Letoa counts in base 12. Base 12 is the dominant base on Toa. Some cultures use base 6 and others use base 12 with a sub-base of six but the global auxiliary language has gone with the majority.
Numbers up to a dozen
Here are the numbers in Letoa from 1 to 12. Following Earthly notation conventions, A and B are used here to provide one-place characters for ten and eleven. Our twelve is then written as 10. It may also be called a dozen.
Base 12 | Letoa | Base 10 |
1 | Sa | One |
2 | Seu | Two |
3 | Ho | Three |
4 | Bata | Four |
5 | Oa | Five |
6 | Go | Six |
7 | Oji | Seven |
8 | Dane | Eight |
9 | Lo | Nine |
A | Iko | Ten |
B | Litu | Eleven |
10 | Nam | Dozen |
The next eleven numbers
The next eleven numbers in Letoa take the numbers above and combine them with the word nam. The final m becomes an n on contact with most non-labial consonants and disappears entirely in some positions.
Base 12 | Letoa | Base 10 |
11 | Nansa | Thirteen |
12 | Nanseu | Fourteen |
13 | Naho | Fifteen |
14 | Nambata | Sixteen |
15 | Namoa | Seventeen |
16 | Nango | Eighteen |
17 | Namoji | Nineteen |
18 | Nandane | Twenty |
19 | Nalo | Twenty-one |
1A | Namiko | Twenty-two |
1B | Nalitu | Twenty-three |
Counting the dozens
When counting the dozens, the nam is placed at the end and the multiplier is prefixed to it. These compounds are all regular.
Base 12 | Letoa | Base 10 |
20 | Seunam | Twenty-four |
30 | Honam | Thirty-six |
40 | Batanam | Forty-eight |
50 | Oanam | Sixty |
60 | Gonam | Seventy-two |
70 | Ojinam | Eighty-four |
80 | Danenam | Ninety-six |
90 | Lonam | One hundred and eight |
A0 | Ikonam | One hundred and twenty |
B0 | Litunam | One hundred and thirty-two |
Intermediate numbers place the dozen first, then the remainder.
Seunam iko – 2A (two dozen plus ten, i.e. 34 in base 10)
Gonam oa – 65 (six dozen plus five, i.e. 77 in base 10)
Counting the grosses
A dozen dozens form a gross and the word for gross is kou. It may be written as 100 in base 12. This is equivalent to one hundred and forty-four in base 10. Unlike the English word hundred, kou may be compounded. Once again, compounding is entirely regular.
Hokou – 300 (three gross, i.e. 432 in base 10)
Batakou danenam sa – 481 (four gross, eight dozen and one, i.e. 673 in base 10)
Ojikou seunam iko – 72A (seven gross, two dozen and ten, i.e. 1,042 in base 10)
Note that one gross is always written as kou alone. It is never written as *Sakou or *Sa kou.
Kou oanam – 150 (one gross and five dozen, i.e. 204 in base 10)
The most important number?
Finally and perhaps most importantly we should note that Letoa has a word for zero. That word is cuma and it is important as the presence of zero enables positional notation to be used when writing numbers.