Numerals in Modern Greek

Stavros Samiotis

Introduction:

This paper is a part of the research program: “Language and number” of Leiden University Centre
for Linguistics, supervised by prof. Sjef Barbiers and dr. Lisa Bylinina. This paper is an attempt to
achieve a description of the numerals system in modern Greek language, written in parallel with
the data analysis and input into the database of the program.

Greek numerals are divided into six main classes: cardinal, ordinal, collective, approximative,
multiplicative and fractional numerals. Each category has its own subclasses, according to the
derivational, semantic or morphological patterns that there are in each class. Thus, cardinal
numerals are divided into the class of “simplex” and the class of “complex” numerals. According
to the definition, “simplex” numerals are those which do and do not follow a specific derivational
pattern and “complex” numerals are those which are syntactic composites, having an additional
or multiplicational relation among them. This, distinction of “simplex - complex” is also hold for
ordinal and collective numerals. On the other hand, multiplicative numerals have their own internal
sub-categorization into “regular” and “comparative” multiplicatives, for two reasons: The first is
that although both subclasses have a common affix for marking the general category they belong
to, namely multiplicatives, “comparative” multiplicatives have another affix which means
“comparison” (:X times more), something that also leads to a semantic difference. The last class is
fractional numerals, which are divided into three main subclasses, those that the numerator and
the denominator are separate word composites, having a syntactic relation between them,
accordingly derived from cardinals and ordinals. The second sub-class consists of the suppletive
form “half” and the third class includes those numerals that is a “combination” of the cardinal
numeral and the word “half”.

The numerical constructions, which are presented here, have been built on two main parameters.
The first is inflection, since some of the numerals are inflected and some others are not. Along
with this, another sub-parameter is the different inflectional paradigms, which forces a further
splitting of the constructions. The second parameter is the derivational source of each
construction, since some numerals are mainly derived from cardinals, some others have their own
suppletive stems, or a different source from other numerical classes. Of course, there are some
other minor parameters for each numerical class. For instance the way they mark their numerical
class, such as in the case that there are alternative affixes. Another parameter is the way
numerical value level in each construction is marked according to the the counting base of “10”,
namely tens, hundreds of thousands.

This paper consists of two parts and an appendix. “Part 1” includes the constructions of each
numerical class, examples of each construction and tables for each one of the inflectional
paradigms. In “Part 2” of the paper, some alternative proposals are discussed in relation to some
points of the analysis in “Part 1” and there are some questions for further investigation. Finally in
the “Appendix” section, there are six tables (called “Maps”), one for each numerical class,
showing the constructions and the sub-categories that each of them belongs to.
S. Samiotis: Numerals in Modern Greek stsamiotis95@gmail.com
Part 1 - The numerical system

1. Cardinal Numerals (*See the appendix1 p. 29, for the “Cardinal Numerals Map” in the table 1)
In the greek language, cardinal numerals are divided into two main categories. Οne category
consists of two sets of numerals: one that does follow a morphological pattern, and one that does
not; characterised as simplex. The second constists of those numerals that are formed through a
process (addition and/or multiplication), characterised as complex.

1.1.1 Simplex Cardinals: no pattern

Simplex numerals are the numerals ranging from 1 to 12, and the numerals 20, 100 and 1000.
Their forms are presented in the following table.

(1)
Number Simplex Cardinals
Values

1 én-as (M) mí-a/mɲ-á (F) én-a (N)

2 2 ðío/ðʝó

3 tr-ís (M) tr-ís (F) trí-a (N)

4 téser-is (M) téser-is (F) tesser-a (N)

5 pé(n)de

6 éksi

7 eftá

8 oxtó

9 eɲá/enéa

10 ðéka

11 é(n)deka

12 ðóðeka

20 íkosi

100 ekató

1000 çíʎ-i (M) çíʎ-es (F) çíʎ-a (N)

As the table above shows, simplex cardinals are divided into another two main categories: one in
which the numeral takes an inflection suffix marker indicating the gender, case and number; and
the other in which the numeral category does not have any marker.

What must be mentioned here is that, there are three inflectional paradigms, one for number 1,
another for numbers 3 and 4 and the last for number 1000.

The inflectional paradigm of the number 1 is the following:

énas
(2)

M F N

Nom. én-as mí-a, mɲ-á én-a

Gen. en-ós mí-as, mɲ-ás en-ós

Acc. én-a(n) mí-a, mɲ-á én-a

1 To be readable, the tables have been added to the appendix section, instead of the text.
1
 The inflectional paradigm for numbers 3 and 4 is the following:

trís, téseris
M F N
(3)

Nom. tr-ís , téser-is tr-ís , téser-is trí-a , téser-a

Gen. tri-ón , tesár-on tri-ón , tesár-on tri-ón , tesár-on

Acc. tr-ís , téser-is tr-ís , téser-is trí-a , téser-a

And the inflectional paradigm for the number 1000 is the following:

çíʎ-i
(4)

M F N

Nom. çíʎ-i çíʎ-es çíʎ-a

Gen. çilí-on çilí-on çilí-on

Acc. çixlí-us / çíʎ-us çíʎ-es çíʎ-a

Finally, what must be noted is, that there is a basic distinction between the number of the first
inflection paradigm and the other two. This is that the number 1 has only singular number and it
modifies only noun heads in singular number as example (5) shows. The numbers 3, 4 and 1000
have only plural number inflection markers, which means that they modify noun heads in plural
numbers, as examples (6) and (7) show.

(5) íne ipóθesi mias óras

íne ipóθes-i mi-as ór-as

is.PRS.3SG matter-F.NOM.SG 1.F.CARD-F.GEN.SG hour-F.GEN.SG

 It is a matter of an hour.

(6) trís ánθropi plútisan

tr-ís ánθrop-i plúti-s-an

3.CARD-M.NOM.PL person-M.NOM.PL become.rich-PST-3PL

Three people became rich.

(7) çíʎi stratiótes polémisan

çíʎ-i stratiót-es polémi-san

1000.CARD-M.NOM.PL solder-M.NOM.PL battle-PST.3PL

A Thousand solders battled.

2
1.1.2 Simplex Cardinals: following a derivational pattern
Tens and hundreds are formed according to a derivational pattern. Each category has its own
pattern.

1.1.2.1 The pattern of tens (-nda)

Tens are formed with a lower value cardinal numeral base and with the suffix -nda. This means
that the base is multiplied by 10 (MULTx10). The pattern is the following:

(9) [[XCARD]-ndaMULTx10]

This morphological pattern is applied to the range of numbers from 30 to 90. Thus, triá-nda is 30
and eksí-nda is 602 . A final note in the case of tens, is that we can also see some phonological
alterations in the stem, as for example the numeral (7) eftá alters to (70) evðomínda. In other
words what happens here is a change from [ft] consonants to [vð] because of the following voiced
[nd] consonants, through the process of assimilation.

1.1.2.2 The pattern of hundreds (-kosç-/-kos-)

Hundreds are formed with a similar process to that we described above. This means that the
numeral is formed with a base that is derived from the lower cardinal numerals, with an affix
meaning the multiplication of 100: kosç-/-kos-3 and a suffix marking the inflection.

(10) [[[XCARD]-kosMULTx100]XINFL] [[[XCARD]-kosçMULTx100]XINFL]

(or)

The inflection in the patterns’s depiction is indicated with an “X” so that it can be varied according
to the inflectional paradigm above.

(11) e.g. 600 M F N

Nom. eks-akós-i eks-akós-es eks-akós-a

Gen. eks-akos-íon eks-akos-íon eks-akos-íon

Acc. eks-akós-us eks-akós-es eks-akós-a

The application range of this pattern is from 200 to 900. Thus, the numeral for 200 is ðʝakósa and
for 500 it is pendakósa.

A last note is that something which is obvious in example 11: Before the morpheme -kos-, there is
an /a/ and we believe that this is there due to phonological reasons. The numeral base ends in the
consonant /s/ and the next phoneme of the -kos- is the phoneme /k/. Thus, the vowel /a/ stands
there for abandoning the coexistence of these two consonants. This is a general phonological rule
that is applied in a wide range of words in greek, as it seems to occur in numerals.

1.2 Complex Cardinals: addition & multiplication

According to Fradin’s definition "these numerals are syntactic composites”. What we have to add,
here, as a general comment is that the relations between the different composites are
characterised by the processes of addition and multiplication.

2 40 is a special case, because even the fact that the formation pattern is regularly applied according to the pattern in
(6), its derivation stem is different. Thus, we would expect that the form for 40 would be: “*teséranda < tésera”, the
grammatical form is saránda. Despite that case, the problem is not only in cardinals (see the maps in appendix). The
numerals belonging to the class of 4, such as 4, 40, 400 have a variety of suppletive stems in the stem position, even
the fact that the morphological pattern is absolutely followed, in each case.

3These two morphemes have no serious deference. -kosç- is the phonological alternative form of -kos-. They are used
under different sociological circumstances. -kos- is the more formal one and -kosç- is the less formal.
3
1.2.1 The formation of thousands (the multiplication process)
With the exception of 1000, which is classified in the simplex numerals category, thousands up to
2000 are syntactically schematised. The pattern consist of two elements/words. The relation
between both elements is that of multiplication. (This will be clarified below.) The first is a cardinal
number and the second is the word çiʎáðes, according to the following schema:

element 1 element 2
(12)
XCARD x çiʎáðes

Here, two comments should be made.

The first has to do with the second element’s derivational source. The word çiʎáðes, meaning
“thousands”, is directly derived from the collective numerals class, which is formed with a base
derived from the cardinal çiʎ- and the collective suffix -áðes. This suffix (-áðes) always marks for
inflection in gender (feminine), case and number (plural), according to the following paradigm:

(13) F (PL.)

Nom. çiʎ-áðes

Gen. çiʎ-áðon

Acc. çiʎ-áðes

The second comment concerns the first element. Any cardinal numeral can stand in this position.
This means that this cardinal numeral may be marked for inflection or not.

But beyond that, what is interesting, is the agreement between these two elements. In the case
that in the first element’s position is a numeral marking for inflection, it agrees with the second
element (çiʎáðes) in gender, case and number and the complex numeral, as a whole, agrees with
the noun in case and number. The following example (14), shows that:

(14) 3000 people

tri-ón çiʎ-áðon anθróp-on

3.CARD-F.GEN.PL 1000-F.GEN.PL person-M.GEN.PL

Again, in the case that the first element’s cardinal does not mark for inflection, the second element
retains its form, without any changes in the numeral’s agreement with the noun in case and
number:

(15) 5000 people

pénde çiʎ-áðon anθróp-on

5.CARD 1000-F.GEN.PL person-M.GEN.PL

As a conclusion, what should be clarified is that any cardinal construction can stand in the first
element position. The inflection, here, as we suggest is not a factor that leads us to split this
construction into two distinct constructions, since the numeral’s syntactic behaviour remains the
same in any case.

1.2.2 The addition process

Above, we described the formation of tens and hundreds. The addition process, we describe
here, is responsible for the formation of tens and hundreds with the addition of other numbers, as
52, 532, 73 are. Again, this numeral construction consists of two main elements, as (16) shows:

4
 (16) element 1 element 2

X + X

In the first element position, a ten or a thousand can stand, as they already have formed, with
-nda for tens and -kos-/-kosç- for hundreds. In the second element position, again, any cardinal
construction, a simplex numeral or a complex (addition), can stand. But this is the very general
pattern. The factor that forces us to spit this pattern in many others is again the inflection.

Both the first and the second elements have to be split up according to the features: “+/-
inflection”. Thus, the feature -inflection corresponds to tens4 and the number 100 (ekató), and the
feature +inflection corresponds to hundreds, thousands and the number 1000. The following
patterns (19-20) show these annotations. Also a last note is that the constructions with an
inflected numeral in the second element position, are those which entail the numbers 1, 3 and 4.

(17a) tens - inflection

element 1 element 2

Xten/100 + Xinfl

(17b) 33: tr-ánda trí-a peð-ʝá

3.CARD-MULTx10 3.CARD-NEUT.NOM.PL boy-NEUT.NOM.PL

(18a) tens - non inflection

element 1 element 2

Xten/100 + Xnon-infl

(18b) 36: tr-ánda éksi peð-ʝá

3.CARD-MULTx10 6.CARD boy-NEUT.NOM.PL

(19a) hundreds - inflection

element 1 element 2

Xhundred/ + Xinfl
thausands/1000

(19b) 203: ðʝ-akós-a trí-a peð-ʝá

2.CARD-MULTx100-NEUT.NOM.PL 3.CARD-NEUT.NOM.PL boy-NEUT.NOM.PL

(20a) hundreds - non inflection

element 1 element 2

Xhundred/ + Xnon-infl
thousands/1000

(20b) 206: ðʝ-akós-a éksi peð-ʝá

2.CARD-MULTx100-NEUT.NOM.PL 6.CARD boy-NEUT.NOM.PL

4 Any ten: 10 (ðéka), 20 (íkosi) and forms with X-nda.

5
The example below presents the case that in the first element position is a thousand, as it is
formed in (12):

(21) add: element 1 add: element 2

3563: tr-ís çiʎ-áðes pend-akós-a eksí-nda trí-a peð-ʝá

3.CARD-F.NOM.PL 1000-F.NOM.PL 5.CARD-MULTx100- 6.CARD-MULTx10 3.CARD- boy-

NEUT.NOM.PL NEUT.NOM.PL NEUT.NOM.PL

mult: element 1 mult: element 2

The numeral in (21) would be classified to the pattern in 19a, as its first element has inflection
(çiʎáðes) and the second element has inflection in its last part (tría).

Thus, the conclusion is that the constructions presented in (12) and (17)-(20), are positions where
other constructions can stand. The basic feature that characterises each construction is
the +/-inflection. But, this does not mean that inflection generates different patterns according to
where it is every time, as for example 503 and 543 would be classified in the same pattern
construction, since the hundred/first element is marked for inflection and the second element is
also marked for inflection, because of the numeral 3. This pattern is shown in 19a. This system
that our analysis suggests, is a dynamic one, and able to explain the complexity of the cardinal
numerals in greek.

1.2.2.1 The syntactic behaviour of 1 under the addition process

As we said above, the numeral 1 has its own inflection and a different stem for the feminine, thatn
that for masculine and neuter. The reason why it has its own pattern in the numerals system is
that it does not agree with nouns in plural number. This is not applied in the case that the numeral
1 is in a second element position. Even, if it retains its morphology, the new numeral, as a whole,
agrees with nouns in plural number and not in singular. The example below illustrates this:

(22) 61: eksí-nda én-a peð-ʝá

6.CARD-MULTx10 1.CARD-NEUT.NOM boy-NEUT.NOM.PL

1.2.2.2 The numerals 11 and 12

Someone would consider the numbers 11 and 12 as being derived from the combination of the
neuter gender of 1 (én-a) for 11 and 2 (ðío) for 12 with the numeral 10 (ðéka) through the process
of addition, constituting their own separate “low-high” pattern. But, if we look at the classical
greek numerals system we will see that these numerals are the products of this language pattern,
namely “low-high” for constructing tens in general. An example is the following:

(23) 13: tr-ís cé ðéka

3.CARD-M.NOM.PL + 10.CARD

In modern greek, this pattern is ungrammatical for forming tens in general. Thus, it sounds more
reasonable to argue that 11 and 12 are lexicalized words belonging to the simplex cardinals class.
Another argument for supporting that they are lexicalized numerals, is the way that the ordinal
numerals for these numbers are formed. This will become clearer in the next chapter.

6
2. Ordinal Numerals (*See the appendix p. 30, for the “Ordinal Numerals Map” in the table 2)
Something that characterises all the ordinal numerals is that they are all marked for inflection.
What triggers the existence of different forming patterns is the way they are formed. To begin with
describing them, (24a) and (24b) present the inflection paradigms of ordinals in singular and plural
number:

(24a) Singular M F N

Nom. (évðom)-os (évðom)-i (évðom)-o

Gen. (évðom)-u (énðom)-is (évðom)-u

Acc. (évðom)-o (évðom)-i (évðom)-o

(24b) Plural M F N

Nom. (évðom)-i (évðom)-es (évðom)-a

Gen. (évðom)-on (énðom)-on (évðom)-on

Acc. (évðom)-us (évðom)-es (évðom)-a

*The numeral above is the ordinal 7. What 24 shows is the suffixes of each case and gender, in both numbers.

2.1 Ordinal markers: -t- / -ost-

With the exception of some numerals these two markers precede the inflection suffix to mark the
ordinal numeral. Each of them is applied to a specific range of numerals. In general -t- is for those
numerals derived from simplex cardinals and -ost- is for tens, hundreds, 100 and 1000.

2.1.1 The ordinal marker: -t-

This marker is applied to the ordinal numerals derived from “simplex” cardinals (the numbers 1, 3
- 6 and 9 -12), with the exceptions of 2, 7 and 8. The formation pattern is presented in 25 below:

(25) [[[XS.CARD]-t-ORD]XINFL]

Thus, ordinal numerals can be formed as those in (26):

(26) 3rd: trí-t-os

3.CARD-ORD-M.NOM.SG

6th: ék-t-u

6.CARD-ORD-M.GEN.SG

The cases of ordinals 1 and 45 are separate because they are not derived from cardinals. They
have their own suppletive stems. The stem for ordinal 4 is: tétar-, forming the numeral: tétar-t-os
according to the pattern in (25). Again the stem for ordinal 1 is pró- forming the numeral: pró-t-os.

Here it would also be interesting to provide some information about the stem of ordinal 1. pró- is a
morpheme, in some cases free or in some others bound, that has the same meaning as the
english one: pre-. In the case that it is bound, it is prefix, forming words meaning: “something
before” like in 27:

5 As we saw in note 1, 4 has its own stem to form some numerals.

7
 (27) pro-íp-a

pre-say-PST.1SG

I said before

But, there are some other cases in which a complex word with the prefix pro- is followed by the
ordinal -t-, as shown (28):

(28) pro-t-aθliti-ís

pre-ORD-athlete-M.NOM.SG

champion

What happens here, is that the words, similar to (28), mean something that is first, in an order. The
same also occurs with the ordinal 3, without being so regular as the case of pro-t-.

(29) tri-t-aθliti-ís

3.CARD-ORD-athlete-M.NOM.SG

third champion

2.1.2 The formation of 2, 7 and 8

The formation pattern for these numerals is different because it does not entail the ordinal marker
-t-. Instead the ordinality is indicated by the numeral’s stem. The pattern is shown in 30 below:

(30) [[XORD]XINFL]

The suppletive stem ðéfter- is used for ordinal 2, forming the numeral ðéfter-os. For 7 and 8, the
stems derived from cardinal tens are used. This is because we see that the phonological changes,
are caused by the morpheme for marking the cardinal tens: -nda6 have been retained7. (31)
presents the numerals:

(31) 7th: évðom-os

7.ORD-M.NOM.SG

8th: óɣðo-os

8.ORD-M.NOM.SG

2.1.3 The formation of tens and hundreds: -ost-

The formation of ordinal tens is based on two different patterns: The first is applied to the
numerals from 30 to 60 and the second is applied to the numerals from 70 to 90. (32) and (33)
accordingly present the patterns:

(32a) [[[[XS.CARD]-k-MULTx10]-ost-ORD]XINFL]

(32b) 30th: tria-k-ost-os

3.CARD-MULTx10-ORD-M.NOM.SG

6 /vð/ < /ft/ for evðom-índa < eftá & /ɣð/ < /xt/ for oɣðó-nda < oxtó

7Below, we will see that the ordinal numerals for 70 and 80 have been formed according to the general pattern, with the
marker -ost-.
8
(33a) [[[[Xten.CARD]-ik-MULTx10]-ost-ORD]XINFL]

(33b) 70th: enðom-ik-ost-os

70.CARD-MULTx10-ORD-M.NOM.SG

The pattern for hundreds is simpler than that of tens. If the stem is a simplex cardinal numeral,
what follow it are: the hundreds cardinal marking, then the ordinal, then finally the inflection
marking. The pattern is presented in (34):

(34a) [[[[XS.CARD]-akosi-MULTx100]-ost-ORD]XINFL]

(34b) 700th: eft-akosi-ost-os

7.CARD-MULTx100-ORD-M.NOM.SG

Now, what remains is a pattern for numerals 20, 100 and 1000. This pattern would be similar to
the one in (25). The only difference, between them, will be the ordinal marker. The pattern in (25)
uses the marker -t- and the pattern in (35) uses the marker -ost-.

(35a) [[[XS.CARD]-ost-ORD]XINFL]

(35b) 100th: ekato-ost-ós

100.CARD-ORD-M.NOM.SG

Finally, special note should be made of the ordinal 20, which exists in two forms, both being
grammatical. The first form is ikosi-ost-ós according to the pattern in (35), the second is the
form: ik-ost-ós for which we believe is a phonological alternative form of the former: ikosi-ost-ós
(namely, the /osi/ is deleted because of its resemblance to the morpheme -ost-)

2.2 Why -t- and -ost- are morphemes?

In many other grammar descriptions of greek numerals, as in: Triantaphyllidis, “Modern Greek
grammar" and Fradin, “Denumeral categories”, the inflection suffixes are not considered as those
we presented in (24). Instead, they are analysed according to a similar inflection paradigm of
adjectives, like the adjective: vare-tós (boring-M.NOM.SG). But, following this point of view, the
ordinals for numbers 2, 7 and 8 would be exceptions. Instead, following our point of view the
inflection paradigm remains exactly the same for every ordinal numeral and what changes for the
case of these numerals above is the way they mark their ordinality8 .

Another issue is if -t- is a morpheme applied to all numerals, even in tens and hundreds. What
changes, according to this analysis, is the marking morphemes for tens and hundreds, namely -
(i)k- that becomes -(i)kos- and -akosi- that also becomes -akosios-. This analysis could be
reasonably supported if the construction pattern in (35) did not exist. Thus, we believe that it is
better to support the view that the hundred marker for hundreds in (34) remains the same as it is
in cardinals and -ost- is a morpheme applied in patterns in (32), (33) and (34).

2.3 The addition process

For the number values lower than 1999, complex ordinals are formed through the process of
addition. The pattern, here in ordinal numerals, is simpler than that in cardinals. This is because
every ordinal numeral is marked for inflection and every numeral is also marked for the ordinal
class, according to the ways we described above. This is illustrated in the following example 36:

8The ordinal marker -t- is also found to Joseph, Brian D. & Irene Philippaki-Warburton. 1987. Modern Greek. London:
Croom Helm, pages: 207-208.
9
 (36) 1263th: çiʎi-ost-os ðʝ-akosi-ost-os eksi-k-ost-os trí-t-os aɣón-as

1000-ORD- 2-MULTx100-ORD- 6-MULTx10-ORD- 3-ORD-M.NOM.SG champion-

M.NOM.SG M.NOM.SG M.NOM.SG M.NOM.SG

2.4 The multiplication process

The multiplication process is applied to numerals higher than 2000. This pattern resembles (12) in
cardinals, with the difference being, that the ordinal 1000 stands in the second element position.
(37) shows the pattern:

(37) element 1 element 2

XORD x çiʎi-ost-XINFL

Here, a question is what stands in the first element position. According to Fradin9 and Stump10 a
multiplicative numeral stands with the suffix -akis, like:

(38) 5: pend-ákis

5-MULT

Of course, the multiplicative form in (38) is a grammatical one, and of course an ordinal numeral
with this form in the first element position is grammatical:

(39) 5000th: pend-skis çiʎi-ost-ós

5-MULT 1000-ORD-M.NOM.SG

But, multiplicative forms ending in -akis, are excluded from our analysis due to the fact that they
are not used. They are forms which belong to the High variety (kaθarévusa) of the old greek
Diglossia, which no longer exists and kaθarévusa which is not used any more. Instead, speakers
prefer to use as multiplicatives the forms that we will describe below marked with the morpheme -
pl-. Now, in the first element position in ordinal numerals, what our analysis suggests, is that there
is another ordinal numeral. Thus, the example (39) will be formed as the construction in (37)
shows:

(40) 5000th: pemp-t-os çiʎi-ost-ós

5-ORD-M.ΝΟΜ.SG 1000-ORD-M.NOM.SG

9 Denumeral Categories

10 The derivation of compound ordinal numerals: Implications for morphological theory

10
3. Collective Numerals (*See the appendix p. 31, for the “Collective Numerals Map” in the table 3)
A general comment about the formation of collective numerals, would be that they are formed
with the suffixes: -áða for singular (nominative) and -áðes for plural (nominative). The inflection
paradigm for the plural number is similar to that in (13). Here, in (41), it is represented with the one
for singular.

(41) SG PL

Nom. mon-áða mon-áðes

Gen. mon-áðas mon-áðon

Acc. mon-áða mon-áðes

*Here, it is presented the paradigm for collective 1, but the inflection suffixes paradigm,
is applied to all collective constructions.

Another comment is that this inflection paradigm is not only used for collective numerals, but it is
also used for a class of nouns with exactly the same morphological features: female gender,
singular and plural number, nominative, genitive and accusative cases. An example of this noun’s
class is: portokal-áða (orange juice). Thus, it is reasonable to be argued that they have similar
behaviour to nouns. Despite that, the use of this inflectional paradigm in numerals, is restricted to
the class of collectives. This is the reason why we chose to add the gloss “COLL” for collective to
the numerals suffixes of (41).

3.1 Collective numerals derived from cardinals

Collective numerals for the number values ranging from 2 to 12, and 1000 are derived from
simplex cardinals. The collective numeral construction is the following:

(42) [[XS.CARD]-áða]

Thus, there are derived forms, like those below:

(43) tri-áða

3-COLL.F.NOM.SG

tri-áðes

3-COLL.F.NOM.PL

pend-áða

5-COLL.F.NOM.SG

3.1.1 Collective numerals 1 and 4

Collective numerals for number values 1 and 4 follow the pattern in (42), but they have their own
suppletive stems. The stem for collective 1 is: mon- and it is presented in (41) and the stem for
collective 4 is: tetr-, forming the numeral: tetr-áða, according to the inflection paradigm in (41).

3.2 The formation of tens and hundreds

It would be reasonable for the construction in (42) to be applied, to the formation of tens and
hundreds but, after that, a paradox appears. And we see this if we apply the construction (42) to
form the collective 100, expecting a form like that in (44):

(44) *ekato-áða

But a form like that in (44) is ungrammatical.

11
Thus, this paradox leads us to make a construction that keeps the multiple (x10) morpheme -nda
as part of the construction and not as part of the numeral stem. The formation of collective 100
seems more explainable, despite the problems:

This construction is the following:

(45) [[[XS.CARD]-ndMULTx10]-áða]

This construction produces numerals like the following:

(46) tria-nd-áða

3-MULTx10-COLL.F.NOM.SG

ekato-nd-áða

100-MULTx10-COLL.F.NOM.SG

Thus, we state is that the collective 100 is a product of the construction in (45), instead of (42).

Keeping the same principle of the construction in (45), we present a similar construction for
hundreds:

(47) [[[XS.CARD]-kosMULTx10]-áða]

This construction produces numerals like the following:

(48) tria-kos-áða

3-MULTx100-COLL.F.NOM.SG

penda-kos-áða

5-MULTx100-COLL.F.NOM.SG

3.3 The addition process

The process of addition occurs in a range of number values form 13 to 18. The first element is:
ðéka and the second element is a numeral produced from the construction in (42):

(49a) element 1 element 2

ðéka + XCOLL

(49b) ðéka-tetr-áða

10.CARD-4-COLL.F.NOM.SG

ðeka-pend-áða

10.CARD-5-COLL.F.NOM.SG

A though about the formation of these collective numerals, would be that they are directly derived
from cardinals. But this is excluded if we look at the formation of collective 14 (49b). In the case
that these numerals would be derived from cardinals, the collective 14 would be the following:

(50)

*ðekateser-áða

12
3.4 The multiplication process Indefinite

Plurality
The process of multiplication is restricted to the following two numerals:

(51) ðeká-ðes çiʎ-áðes

10-COLL.F.NOM.PL 1000-COLL.F.NOM.PL

ekato-nd-áðes çiʎ-áðes

100-MULTx10-COLL.F.NOM.PL 1000-COLL.F.NOM.PL

Thus, the construction for these two numerals is the forgoing in (52):

(52) element 1 element 2

XCOLL(10/100) x çiʎ-áðes

The collective numeral for 10 or 100 can stand in the first element position, with the second
element position always filled in with the collective numeral of 1000. Also, both elements agree in
gender, case and number.

4. Approximative numerals (*See the appendix p. 32, for the “Approximative Numerals Map” in the table 4)

Approximative numerals are formed in many ways. The main two ways are with the determiners
kanéna/kaná11 and kamɲá. Each determiner is respectively used in each construction suffixed
with -ári and -áro for kenéna and -arʝá for kamɲá. Another way is with the preposition perípu,
which means: “about”.

4.1 The derivation of kana/kaná and kamɲá determiners

Following the traditional view, we see that they belong to the general category of indefinite
pronouns with negative meaning. Etymologically they are formed from the combination of the
indefinite determiner: énas (M) - mía/mɲá (M) - éna (M) with the negative prefix ka- giving the
pronoun kanís/kanénas12 (M) - kamía/kamɲá13 (F) - kanéna (NEUT), meaning “nobody-nothing”.

But, as we may have implied before, both determiners have no relation to the meaning of their
“mother”-pronouns. Literally, their meaning is equal to the english word “about”. Thus, the
glossing we use to characterise these determiners is the following:

(53) kan-én-a

about-a.INDEF-NEUT.NOM.SG

ka-mɲ-á

about-a.INDEF-F.NOM.SG

4.1.1 The constructions

What has to be pointed out is the fact that the following numeral constructions to be used as
approximative numerals is necessary to be preceded by the the determiners in (53).

The first construction is that with the determiner kamɲá. We consider it as being directly derived
from cardinal numerals. It is only applied to tens, hundreds, tens with the addition of the number
value 5 and hundreds with the addition of number value 50. This means that cardinal numerals
stand in the stem position as those: 20 and 25, 30 and 35, 40 and 45, 200 and 250, 300 and 350
etc.

11 kanéna and kaná are phonologically alternative forms.

12The difference between the masculine determines énas and kanís has to do with the distinct lexical strata they belong
to, the “modern-greek” and the “classical-greek”.

13The form of “kamía” is not used, but the phonological altered “kamɲá”, without the use of “kamía” being
ungrammatical.
13
The construction is the following:

(54) [[[XCARD]-arAPPR]-ʝá]

An example of the use of these numerals is:

(55a) ka-mɲ-á triand-ar-ʝá métr-a

about-a.INDEF-F.NOM.SG 30-APPR-F.NOM.SG meter-NEUT.NOM.PL

about a thirty meters

(55b) * triand-ar-ʝá métr-a

30-APPR-F.NOM.SG meter-NEUT.NOM.PL

(55c) * mɲ-á triand-ar-ʝá métr-a

a.INDEF-F.NOM.SG 30-APPR-F.NOM.SG meter-NEUT.NOM.PL

(55d) *i triand-ar-ʝá métr-a

the.DEF.F.NOM.SG 30-APPR-F.NOM.SG meter-NEUT.NOM.PL

The examples above (55b-d) indicate the ungrammatical uses of the construction in (54). In (55b)
the determiner position is null, in (55c) the determiner position is filled by the indefinite determiner
and (55d) the determiner position is filled by the definite determiner.

The next construction is that with the determiner kanéna/kaná. The numeral in this case is formed
by a cardinal as a stem and with the affixes -ár-i. It is applied to a range of number values ranging
from 2 to 1999. (56) depicts this construction.

(56) [[[XCARD]-arAPPR]-i]

This construction produces the following examples (57):

(57a) kan-én-a triand-ár-i métr-a

about-a.INDEF-NEUT.NOM.SG 30-APPR-NEUT.NOM.SG meter-NEUT.NOM.PL

about thirty meters

(57b) én-a triand-ár-i métr-a

a.INDEF-NEUT.NOM.SG 30-APPR-NEUT.NOM.SG meter-NEUT.NOM.PL

a thirty meters distance

(57c)
to triand-ár-i métr-a

the.DEF-NEUT.NOM.SG 30-APPR-NEUT.NOM.SG meter-NEUT.NOM.PL

this thirty meters distance

14
As someone can see from the examples above, contrary to the construction in (54), the
construction in (56) can be used with other determiners14 as the indefinite and definite.

The construction in (56) is similar to another one which is applied to thousands: 2000, 3000,
4000 … 900.000. The difference is the inflection suffix and the morpheme meaning the
multiplication with 1000. This construction again has the same determiners, as is the case of (57):

(58) [[[[XCARD]-çiʎMULTx1000]-arAPPR]-o]

An example of this construction is the following:

kan-én-a triakosa-çíʎ-ar-o métr-a

(59)

about-a.INDEF-NEUT.NOM.SG 300-MULTx1000-APPR- meter-NEUT.NOM.PL

NEUT.NOM.SG
about three thousand meters

4.1.2 Morphosyntactic problems

As one can see form the examples above (55, 57, 59), there is no agreement between the noun
and the numeral phrase with its determiner. We believe that this numeral is marked for gender,
case and number because of its inflection suffix. Those suffixes in (54) and (56) are also used in
nouns marking those three features. Another argument is the inflection of the determiners shown
in (53). We know how the indefinite determiner is formed, from which they are derived. Thus it is
reasonable to believe that these numeral phrases are marked for inflection in gender, case and
number. What has to be clarified is the relation between the numeral phrase and the following
noun. Firstly this is because, the numeral phrase in the sentence is ungrammatical if the noun is
absent (60), which means that the numeral phrase needs a complement.

(60a)
ka-mɲ-á triand-ar-ʝá όr-es pér-asan

about-a.INDEF- 30-APPR- hour- pass-PASS.PST.

F.NOM.SG F.NOM.SG NEUT.NOM.PL 3PL

There have passed bout thirty hours.

(60b) * ka-mɲ-á triand-ar-ʝá pér-asan

about-a.INDEF- 30-APPR- pass-PASS.PST.

F.NOM.SG F.NOM.SG 3PL

Second, what we cannot see is how the numeral phrase is marked for the case, as the nominative
and the accusative cases use the same marker in the inflection paradigm for the determiner and
for the numeral, as we know it from nouns. In the example (60a) the noun and the numeral are in
the subject position of the verb, which is always marked with nominative. And in the example (61)
the noun and the numeral are in the object position, which is always marked with accusative.

(61) éfer-a ka-mɲ-á triand-ar-ʝá patát-es

bring-PST.1SG about-a.INDEF- 30-APPR- potato-F.ACC.PL

F.ACC.SG F.ACC.SG

I brought about thirty potatoes.

14The numerals in 57b and 57c look like more to be collective numerals, than approximative numerals. But, I am not
sure about it.
15
Finally, what is left is the genitive case. But, we believe that it is not used in this kind of numerals.

4.2 Approximative numerals with the preposition: perípu

The simplest way to form an approximative numeral in greek is to use the preposition perípu
(=about), in a prepositional phrase. In this case, a cardinal numeral in the noun phrase position is
used. (62) and (63) present the way these numerals are used.

(62a) árʝ-isa perípu mí-a ór-a

delay-PST.1SG about 1.CARD.F- hour-F.ACC.SG

ACC.SG
I run late about one hour.

(62b) árʝ-isa perípu pénde lept-á

delay-PST.1SG about 5.CARD minutes-

NEUT.ACC.SG
I run late about five minutes.

16
5. Multiplicative numerals (*See the appendix p. 32, for the “Multiplicative Numerals Map” in the table 5)

Multiplicative numerals are divided into two main categories, according to the meaning of each
category. The first category includes these multiplicatives whose meaning is “X times” and the
second category’s meaning is “X times more than”, which allows us to characterise this category
as “comparative15”.

5.1 “Regular” multiplicative Numerals

What characterises this category of numerals is the morpheme -pl- which is the multiplicative
affix, meaning “X times”. Another important issue is that this numerals category has a full
inflection paradigm, which is exactly the same as that of ordinal numerals in (24). In (63) below, it
is represented for multiplicative numerals:

(63a) Singular M F N

Nom. tripl-ós tripl-í tripl-ó

Gen. tripl-ú tripl-ís tripl-ú

Acc. tripl-ó tripl-í tripl-ó

(63b) Plural M F N

Nom. tripl-í tripl-és tripl-á

Gen. tripl-ón tripl-ón tripl-ón

Acc. tripl-ús tripl-és tripl-á

After that, what remains to be clarified is the construction of these numerals. Thus, the
construction for the range of numbers from 3 to 12, with the exception of 4, is the the following16
in (64). The derivation source is again the simplex cardinal numerals.

(64) [[[XS.CARD]-plMULT]-XINFL]

Thus, this construction produces numerals like the following:

(65) penda-pl-i

5-MULT-F.NOM.SG

ðeka-pl-és

10-MULT-F.ACC.PL

In relation to the formation of the multiplicative 4, we see that again there is used the suppletive
stem tetra-, whose derivational source is not clear. The multiplicative numeral for 4 is the
following:

(66) tetra-pl-ó

4-MULT-NEUT.NOM.SG

15In the database, regular multiplicative numerals are named as: “Multiplicative Construction” and the second -
comparative multiplicative category is named as: “Multiplicative (comparative) Construction”.

16 Multiplicative numerals up to 13 are not used.

17
5.1.1 The multiplicative numeral 1

The multiplicative form for the number value 1 is a suppletive numeral. This means that its stem is
not derived from cardinals and affix -pl- is not used in its formation. But, we see that it does use
the inflection paradigm in (63). Another comment is that its stem mon- is also exactly the same as
that of the collective numeral 1. But, this does not necessarily mean that the collective or the
multiplicative numeral are derived from one another. This numeral is the following:

(67a) mon-ós

1.MULT-M.NOM.SG

(67b) mí-a mon-í meríð-a

a.IDEF-F.NOM.SG 1.MULT-F.NOM.SG portion-F.NOM.SG

A single portion.

The last note in this numerals category has to do with another form that we see that is included in
other grammar description as in: “An Essential Grammar of the Modern Language”. This form is
the form “aplós”. At first glance we see that this form seems to be closer to the construction in
(64) because of its /pl/ morpheme (?). But, we believe that this is not correct. In contrast to the
multiplicative form in (67a), which is clearly a multiplicative numeral, “aplós” is not (mainly) used
as a multiplicative. Its meaning is closer to the english words: “mere” or “usual”. The following
examples demonstrate this issue:

(68a) mí-a mon-í kopilatik-í várk-a

a.INDEF-F.NOM.SG 1.MULT-F.NOM.SG rowing-F.NOM.SG boat-F.NOM.SG

a single (scull) rowing boat

(68b) mí-a a-pl-í kopilatik-í várk-a

a.INDEF-F.NOM.SG usual-F.NOM.SG rowing-F.NOM.SG boat-F.NOM.SG

a usual rowing boat

(68c) mí-a mon-í θés-i

a.INDEF-F.NOM.SG 1.MULT-F.NOM.SG seat-F.NOM.SG

a single seat (or: a seat for one person)

(68d) mí-a a-pl-í θés-i

a.INDEF-F.NOM.SG usual-F.NOM.SG seat-F.NOM.SG

a mere seat (or: just a seat)

Thus, the clearly distinct meaning of these two words, leads us to exclude the form “aplós” form
the multiplicative numerals class.

18
5.2 “Comparative” multiplicative numerals

As we stated above, the meaning of these numerals is: “X times more than”. These numerals are
derived from the affixation with the multiplicative affix -pl- and with what we considered to be the
comparative affix: -asi-. The inflection paradigm differs to the one of multiplicatives in the female
gender of the singular number:

(69a) Singular M F N

Nom. triplási-os triplási-a triplási-o

Gen. triplási-u triplási-as triplási-u

Acc. triplási-o triplási-a triplási-o

(69b) Plural M F N

Nom. triplási-i triplási-es triplási-a

Gen. triplási-on triplási-on triplási-on

Acc. triplási-us triplási-es triplási-a

5.2.1 The constructions

Due to the wide application range of this construction, we believe that these numerals are not
derived from the regular multiplicative numerals. Comparatives do not retain the morpheme -pl- in
their stem position. Instead, the morpheme -pl- is a part of the construction as the comparative
morpheme -asi- also is. Thus, the construction is applied to the number values: form 2 to 12, 20
and 1000, with the exception of the stem of 4 (tetra-). The construction is presented below in 70:

(70) [[[XS.CARD]-plMULT]-asiCOMP]-XINFL]

Thus, this construction produces numerals as those in the following example:

(71) penda-pl-ási-a

5-MULT-COMP-F.NOM.SG

ðeka-pl-ási-es

10-MULT-COMP-F.ACC.PL

Before the presentation οf the hundreds constriction, we would like to take a look again at the
formation of the comparative multiplicative numeral of 100, which has the same problem with the
collective numeral of 100 (example 46). Again, the multiplicative numeral of 100 is formed with the
construction of tens, and this is a reason to retain the multiplicative x10 morpheme as part of the
construction and not the stem. Thus the construction for tens and the numeral 100 is the
following:

(72) [[[[XS.CARD]-ndMULTx10]-plMULT]asiCOMP]-XINFL]

Thus, this construction produces numerals as those in the following example:

(73) eksi-nda-pl-ási-os

6-MULTx10-MULT-COMP-M.NOM.SG

ekato-nda-pl-asi-a

100-MULTx10-MULT-COMP-F.ACC.SG
19
To the formation of hundreds, we decided to retain the same principle of keeping the morpheme
-kosa-, which marks the multiplication of the stem to 100, as a separate part of the construction.
Thus, the construction will be the following:

(74) [[[[XS.CARD]-kosaMULTx100]-plMULT]asiCOMP]-XINFL]

Thus, this construction produces numerals as those in the following example:

(75) eksa-kosa-pl-ási-os

6-MULTx100-MULT-COMP-M.NOM.SG

oxta-kosa-pl-ási-a

8-MULTx100-MULT-COMP-F.ACC.SG

Again the last note refers to the comparative multiplicative numeral for the number value 4, whose
stem is the same as that of the multiplicative 4, namely tetra-. Thus the comparative multiplicative
4 will be the following:

(76) tetra-pl-ási-os

4-MULT-COMP-M.NOM.SG

5.2.2 The addition process

The addition process is only applied to the range of numbers from 13 to 19. It is similar to the one
we see in (49) for collectives: Here there is represented the schema, for comparative
multiplicatives:

(77) element 1 element 2

ðéka + XAPPR

What this schema means is that any numeral, formed with the construction in (70) or (72), can
stand in the second element position. On the other hand the numeral ðéka in the first element
position remains always the same. Thus, there are produced numerals as in the following
example:

(78) ðéka-eks-apl-ási-o

10.CARD-6-MULT-COMP-NEUT.NOM.SG

ðéka-eɲa-pl-ási-a

10.CARD-9-MULT-COMP-NEUT.ACC.PL

5.3 The semantic difference between regular and comparative multiplicative numerals
After the description of these forms, it would be helpful to provide some examples for the different
meaning of these two numeral classes, which are the followings:

(79a) mí-a tetra-pl-í meríð-a

a.INDEF-F.NOM.SG 4-MULT-F.NOM.SG portion-F.NOM.SG

A quadruple portion.

20
(79b) mí-a tetra-pl-asi-a meríð-a

a.INDEF-F.NOM.SG 4-MULT-COMP-F.NOM.SG portion-F.NOM.SG

A portion four times bigger than a regular one.

(80a) θél-o én-a ði-pl-ó kaf-é

want-PRS-1SG a.INDEF-NEUT.ACC.SG 4-MULT-NEUT.ACC.SG coffe-NEUT.ACC.SG

I want a double coffe.

(80b) éx-o ti ði-pl-asi-a ðuʎ-á

have-PRS-1SG the.DEF-F.ACC.SG 4-MULT-COMP-NEUT.ACC.SG work-F.ACC.SG

I have got two times more load work (than the previous time).

6. Fractional numerals (*See the appendix p. 33, for the “Fractional Numerals Map” in the table 6)
Fractional numerals, in greek, are mainly formed in one way. They use a cardinal numeral as a
numerator and an ordinal numeral as a denominator in a phrasal construction in a very specific
way. Also, their order is always the same the numerator precedes the denominator. The general
pattern for fractional numerals formation is the following:

(81) Numerator Denominator

XCARD XORD

But, this pattern is divided into two other patterns, according to the feature of number [SG or PL]
in the numerator position. This is because the numerator’s numeral number affects the number of
the numeral in denominator’s position. Consequently, according to what we know from cardinal
numerals, the only numeral which has a singular number is the cardinal: 1, and in any other case
the feature of number in denominator, and in numerator, is marked with plural. So, the following
two constructions are formed:

(82) Numerator Denominator

XCARD:1
 XORD

[SG] [SG]

(83) Numerator Denominator

XCARD:≥2
 XORD

[PL] [PL]

Now, what remains be clarified, are the features on gender and case, for the constructions in (82)
and (83).

The first is the gender. Both constructions must be in neuter gender. The numerator must agree in
gender (neuter) with the denominator. Otherwise, they are not fractional numerals, as the
examples indicate below, (84) for the fractional numeral, (85) for the quantity of those who are in
an order’s position:

21
(84) Numerator Denominator

ta trí-a ék-t-a ton aθlit-ón

the.DEF- 3.CARD- 6-ORD- the.DEF- athelet-

NEUT.NOM.PL NEUT.NOM.PL NEUT.NOM.PL NEUT.GEN.PL M.GEN.PL

The three-sixth (3/6) of the athletes.

(85) i tr-ís ék-t-i aθlit-és

the.DEF-M.NOM.PL 3.CARD-M.NOM.PL 6-ORD-M.NOM.PL athelet-M.NOM.PL

These three sixths athletes.

Now, what remains is the case. At a first glance, this is not obvious from the case markers, as
nominative and accusative use the same in the inflection paradigm. But, what can reveal the case
marking on the numeral is its position in the sentence. The following example presents a fractional
numeral in the genitive phrase:

(86) i katastrof-í tu en-ós pémt-u tu párk-u telío-se

the.DEF- destructio the.DEF- 1- five- the.DEF- park- finish-PST.

M.NOM.SG n- NEUT.GEN.S NEUT.GEN.S NEUT.GEN.S NEUT.GEN.S NEUT.GEN.S 3SG
F.NOM.SG G
G(NUM) G(DENOM) G
G

The destruction of the one fifth of the park is over.

What we see is that both the numerator and the denominator agree with each other in this case.

Thus, the final version of the constructions in (82) and (83) are respectively the following:

(87) Numerator Denominator

XCARD:1
 XORD

[SG] [NEUT] [case:X] [SG] [NEUT] [case:X]

(88) Numerator Denominator

XCARD ≥ 2
 XORD

[PL] [NEUT] [case:X] [PL] [NEUT] [case:X]

6.1 The suppletive form of half (1/2): mis-ós - mis-í - mis-ó

Despite the fractional form of the numeral 1/2, according to the construction (87), there is another
one suppletive form whose meaning is equal to the english word: half. This form is “misós” and it
has its own inflection paradigm:

(89) Singular M F N

Nom. mis-ós mis-í mis-ó

Gen. mis-ú mis-ís mis-ú

Acc. mis-ó mis-í mis-ó

22
Its category is that of the Adjective. The following example demonstrates its position in the
sentence:

(90) θél-o mis-ó kil-ó záxar-i

want-PRS.SG half-NEUT.ACC.SG kilo-NEUT.ACC.SG sugar-NEUT.ACC.SG

I want a half kilo of sugar.

(91) θél-o éna-a ðéftr-o tu kil-ú záxar-i

want- 1- 2-ORD- the.DEF.NEUT. kilo- sugar-

PRS.SSG NEUT.ACC.SG NEUT.ACC.SG GEN.SG NEUT.GEN.SG NEUT.ACC.SG

I want a half kilo of sugar.

6.2 Addition with “misó”

The process of addition with “misó” is applied in two ways. The first is in a phrase with the
conjunction /ce/ (: “and” or “plus”), and the second is in a compound word, with the numeral. The
reason why we describe them together is because we believe, that the second way depends on
the first. But first it would be better if we talk about the first way with /ce/.

6.2.1 Phrases with /ce/

In this construction the first element is a cardinal form and the second element is a form of the
word “misó”. The construction is the following:

(92) element 1 noun + element 2 ellipsis

XCARD X ce mis-INFL -

Thus, what, we see in 95 is that the first element - the cardinal numeral, modifies the noun head
that follows and after the second element - “misó”, there is ellipsis. An example of this
construction would be the following:

(93) trí-a kil-á ce mis-ó

3.CARD-NEUT.NOM.PL kilo-NEUT.NOM.PL plus half-NEUT.NOM.SG

Three and a half kilos.

6.2.2 Compounds with “-(í)misí”

If the ellipsis is in the first element position and the noun stands in the second element position,
modified by the word “misó”, then the cardinal numeral and the word “misó” are combined into
one compound word. In this case, if the cardinal numeral is marked for inflection, it retains it into
the stem position (96a), for marking the number and the gender (96b), but not the case (96d). On
the other hand the second element loses its inflection, becoming the morpheme -(í)misi. The
construction for this type of numerals is the following:

(94) [[XCARD]-(í)misi]

23
Thus, this construction produces numerals like the following:

(95) pendé-misi ór-es

5.CARD-half hour-F.NOM.PL

five and a half hours

ðeka-pendé-misi ór-es

10.CARD-5.CARD-half hour-F.NOM.PL

fifteen and a five hours

(96a) tr-is-ímisi or-es

3.CARD-F.PL-half hour-F.NOM.PL

three and a half hours

(96b) tr-á-misi kil-á

3.CARD-NEUT.PL-half kilo-NEUT.NOM.PL

three and a half kilos

(96c) mí-a ekðílos-i tr-is-ímisi or-ón

a.INDEF-F.NOM.SG event-F.NOM.SG 3.CARD-F.PL-half hour-F.GEN.PL

an event of three hours

(96d) * mí-a ekðílos-i tri-ón-ímisi or-ón

a.INDEF-F.NOM.SG event-F.NOM.SG 3.CARD-F.GEN.PL- hour-F.GEN.PL
half

6.2.3 The compound 4 with “-misi”

According to the pattern in 94, the compound word of the numeral 4 with the morpheme -misi we
would except to be like the following:

(97) * teser-ís-imisi
4.CARD-M.PL-half

But this form in ungrammatical. Instead the grammatical form for the three genders is the same
with that which we would except to be just for the neuter gender:

(98) teser-á-misi
4.CARD-M.PL-half

The explanation we provided for this case is that the neuter gender is composed according to the
pattern in (94) and the reason why 100 is ungrammatical is due to a phonological obstruction,
which under the process of dissimilation -is is rejected and changed with -a.

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6.2.4 The compound 1 with -misi
The compound of cardinal 1 with the word “misós” does not follow the pattern in (94). Instead, it
follows its own pattern, whose main difference with that in 94 is that the inflection stand in the end
of the word. This is more clear to the following table of the inflection paradigm:

(99) Singular M F N

Nom. ená-mis-is mɲá-mis-i ená-mis-i

Gen. ená-mis-i mɲá-mis-is ená-mis-i

Acc. ená-mis-i mɲá-mis-i ená-mis-i

Thus, according to that, the patter would be the following:

(100) [[[XCARD:1]-mis]-XINFL]

Thus, this construction produces numerals like the following:

(101) mɲá-mis-i ór-a

1.CARD.F-half-SG hour-F.NOM.SG

One and a half hour

(102) i ðiaðikasí-a tu ená-mis-i lept-ú

the.DEF.F.NOM.SG process- the.DEF.NEUT.GEN. 1.CARD-half- minute-

F.NOM.SG SG NEUT.GEN.SG NEUT.GEN.SG

The process of one and a half minute

25
Part 2 - Questions for further investigation

1. The problem with the meaning of the affix -nd in collectives and multiplicatives in 100
As our analysis proposed in (9), in cardinals numerals the morpheme -(a)nda multiplies the
numeral stem with 10, meaning a ten like the example below:

(103) 3: trí-a

3-NEUT.NOM.PL

30: tri-anda

3-MULTx10

The same also holds true in other numeral classes (collectives and multiplicative “comparatives”),
in which we see that the affix -nd17 means the multiplication of the numerical stem with 10 as in
the following example:

(104) 30: tria-nd-áða

3-MULTx10-COLL.F.NOM.SG

But in the case of the number 100 in which we would not expect the -nd to be, we find it as in the
following:

(105) 100: ekató

100.CARD

*ekato-áða 

100-COLL.F.NOM.SG

ekato-nd-áða

100-MULTx10-COLL.F.NOM.SG

ekato-nda-pl-asi-a

100-MULTx10-MULT-COMP-F.NOM.SG

What (105) shows is that the morpheme -nd in the case of 100, is empty of meaning.

But, first let us explain the reason why we chose to consider -nd as a separate morpheme. This
has to do with the regularity we observe on tens (30 - 90), which led us to separate it from the
stem. The same also happens in hundreds where there is the other multiplicative morpheme -
kos-, playing the same role in the word structure, as in the following example:

(106) 300: tria-kos-i

3-MULTx100-M.NOM.SG

The application of these two morphemes (-nd and -kos-) is absolutely regular in tens and
hundreds, with the exception of 100 in the case of tens.

Despite the above given solution, another solution would be to consider these affixes as part of
the stem, in cardinals first and then in collectives and multiplicative numerals, as the stem was
derived from cardinals. This solution would expand the classification we adopted for simplex
cardinals of “non-following a derivational pattern”, but it would explain the case of -nd in number
100 in collectives and comparative multiplicatives. Of course, this solution would change the
whole analysis we proposed in general, in greek numerals.

17-nd or -nda or -anda: are phonologically are allomorphs due to phonological reasons, depending on the environment
the are.
26
But, another case that resembles to the case of affixes -nd and -kos-, is that of the affixes -(i)k-
(MULTx10) and -akosi- (MULTx100) in ordinals. There we see that they have exactly the same
function as those we saw in the case of -nd and -kos-n. Affixes -(i)k- and -akosi- in ordinals are
applied in an absolutely regular way, and neither of these is applied to the ordinal 100. This is
something that indicates that this type of affixes really exist, but what remains to be answered is
what they really are.

Finally, another argument against the solution of considering -nd as part of the stem is that in
cardinal numerals, the cardinal 100 is /ekató/ does not come with -nd in its stem, but we only find
it in collective and multiplicative numerals. This last note, indicates that -nd is really a derivational
morpheme.

2. Collectives

2.1 Collectives 10, 100, 1000

In “Part 1” in paragraph 3.4 we see a construction18 (:52) whose first element can be the
collective 10 (ðekáðes) or the collective 100 (ekatondáðes) and the second element is the
collective 1000, producing two possible numerals (marked with plural number only):

(107) ðek-áðes çiʎ-áðes

10-COLL.F.NOM.SG 1000-MULTx10-COLL.F.NOM.SG

ekato-nd-áðes çiʎ-áðes

100-MULTx10-COLL.F.NOM.SG 1000-MULTx10-COLL.F.NOM.SG

In this construction the numerals into the first element position seem to be modified by the
numeral into the second element position. But, despite that, these three collective numerals (10,
100, 100) seem to have a different meaning than the rest of the collectives have, or, to be more
precise, they are ambiguous. The following examples indicate this difference.

(108) Regular Collective Meaning:

éfer-a tr-ís ðek-áðes bukáʎ-a

bring-PST.1SG 3.CARD-F.ACC.PL 10-COLL.F.NOM.SG bottle-NEUT.ACC.PL

I brought three unites of ten bottles each.

éfer-a tr-ís tetr-áðes bukáʎ-a

bring-PST.1SG 3.CARD-F.ACC.PL 4-COLL.F.NOM.SG bottle-NEUT.ACC.PL

I brought three unites of four bottles each.

The “Approximative” Meaning:

ðek-áðes anθróp-on íne sto ðróm-o

10-COLL.F.NOM.SG people-M.GEN.PL be.PRS.PL to.the street-NEUT.ACC.PL

(There is a range of) Tens of people (who) are in the street.

ðek-áðes çiʎ-áðes anθróp-on íne sto ðróm-o

10-COLL.F.NOM.SG 1000-MULTx10-COLL.F.NOM.SG people-M.GEN.PL be.PRS.PL to.the street-NEUT.ACC.PL

There is a range of ten thousands of people who are in the street.

*tetr-áðes anθróp-on íne sto ðróm-o

4-COLL.F.NOM.SG people-M.GEN.PL be.PRS.PL to.the street-NEUT.ACC.PL

Now considering that the same “approximative” meaning can receive the collective 10, 100 and
1000, as its own and is modified by collectives of 10 or 100, it is obvious that they have the same
meaning. This meaning seems to indicate a range, (a range of X). A range that if it is the case of

18 It is not included in the database.

27
10 the possible amount of X can be a number from 10 to 90 and if it is the case of 100 the range
of X can be a number from 100 to 900. The same also holds true for 1000. In the case that there is
one of the two numerals in (107) for the first one the range is 10.000 to 90.000 and for the second
one the range is 100.000 to 900.000. Now what remains to be clarified is the exact meaning of
this type of ““approximative”” collectives19 .

2.2 The complement of Collectives

A hypothesis about the case that the complement of the collective numerals, that we have made
is the following: If the complement of the collective numeral is animate it receives a genitive case
and if the complement is inanimate it receives an accusation case. The example above indicates
that:

(109) éfer-a tr-ís tetr-áðes aɣor-ʝón

bring-PST.1SG 3.CARD-F.ACC.PL 4-COLL.F.NOM.SG boy-M.GEN.PL

I brought three unites of four boys each.

éfer-a tr-ís tetr-áðes bukáʎ-a

bring-PST.1SG 3.CARD-F.ACC.PL 4-COLL.F.NOM.SG bottle-NEUT.ACC.PL

I brought three unites of four bottles each.

But again, this hypothesis does not hold be true for the first sentence of the example (109) above
if we try to reverse the cases:

(110) (OK) éfer-a tr-ís tetr-áðes aɣór-ʝa

bring-PST.1SG 3.CARD-F.ACC.PL 4-COLL.F.NOM.SG boy-M.ACC.PL

I brought three unites of four boys each.

* éfer-a tr-ís tetr-áðes bukáʎ-ión

bring-PST.1SG 3.CARD-F.ACC.PL 4-COLL.F.NOM.SG bottle-NEUT.GEN.PL

I brought three unites of four bottles each.

And to connect that with what it is said in paragraph in 2.1, this hypothesis does not also seem to
absolutely hold for the case of what is called: “approximative” collectives. (110) below, indicates a
case that the complement gets genitive case and another case that the complement agrees with
is numeral in the case:

(111) Numeral - Complement Agreement:

ðek-áðes anθróp-i íne sto ðróm-o

10-COLL.F.NOM.SG people-M.NOM.PL be.PRS.PL to.the street-NEUT.ACC.PL

(There is a range of) Tens of people (who) are in the street.

Complement in Genitive:

ðek-áðes anθróp-on íne sto ðróm-o

10-COLL.F.NOM.SG people-M.GEN.PL be.PRS.PL to.the street-NEUT.ACC.PL

(There is a range of) Tens of people (who) are in the street.

Thus, a question remains: What determines the numeral’s complement case in collectives, if it is
not the animacy of the complement?

19We would like to clarify that this characterisation is arbitrary for the proposes of this paper and it does not have to do
with approximate numerals.
28
 29
APPENDIX

Table 1: “Cardinal Numerals Map”.

Table 2: “Ordinal Numerals Map”.

30


Table 3: “Collective Numerals Map”.

31


Table 4: “Approximative Numerals Map”.

Table 5: “Multiplicative Numerals Map”.

32
 33

Table 6: “Fractional Numerals Map”.