Part 4 · grammar — Chapter 12 · numbers

Position and kind

Ordinals: the particle nu

The Slot 2 particle nu stands before a number and turns quantity into position:

nu ta — first · nu wi — second · nu ta shao — third

nu ta lopia — the first child

nu ta shao philo — the third day

The particle announces the transformation before the number arrives: an ordinal is declared to be about order before you learn which position it names.

Position as a thing: noa

When position itself is the topic, Phi has the noun noa: ta noa, the first position; wi noa, the second. It behaves like any noun, so places take the ordinary locative:

lopia mua wi noa nai. — The child is in the second position.

Counting with classifiers

Numbers meet the classifier system (chapter 11) in one fixed order, number, then kind, then thing:

wi himo melu — two friends, counted as people

ta shao lipha shiro — three trees, counted as living

The full number precedes the classifier; the classifier precedes the noun. Quantity, then nature, then entity: three announcements, in the order that lets each frame the next. The classifier stays optional, as always; using it is an act of acknowledgment, not a requirement of arithmetic.