Council for Ligurian Linguistic Heritage

Ligurian Council

Numeral expressions in Ligurian (Genoese)

Cardinal numbers

Cardinal numers are the parts of speech that denote precise numeral quantities. They are all epicene, except for un “one”, doî “two”, trei “three” and their compound forms, which have a distinct feminine form.

NumberCardinal
0 zero 
1 un  masc.
uña  fem.
2 doî  masc.
doe  fem.
3 trei  masc.
træ  fem.
4 quattro 
5 çinque 
6 sëi 
7 sette 
8 eutto 
9 neuve 
10 dexe 
11 unze 
12 dozze 
13 trezze 
14 quattòrze 
15 chinze 
16 sezze 
17 dïsette 
18 dixeutto 
19 dixineuve 
20 vinti 
21 vintun  masc.
vintuña  fem.
22 vintidoî  masc.
vintidoe  fem.
23 vintitrei  masc.
vintitræ  fem.
24 vintiquattro 
25 vintiçinque 
26 vintisëi 
27 vintisette 
28 vinteutto 
29 vintineuve 
30 trenta 
31 trentun  masc.
trentuña  fem.
32 trentedoî  masc.
trentedoe  fem.
40 quaranta 
41 quarantun  masc.
quarantuña  fem.
42 quarantedoî  masc.
quarantedoe  fem.
50 çinquanta 
60 sciuscianta 
70 settanta 
80 ottanta 
90 novanta 
100 çento 
101 çentoun  masc.
çentouña  fem.
200 duxento 
300 trexento 
400 quattroçento 
500 çinqueçento 
600 seiçento 
700 setteçento 
800 euttoçento 
900 neuveçento 
1 000 mille 
1 001 milleun  masc.
milleuña  fem.
2 000 doamia 
3 000 træmia 
10 000 dëxemia 
100 000 çentomia 
1 000 000 un mion 
10 000 000 dexe mioin 
100 000 000 çento mioin 
1 000 000 000 un miliardo 
Learn more: Compounds of uña

The compounds of uña “one” fem. maintain the feminine form whenever they have a pronominal role. For instance, when counting objects with feminine gender, such as playing cards, one will say uña, doe, træ, …, vinti, vintuña, etc.

The adjectival forms, however, are usually identical to the masculine. One will therefore say gh’ò vintun carte “I have twenty-one cards”; forms such as gh’ò vintuña carte are infrequent.

Ordinal numbers

Ordinal numbers are parts of speech that denote the order or position within a sequence. They decline in number and gender.

NumeroOrdinale
1st primmo 
2nd segondo 
3rd terso 
4th quarto 
5th quinto ,
chinto 
6th sesto 
7th setten ,
settimo 
8th otten,
ottavo 
9th noven ,
nöno 
10th dexen ,
deximo 
11th unzen ,
unzeximo 
12th dozzen ,
dozzeximo 
13th trezzen ,
trezzeximo 
14th quattorzen ,
quattorzeximo 
15th chinzen ,
chinzeximo 
16th sezzen ,
sezzeximo 
17th dïsetten ,
dïsetteximo 
18th dixotten,
dixotteximo
19th dixinoven ,
dixineuveximo 
20th vinteximo ,
vinten obs.
21st vintuneximo ,
vintunen obs.
22nd vintidoieximo ,
vintidoien obs.
23rd vintitreieximo ,
vintitreien obs.
24th vintiquattreximo ,
vintiquattren obs.
25th vintiçinqueximo ,
vintiçinquen obs.
26th vintiseieximo ,
vintiseien obs.
27th vintisetteximo ,
vintisetten obs.
28th vintotteximo,
vintottenobs.
29th vintineuveximo ,
vintinoven obs.
30th trenteximo ,
trenten obs.
40th quaranteximo ,
quaranten obs.
50th çinquanteximo ,
çinquanten obs.
60th sciuscianteximo ,
sciuscianten obs.
70th settanteximo ,
settanten obs.
80th ottanteximo ,
ottanten obs.
90th novanteximo ,
novanten obs.
100th çenteximo 
1000th milleximo 
Learn more: Declination of ordinal numbers

Ordinal numbers are declined like regular adjectives. Therefore:

  • forms ending in ‹-o›: o primmo “the first” masc. sing., a primma fem. sing., i primmi masc. pl., e primme fem. pl.;
  • forms ending in ‹-en›: o sezzen “the sixteenth” masc. sing., a sezzeña fem. sing., i sezzen masc. pl., e sezzeñe fem. pl..
Learn more: Ordinals ending in -en and in -eximo

For ordinals beyond the 9th there are two forms, those ending in -en and those ending in -eximo.

The forms ending in -en under the 20th (dexen “tenth”, unzen “eleventh”, etc.) are typical of Genoese. The ones ending in -eximo (deximo, unzeximo, etc.) are based on Latin, and are more and more frequent due to the influence of Italian, which has analogous forms. Nowadays, one can even hear cardinals completely modelled after Italian, such as undiceximo.

Ordinal forms beyond the 19th are not very common in spoken Genoese, especially those ending in -en, which – although they form the regular pattern – have long been obsolete. As can be seen in the following note, cardinal forms are often used in their place.

Learn more: Usage of cardinal numbers with ordinal function

In place of the standard ordinal forms, especially for higher numerals, it is common to use the cardinal forms in certain contexts. One may therefore hear o giorno vinti da mæ vixita “the day twenty of my visit” instead of o vinteximo giorno “the twentieth day”; l’ediçion trenteçinque da regatta “the edition thirty-five of the regatta” instead of a trenteçinquexima ediçion da regatta “the thirty-fifth edition of the regatta”, etc.

Multipliers

Multipliers denote the number of times that a quantity is larger than another. Except for the first three, the formation of multipliers is based on the cardinal forms.

Multiplier
single sencio 
double doggio 
treble treggio ,
træ vòtte ciù de… 
quadruple quattro vòtte ciù de… 
quintuple çinque vòtte ciù de… 

Fractional numerals

Fractional numerals are made up of a cardinal, for the numerator, and an ordinal or mezo “half”, for the denominator. We show below some examples.

Fractional
1/8 un otten,
un ottavo 
1/4 un quarto 
1/3 un terso 
1/2 un mezo 
2/3 doî tersci 
Learn more: The form citto

The form citto  denotes:

  • the hundredth part of any currency (un cafè o costa un euro e dexe citti “a coffee costs one euro and ten cents”);
  • the centimeter, the hundredth part of the meter (un päfæro de doî metri pe trenta citti de diametro “an iron post that is two meters long by thirty centimeters of diameter”).

Collective numerals

Collective numerals, such as “couple” and “dozen”, denote a quantity of elements, which can also be approximate.

Collettivo
2  ,
cobbia 
10 dexeña 
12 dozzeña 
15 chinzeña 
20 vinteña 
30 trenteña 
40 quaranteña 
50 çinquanteña 
60 sciuscianteña 
70 settanteña 
80 ottanteña 
90 novanteña 
100 çentanâ 
1000 miggiâ 
Learn more: Declination of collective numerals

Collective numerals ending in -ña have regular plural forms in -ñe.

The forms çentanâ “a hundred (or so)” and miggiâ “a thousand (or so)” are masculine in the singular form, but feminine in the regular plural forms çentanæa  and miggiæa  respectively. The forms çentanæe and miggiæe can also be found.

Bibliography

F. Toso, Grammatica del genovese: varietà urbana e di koinè, Le Mani, 1997.

A. Guasoni, F. Toso, Il Genovese in tasca. Guida di conversazione, Assimil, 2010.

A. Acquarone, Parlo Ciæo. La lingua della Liguria. Grammatica, letteratura, storia, tradizioni, De Ferrari, 2015.