Numbers in use
A number word can do more than count. This page shows how to write a code or label (room 12), a clock time or date, an amount of a unit (two meters), a range (3 to 5), and a percent. How the number word itself is built (markers, endings, writing) is in numbers; unspecified amounts, exponents, and the spoken comma are in digitless and exponents.
On this page
Letter codes
English names many things with letters as well as digits: a vitamin (B12), a flat (4B), a jet (F-16). A _ code may hold letters too. Write each letter in lowercase, in shorthand, just like the digits: g_b12.
zazozon debebul g_b12 vagedal.🔊
zazozon debebul grebubadol vagedal.z-Azozon | [d-pill | g-_b12] | v-eat
"Azozon takes a B12 pill."
Say each character as one syllable, after the marker re:
- A digit is its digit syllable (
ba…mo). - A consonant is its letter name (
bu…me,tho,wa,yu). A letter name never sounds like a digit, because it takes the opposite vowel:buis b,bais 1. - A vowel is its own sound after a short break, the catch in English uh-oh. The spelled form writes the break as
'. Without it,bu+uwould run into one long vowel, andre+owould sound like another marker.
| Ageben | Use | English |
|---|---|---|
z_b12 (🔊 zrebubadol) | letter, then digits | B12 |
z_4b (🔊 zrehubul) | digit, then letter | 4B |
z_vba (🔊 zrevebu'al) | vowel after a break | VBA |
z_e1 (🔊 zre'ebal) | code that starts with a vowel | E1 |
z_thw (🔊 zrethowal) | th is one letter | THW |
z_2,1 (🔊 zredothebal) | two fields | version 2.1 |
Rules for letters in a code:
- No comma between letters and digits: the switch is audible (
z_b12, notz_b,12). xis never a character, so a code beforexis always a numeric prefix or plural -x (z_b0xcovers B0 to B9, as in plural labels).- Only the
_marker takes letters: a count, a rank, a sign, or a date has none. - In a code,
eis always the vowel letter, never an exponent. - A letter at the end of a code is a character, not the ending. A code with a letter always shows its ending by a mark:
z_nlis -l,z@_nlis -n,z=_nlis -r.
A foreign code keeps its letters when each one has an Ageben letter. English p, t, k, s, and f are the voiceless sounds of b, d, g, z, and v, so they take those letters: F-16 is z_v16, and P2 is z_b2. A code with a letter that has no Ageben sound (c, i, j, q, x) stays a span: FBI is z@<FBI>.
Measure phrases
To say how much of a unit (two meters, three hours), use the unit's noun and put the amount on it as a /ɡ/ number, the same way a count sits on a noun. Each SI or everyday unit is the abstract sense of a published root, so the unit noun ends in -m. Say that word, not a Latin abbreviation (m, kg, s). Once the unit phrase has been mentioned, resume it with -r.
zazozon bezerom gradol vowurol.z-Azozon | [b-meter | g-two] | v-walk
"Azozon walks two meters."
For a price (for five grams), put the same measure phrase in a bl- word after the exchange word heham.
The amount hosts nothing, so no bl- word comes after it. A plain /b/ there is the recipient.
| Ageben | Use | English |
|---|---|---|
bezerom g+2 | extra noun (/b/) | two meters |
zazerom g+3; duberem g+5 | subject / object / … | three seconds; five grams |
gezerom g+2 after a noun | modifier on a noun | rare; prefer unit as /b/ or a freestanding noun phrase |
The amount takes the usual number endings, so -m makes it fuzzy (gradom ≈ about two). The unit takes ordinary word endings.
Stock units
Each unit is a metaphor on a published root. The Literal on same root column gives that root's everyday meaning.
| SI / everyday unit | Unit root (metaphor) | Example | Literal on same root | Cue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| meter | ezero meter | bezerom g+2 | ezerol set-square | 📐: exact length |
| gram | ubere gram | buberem g+5 | uberel pound (banknote) | 💷: standard mass |
| second | azero second | bazerom g+3 | azerol stopwatch | ⏱️: short tick |
| minute | umuro minute | bumurom g+5 | umurol three-o'clock | 🕒: the hand steps one minute at a time |
| liter | ubuna liter | bubunam g+1 | ubunal pool | 🎱: liquid volume |
| ampere | ogava ampere | bogavam g+2 | ogaval cable-car | 🚠: current along a line |
| kelvin | uzule kelvin | buzulem g+300 | uzulel ice | 🧊: thermodynamic temperature |
| mole | omowe mole | bomowem g+1 | omowel microscope | 🔬: amount of substance |
| candela | owe candela | bowem g+100 | owel lightbulb | 💡: luminous intensity |
| hour (civil duration) | agoru hour | bagorum g+3 | agorul hourglass | ⏳: civil hour block |
| day | azuro day | bazurom g+2 | azurol sunrise | 🌅: sunrise to sunrise |
| week | agoro week | bagorom g+1 | agorol calendar | 📅: one row of the calendar page |
| month | amalo month | bamalom g+6 | amalol moon | 🌙: one lunar cycle |
| year | ovuva year | bovuvam g+10 | ovuval fireworks | 🎆: fireworks greet each new year |
| inch | ebuvu inch | bebuvum g+3 | ebuvul pinch | 🤏: about a finger-pinch |
| foot | evobo foot-length | bevobom g+6 | evobol foot | 🦶: about one foot long |
| mile | unoba mile | bunobam g+2 | unobal boot | 🥾: a long walk |
| pound | awoba pound-mass | bawobam g+5 | awobal shopping-bag | 🛍️: sold by the pound |
| heat grade (not kelvin) | overo temperature | boverom g+37 | overol thermometer | 🌡️: how hot or cold |
Words for a quantity itself (heavy, flow, time as a continuum, …) are ordinary roots (arolem heavy, godurom duration, …), not units.
Spelled out, bagorum g+3 is bagorum gragel three hours.
Ranges
To give a range of numbers (from 3 to 5, 3 through 5), write the two ends with the hook al between them: A al B. No join word closes it, and no extra word names the scale.
zragel al zrazal.z-three | through | z-five
"From 3 to 5." (both ends included)
Between two numbers, 3, including 5 has nothing to include into, so al reads as through: the band from A reaching and including B. This reading needs both endpoints to be the same kind of number (both amounts, both ranks, or both labels / times), each with digits. A number with no digits keeps the ordinary hook (zral al zrazal = some number of them, including 5), and so do mixed kinds.
To count a range of things, put the endpoints on the counted noun, the same way one count sits on it. The noun names the line:
zodozel gragel al grazal vowurol.[z-dog | g-three] | through | g-five | v-walk
"Three to five dogs walk."
zagorum gragel al grazal.[z-hour | g-three] | through | g-five
"Three to five hours."
A word after B describes B alone, and a word on the counted noun describes the whole range. To add a detail to the range itself, put a /w/ word right before the hook (detail on the hook).
Exclude an end with ul. 3, except 5 reads as the band that stops short of 5: the hook excludes the endpoint after it. The ends are read in the order you say them, so to exclude the low end, say it second.
| Ageben | Use | English |
|---|---|---|
zragel al zrazal | both ends in | 3 to 5 ([3, 5]) |
zragel ul zrazal | 5 left out | 3 up to but not including 5 ([3, 5)) |
zrazal ul zragel | 3 left out | more than 3, up to 5 ((3, 5]) |
zragel am zrazal | soft ends | roughly 3 to 5 |
zragel um zrazal | soft exclusion | 3 up to about 5, not quite 5 |
zragel ual zrazal | both ends out | strictly between 3 and 5 ((3, 5)) |
zragel uol zrazal | outside the band | below 3 or above 5 |
ual and uol are the range hooks, which also work on scales that are not numbers. An endpoint can still be fuzzy on its own (zragel al zrazam = 3 to about 5).
Compare with: zragel zrazal zaol is 3, then 5: two values in order, not a band. zragel zrazal zal is 3 and 5. zazozon zalazun zol gamahum ranks people on a scale. A place path (from a station to a train) uses two place relation words, each with its /b/, not this hook.
Percent and percentage points
To give a percent of a whole (25% of the cats), end a count number (ra / ru) with yo. Put it on the noun for the whole, in the same /ɡ/ slot as a count (zogozelx gragel = three cats).
zogozelx g+25%.🔊
zogozelx gradozayol.z-cat-x | g-25yo
"25% of the cats."
| Ageben | Use | English |
|---|---|---|
yo | percent (portion of a whole) | everyday percent figure (25 in 25%); those digits ÷ 100 |
yu | percentage points (point-scale amount or delta) | point figure (2 in +2%*); those digits ÷ 100 |
Digits follow the normal digit rules (including optional ye inside the percent/point reading). Say the digits you mean (g+100% → spoken grabamomoyol).
Order: integer digits, optional ye + fractional digits, then yo or yu. yo / yu sit on ra / ru only. At most one yo or yu group in the number word; leave wa / wu off that word. Endings still apply (-l exact, -m about, -n conventional label, -r resume).
In preferred writing: % → speech yo; %* → speech yu (sign still on ra / ru, written + / -).
Fractions (half of)
To name one part of a whole (half of the cats, a third of the tea), put a minus number g-N right after the noun. Here the ru marker divides, as it does in /h/ h-N: with N of 2 or more, the word names one part in N.
zogozelx grudol vehohel.[z-cat-x | g-half-of] | v-sit
"Half of the cats sit."
zedudal grugel vehohel.[z-tea | g-third-of] | v-sit
"A third of the tea sits there."
To say how many parts, put the count first and the fraction after it: g+N then g-M is N parts of M. English two thirds is the same two words in the same order.
zogozelx gradol grugel vehohel.[z-cat-x | g-two | g-third-of] | v-sit
"Two thirds of the cats sit."
g-N alone is a fraction only right after a plain noun. After a measure unit, a minus number is still a negative amount (bezerom grudol minus 2 meters). The count makes the fraction plain in any slot, a unit included: a count then a minus is never a negative amount, since a unit takes one amount.
zazozon vowurol bagorum grabal grugel.z-Azozon | v-walk | [b-hour | g-one | g-third-of]
"Azozon walks for a third of an hour."
Half of a unit also has a decimal route (bezerom g+0.5).
Practice
Short drills for Intermediate. Try each item before opening Show answer.
Setting: a pharmacy
New words:
| English | Ageben | Cue |
|---|---|---|
| bottle | awodal | 🍼 |
| meter | ezerom | 📐 from set square |
| hour | agorum | ⏳ from hourglass |
Review:
| English | Ageben |
|---|---|
| Azozon | azozon |
| pill | ebebul |
| walk | vowurol |
| see | vayebel |
English → Ageben
1. 25% of the pills.
Show answer
zebebulx g+25%.
🔊 zebebulx gradozayol.
z-pill-x | g-25yo
2. Azozon walks two meters.
Show answer
zazozon bezerom gradol vowurol.
z-Azozon | [b-meter | g-two] | v-walk
3. Three to five hours.
Show answer
zagorum gragel al grazal.
[z-hour | g-three] | through | g-five
4. Two thirds of the pills.
Show answer
zebebulx gradol grugel.
[z-pill-x | g-two | g-third-of]
5. Azozon sees a B12 pill.
Show answer
zazozon debebul g_b12 vayebel.
🔊 zazozon debebul grebubadol vayebel.
z-Azozon | [d-pill | g-_b12] | v-see
Ageben → English
1. zawodalx g+50%.
Show answer
🔊 zawodalx grazamoyol.
z-bottle-x | g-50yo
50% of the bottles.
2. z+10 uol z+20.
Show answer
🔊 zrabamol uol zradomol.
z-ten | outside | z-20
Below 10 or above 20.
3. zawodalx gragel gruhul.
Show answer
[z-bottle-x | g-three | g-quarter-of]
Three quarters of the bottles.
Pick one
1. a third of the pills zebebulx grugel. or zebebulx gragel.
Show answer
zebebulx grugel.
z-pill-x | g-third-of
Marker ru divides: a third of; ra is three pills.
Fix it
1. one through three zrabal zragel zal.
Show answer
zrabal al zragel.
z-one | through | z-three
An and-join names only the two ends; a range of numbers puts al between them.
See also
- Number-word anatomy (markers, endings, exponents): numbers.md
- Numeric prefixes (
NUMxROOT): numeric-derivation.md - Hooks behind ranges: hooks.md
- Measured differentials on comparative scales: comparatives.md