2.5: `saṅkhyā` (Numbers)

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Part of “A Beginner (Non-Linguist) Guide to Learning Pali”

The texts count on every page: dveme antā (“these two extremes”, 5: 2.1), catūsu ariyasaccesu (“in the four realisations”, 5: 9.1), paṭhamaṁ jhānaṁ (“the first jhāna”, Bonus: 38, 10.1). A number (saṅkhyā) is a noun like any other: its ending tells you its job in the sentence (chapter 4). But the shape you meet (dve, tayo, cattāri) is often far from the lemma (dvi, ti, catu), so ask two questions: which number is it, and what ending is it carrying?

eka (“one”) is singular and takes a pronoun’s endings in the gender of its noun, ekaṁ samayaṁ (5: 1.1), ekā saññā (Bonus: 17, 7.5) (2.4, Appendix L). dvi (“two”) to aṭṭhārasa (“eighteen”) are plural only, and from pañca (“five”) on they have one set of forms for all three genders (⚧). From vīsati (“twenty”) upwards a number is a singular noun, feminine for the tens and neuter for sataṁ (“a hundred”) and sahassaṁ (“a thousand”). The ordinals are adjectives and agree with their noun.

Two to eighteen

number	① ②	③ ⑤	④ ⑥	⑦
2 dvi ⚧	dve, duve {132}	dvīhi {89}	dvinnaṁ {67}	dvīsu {89}
both, ubha ⚧	ubho {205}		ubhinnaṁ {86}
3 ti	tayo 🚹, tisso 🚺, tīṇi 🚻 {133}	tīhi {89}	tiṇṇaṁ, tiṇṇannaṁ {87}; tissannaṁ 🚺 {67}	tīsu {89}
4 catu	cattāro 🚹, catasso 🚺, cattāri 🚻 {133}	catūhi {89}	catunnaṁ; catassannaṁ 🚺 {67}	catūsu {89}
5 to 18 ⚧	the bare number: pañca, cha, satta, aṭṭha, nava, dasa {134}	pañcahi {90}	pañcannaṁ, dasannaṁ {90}, {67}	pañcasu {90}

Only ti and catu change with their noun’s gender, and only in ① and ②: tisso … vedanā (Bonus: 10, 22.2), cattāri ariyasaccāni {133}; from pañca on the shape is the same beside any noun. -nnaṁ is a number’s ④ and ⑥, an n put in before naṁ {67}, where a noun has -ānaṁ; before -hi and -su the final vowel is long {89}.

Eleven to eighteen put dasa (“ten”) after the unit, reshaped: ekādasa, dvādasa {383}, terasa {381}, catuddasa (cuddasa) {375}, {390}, pañcadasa, soḷasa {376}, sattarasa, aṭṭhārasa {382}. They take the same endings as pañca; nineteen is ekūnavīsati, “twenty less one” {327}.

Twenty to a hundred thousand

number	what you see	gender, number	rule
20, 30	vīsati, vīsaṁ; tiṁsati, tiṁsā	🚺⨀	{389}, {378}
40 to 90	cattālīsaṁ, paññāsaṁ, saṭṭhi, sattati, asīti, navuti	🚺⨀	{389}, {379}
100, 1,000	sataṁ, sahassaṁ	🚻⨀	{393}
10,000, 100,000	dasasahassaṁ, satasahassaṁ	🚻⨀	{394}

These are nouns, vīsati with the feminine endings of 2.2 (vīsatiyā, “of twenty”), sataṁ with those of citta; in the texts they sit inside names, tāvatiṁsā devā (“the Thirty-three gods”, 5: 12.3), dasasahassilokadhātu (5: 13.2), or count a crowd, bhikkhusahassena (“with a thousand bhikkhū”, 9: 1.1). How they are made is the matter of 10.6 and Appendix H.

The ordinals

number	ordinal	what you see	rule
1	paṭhama	no number inside it: a word of its own	{666}
2, 3	dutiya, tatiya	-tiya, with du for dvi and ta for ti	{385}, {386}
4, 6	catuttha, chaṭṭha	-ttha, -ṭṭha; the cha of six may become sa	{384}, {374}
5, 7 to 10	pañcama, sattama, aṭṭhama, navama, dasama	-ma	{373}
a day of the fortnight	cātuddasī, pañcadasī; pañcadasiṁ	feminine -ī on dasa; -iṁ, “on the fifteenth”	{375}, {377}

An ordinal takes the gender, number and ending of its noun, paṭhamaṁ jhānaṁ (Bonus: 38, 10.1), or stands alone with the noun understood, Tathā dutiyaṁ (“likewise the second [direction]”, Bonus: 37, 1.11.52); the colophons of chapter 7 and chapter 9 count their discourses the same way, Sattamaṁ (“the seventh”), Chaṭṭhaṁ (“the sixth”). paṭhamaṁ also serves as a particle, “first, at first”.

Most numbers in the texts are the first member of a compound (6.4), pañcavaggiyā (7: 12.2), aṭṭhaṅgiko (5: 3.2), sattāhaṁ (3: 2.2), where the number stands bare and the ending belongs to the whole word; dvi appears as du-, di- or dvā- {380}, {386}, and cha as saḷ- in saḷāyatanaṁ (3: 3.4) {571}.

Note

How to tell satta from sattā: a number from pañca to dasa never ends in -ā. satta vassāni (Bonus: 45, 3.2) is “seven years”, but sattā nerayikā (Bonus: 23, 1.6) is “beings in hell”, the 🚹①⨂ of satta (“a being”).

Examples

Dveme, bhikkhave, antā pabbajitena na sevitabbā.

⚧⨂①(dvi) *️⃣🤟🚹⨂①(ima) 🚹⨂⓪(bhikkhu) 🚹⨂①(anta) 🚹⨀③🔽(ta)(pabbajita) ⏏️(na) 🚹⨂①🔽(tabba)(sevitabba)
two / these / bhikkhave / extremes / by one gone forth / not / should be cultivated
dve (5: 2.1): ①⨂ of dvi {132}, one shape for all genders; dveme is dve ime joined (2.1).

Tisso kho imā, āvuso visākha, vedanā—

🚺⨂①(ti) 🔼(kho) 🚺⨂①(ima) 🔼(āvuso) 🚹⨀⓪(visākha) 🚺⨀①(vedanā)
three / indeed / these / friend / Visākha / feelings
tisso (Bonus: 10, 22.2): the feminine ①⨂ of ti {133}, agreeing with vedanā; tayo with a masculine noun, tīṇi with a neuter.

imesu catūsu ariyasaccesu

*️⃣🤟🚻⨂⑦(ima) 🚻⨂⑦(catu) 🚻⨂⑦🆎(ariya+sacca)
in these / four / realisations
catūsu (5: 9.1): -su, the ⑦⨂, on catu with its u lengthened {89}; pronoun, number and noun all carry ⑦⨂.

rattiyā paṭhamaṁ yāmaṁ

🚺⨀⑥(ratti) 🚹⨀②(paṭhama) 🚹⨀②(yāma)
of the night / first / watch
paṭhamaṁ (3: 2.3): the ordinal with the 🚹②⨀ ending of its noun yāmaṁ; the one ordinal with no number inside it.

Exercises

Each item comes from the texts; the link beside it leads to the sentence. Name the number, its lemma, and the gender, number and ending it carries; inside a compound, say what it counts.

Hint

You may find the Digital Pali Dictionary useful for looking up words, as well as doing the sandhi and compound word deconstruction.

1. Katame dve? (5: 2.2)
2. Ekaṁ samayaṁ (5: 1.1; also 7: 1.1, 9: 1.1)
3. pañcavaggiyānaṁ bhikkhūnaṁ (7: 12.3)
4. Tiṇṇaṁ saṅgati phasso. (Bonus: 19, 2.2)
5. tiparivaṭṭaṁ dvādasākāraṁ (5: 9.1)
6. Sattamaṁ. (7: 13.1)
7. ubho ante anupagamma (5: 2.4)

Answers

Note: please do the exercises first before checking the answers.

1. Katame dve?

*️⃣🤟🚹⨂①(katama) ⚧⨂①(dvi)
which / two
dve: ①⨂ of dvi {132}; katame (“which?”) carries the 🚹①⨂ of the antā asked about.

2. Ekaṁ samayaṁ

*️⃣🤟🚹⨀②(eka) 🚹⨀②(samaya)
one / time
ekaṁ: eka, singular, with the 🚹②⨀ ending of samayaṁ; “at one time”, the ② of duration.

3. pañcavaggiyānaṁ bhikkhūnaṁ

🚹⨂⑥🆎(pañca+vaggiya) 🚹⨂⑥(bhikkhu)
of the group of five / bhikkhū
pañca bare inside the compound, counting the vagga (“group”); the 🚹⑥⨂ ending -ānaṁ {89} belongs to the whole word and agrees with bhikkhūnaṁ.

4. Tiṇṇaṁ saṅgati phasso.

🚹⨂⑥(ti) 🚺⨀①(saṅgati) 🚹⨀①(phassa)
of 3 / combined together / contact
tiṇṇaṁ: ⑥⨂ of ti {87}, “of the three”, -nnaṁ where a noun has -ānaṁ; it goes with saṅgati (“meeting”).

5. tiparivaṭṭaṁ dvādasākāraṁ

🚻⨀①🆎(ti+parivaṭṭa) 🚻⨀①🆎(dvādasa+ākāra)
with three phases / with twelve aspects
ti- and dvādasa- bare as first members, twelve with dvi as dvā {383}; each compound takes one ending, 🚻①⨀.

6. Sattamaṁ.

🚻⨀①(sattama)
the seventh
sattamaṁ: -ma on satta {373}; 🚻⨀① with the noun understood, the seventh discourse of the chapter.

7. ubho ante anupagamma

*️⃣🤟🚹⨂②(ubha) 🚹⨂②(anta) 🔽(ya)(anupagacchati)
both / extremes / not approaching
ubho: ②⨂ of ubha (“both”), -o for yo {205}, the object of anupagamma (“not approaching”), as ante beside it.