	esheshatu	ndwi
Class 4	kimwe	bibiri	bitatu	bine	bitanu	bitadatu	birindwi
Class 5	rimwe	abiri	atatu	ane	atanu	atandatu	arindwi
Class 6	rumwe	ebyiri	eshatu	enye	eshanu	esheshatu	indwi
Class 7	kamwe	abiri	atatu	ane	atanu	atandatu	arindwi
Class 8	bumwe	bubiri	butatu	bune	butanu	butandatu	burindwi
Class 9	kumwe	abiri	atatu	ane	atanu	atandatu	arindwi
Class 10	hamwe	habiri	hatatu	hane	hatanu	hatandatu	harindwi

Note:

The proper use of a cardinal number depends on the class of the noun it modifies. It should agree with the prefix of the noun it is immediately used with.
However,for the 3rd and 6th class plural agreements another form is used. The use of indwi with these classes loses the initial vowel, just as do the numbers for 8, 9, 10, when it follows the noun. See the following table.

3^rd class	ebyiri	eshatu	enye	eshanu	esheshatu	indwi
	inka ebyiri	imbwa eshatu	inzovu enye	inkoko eshanu	intama esheshatu	intare *ndwi*
6^th class	intugu ebyiri	indodo eshatu	insokozo enye	intoke eshanu	inzuki esheshatu	imfunguzo *ndwi*

The use of “ngahe”? - how many? or how much?

This word also takes class prefixes, but observes that they are the same as those of the numbers, not of descriptive adjectives. Only plural forms exist because the idea is plural. Like other adjectives it follows the noun it modifies.

Class 1 abantu bangahe? 'how many people?'	Class 6 intoke zingahe? 'How many fingers?'
Class 2 imisozi ingahe? 'How many hills?'	Class 7 udukombe tungahe? 'How many small cups
Class 3 intebe zingahe? 'intebe zingahe?'	Class 8 amato angahe? 'How many boats?'
Class 4 ibitabo bingahe? 'how many books?'	Class 9 amaboko angahe? 'How many arms?'
Class 5 amasaha angahe? How many watches?'	Class 10 ahantu hangahe? 'How many places?'

Note:

(1) For numbers from 12th upward, the last part of the number usually makes the plural accord. However, you will often hear it with the ka- form.

igitabo cya cumi na bitatu - the 13th book

urupapuro rwa makumyabiri n’eshanu - the 25th page

(2) The “last” of anything is nyuma or imperuka preceded by the posssessive particle. In a line of people the last one is: umuntu wa nyuma or, umuntu w’imperuka.

(3) Numeral adverb. You have already learned that when counting with no object involved you say: rimwe, kabiri, etc. This same form is used for “once”, “twice”, etc. Also for “three times”, etc. e.g. Yasomye kabiri - he read twice.

(4) Using this same prefix ka- , “kenshi” means “many times”, thus, “often”. Kangahe? means “how many times? e.g, Yaje hano kangahe? Yaje kenshi - How many times did he come here? He came often.

Grammar Introduction

In this section I'll show how to use numbers with their corresponding nouns in their respective classes used in a given context. I will explain the use of certain terms which are essentally used in a specific manner to indicate the past, present, and future. For example: imbere/mbere ; inyuma/nyuma ; ejo/ejobundi etc.