Numbers in Ch’ol

Learn numbers in Ch’ol

Knowing numbers in Ch’ol is probably one of the most useful things you can learn to say, write and understand in Ch’ol. Learning to count in Ch’ol may appeal to you just as a simple curiosity or be something you really need. Perhaps you have planned a trip to a country where Ch’ol is the most widely spoken language, and you want to be able to shop and even bargain with a good knowledge of numbers in Ch’ol.

It's also useful for guiding you through street numbers. You'll be able to better understand the directions to places and everything expressed in numbers, such as the times when public transportation leaves. Can you think of more reasons to learn numbers in Ch’ol?

Ch’ol (Lak ty’añ, Our language) belongs to the Ch’ol branch of the Mayan languages family. It is divided into three mutually understandable dialectal groups: Sabanilla Ch’ol, Tumbalá Ch’ol, and Tila Ch’ol. Mostly spoken in the highlands of northeastern Chiapas, Mexico, the Ch’ol language counts about 140,000 speakers.Due to lack of data, we can only count accurately up to 400 in Ch’ol. Please contact me if you can help me counting up from that limit.

List of numbers in Ch’ol

Here is a list of numbers in Ch’ol. We have made for you a list with all the numbers in Ch’ol from 1 to 20. We have also included the tens up to the number 100, so that you know how to count up to 100 in Ch’ol. We also close the list by showing you what the number 1000 looks like in Ch’ol.

1) jump’ej
2) cha’p’ej
3) uxp’ej
4) chänp’ej
5) jo’p’ej
6) wäcp’ej
7) wucp’ej
8) waxäcp’ej
9) bolomp’ej
10) lujump’ej
11) junlujump’ej
12) lajchämp’ej
13) uxlujump’ej
14) chänlujump’ej
15) jo’lujump’ej
16) wäclujump’ej
17) wuclujump’ej
18) waxäclujump’ej
19) bolonlujump’ej
20) junk’al
30) lujump’ej i cha’c’al
40) cha’c’al
50) lujump’ej i yuxc’al
60) uxc’al
70) lujump’ej i chänc’al
80) chänc’al
90) lujump’ej i jo’c’al
100) jo’c’al

Numbers in Ch’ol: Ch’ol numbering rules

Each culture has specific peculiarities that are expressed in its language and its way of counting. The Ch’ol is no exception. If you want to learn numbers in Ch’ol you will have to learn a series of rules that we will explain below. If you apply these rules you will soon find that you will be able to count in Ch’ol with ease.

The way numbers are formed in Ch’ol is easy to understand if you follow the rules explained here. Surprise everyone by counting in Ch’ol. Also, learning how to number in Ch’ol yourself from these simple rules is very beneficial for your brain, as it forces it to work and stay in shape. Working with numbers and a foreign language like Ch’ol at the same time is one of the best ways to train our little gray cells, so let's see what rules you need to apply to number in Ch’ol

Digits from one to nine are formed on the number root with the generic classifier p’ej: jump’ej [1], cha’p’ej [2], uxp’ej [3], chänp’ej [4], jo’p’ej [5], wäcp’ej [6], wucp’ej [7], waxäcp’ej [8], and bolomp’ej [9].

The Ch’ol language follows a vigesimal system (of base 20) using the -c’al classifier to form the tens: lujump’ej [10], junk’al [20] (1*20), lujump’ej i cha’c’al [30], cha’c’al [40] (2*20), lujump’ej i yuxc’al [50], uxc’al [60] (3*20), lujump’ej i chänc’al [70], chänc’al [80] (4*20), and lujump’ej i jo’c’al [90].

Note that the intermediary tens are formed using the following multiple of twenty: for instance, thirty is ten (from) forty, and not ten (plus) twenty. This is called a substractive numeral system.

Compound numbers from eleven to nineteen are formed prefixing the word for ten (lujump’ej) with the unit root, with no space, except for twelve, irregular: junlujump’ej [11], lajchämp’ej [12], uxlujump’ej [13], chänlujump’ej [14], jo’lujump’ej [15], wäclujump’ej [16], wuclujump’ej [17], waxäclujump’ej [18], and bolonlujump’ej [19].

Compound numbers above twenty are formed starting with the number from one to nineteen, then the word i and the following multiple of twenty (e.g.: jo’lujump’ej i cha’c’al [35], wucp’ej i chänc’al [67]).

The word for one hundred is jo’c’al [100] (5*20). As Ch’ol follows a full vigesimal system, compound numbers above one hundred keep following the same pattern, using the following multipliers of twenty: jo’c’al [100] (5*20), wäcc’al [120] (6*20), wucc’al [140] (7*20), waxäcc’al [160] (8*20), bolonc’al [180] (9*20), lujunc’al [200] (10*20), junlujunc’al [220] (11*20), lajchänc’al [240] (12*20), uxlujunc’al [260] (13*20), chänlujunc’al [280] (14*20), jo’lujunc’al [300] (15*20), wäclujunc’al [320] (16*20), wuclujunc’al [340] (17*20), waxäclujunc’al [360] (18*20), and bolonlujunc’al [380] (19*20).

The following hundreds are: jumbasc’ [400] (1*400, formed on the 400 units classifier bajc’), jumbasc’ yic’ot jo’c’al [500] (400+100), lujunc’al i cha’bajc’ [600] (800-200), jo’lujunc’al i cha’bajc’ [700], cha’bajc’ [800] (2*400), and jo’c’al i yuxbajc’ [900].

One thousand is lujunc’al i yuxbajc’ [1,000] (3*400-200), hence we have yuxbajc’ [1,200]. And two thousand is jo’bajc’ [2,000] (5*400).

Eight thousand is formed on the 8,000 units classifier (pic): junpic [8,000] (1*8,000).

Gramatica Ch’ol, Viola Warkentin & Ruby Scott, Summer Institute of Linguistics (1980)<

Numbers in Ch’ol

Learn numbers in Ch’ol

List of numbers in Ch’ol

Numbers in Ch’ol: Ch’ol numbering rules

Numbers in different languages

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