Cardinals
Bantu languages tend to use a quinary counting system with six basic numbers, the other four being miscellaneous.
Here is a comparison between the first ten cardinals in some Bantu languages:
| No. | Sesotho | Tswana | Swahili | Zulu | Ganda |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | nngwe | 'ngwe | moja | ukunye | emu |
| 2. | pedi | pedi | mbili | isibili | bbiri |
| 3. | tharo | tharo | tatu | kuthathu | ssatu |
| 4. | nne | nne | nne | okune | nnya |
| 5. | hlano | tlhano | tano | isihlanu | ttaano |
| 6. | tshelela | thataro | sita | isithupa | mukaaga |
| 7. | supa | supa | baba | isikhombisa | musanvu |
| 8. | robedi | robedi | nane | isishiyagalombili | munaana |
| 9. | robong | robong | tisa | isishiyagalokunye | mwenda |
| 10. | leshome | shome | kumi | ishume | kumi |
Notes:
- The six basic numbers are 1 to 5, and 10.
- As in many Bantu languages, numbers 2 to 5 are adjectives (in many others they are enumeratives); the number 10 is a relative. In Sesotho, all the other numbers are relatives derived from verbs indicating gestures (e.g. 7 is derived from "to point").
- The above are the cardinal (counting) forms, derived from the adjectival forms (for 2 to 5); in particular, the forms in the Sotho–Tswana languages are nasally permuted.
- In Sesotho, nngwe is a variant (allomorph) of the adjective stem -ng used only for Class 9 nouns. The use of the number "one" in Sesotho is different from the other Sotho–Tswana languages, because the Sesotho -ng is an irregular enumerative which behaves sometimes like an adjective and can therefore become a noun.
Read more about this topic: Sotho Parts Of Speech