Lessons
• Lesson I – Background information
• Lesson II – Black Speech Sounds and Pronunciation
• Lesson III – Nouns
• Lesson IV – Verbs: Infinitive and Present Tense
• Lesson V – Verbs: Future Tense
• Lesson VI – Adjectives and Word Order
• Lesson VII – Pre- and Postpositions, Noun Cases, Phrase Verbs
• Lesson VIII – Verbs: Past Tense
• Lesson IX – Numbers
• Lesson X – Pronouns and Commands (Imperatives)
• * Lesson XII – Comparisons
• * Lesson XIII – Suffix Order and Indirect Objects
• * Lesson XIV – Questions
• * Lesson XV – Participles and Passive Voice
• * Lesson XVI – Conditional and Subjunctive Moods
• Appendix A: Prefixes and Suffixes
• Appendix B: Grammar quick overview
• Appendix C: Measures, Directions, Army Ranks
• Appendix D: List Of Abbreviations
• Appendix E: Canonical Tolkien's Black Speech
Lesson IX – Numbers
Generally, numbers are treated like adjectives. They usually go after the word they modify (again, most orcs would probably ignore this rule). You will also notice that the Ring Verse places them before the word they modify (ash nazg... ). This may have been done for poetic reasons.
Numbers
1 | ash | 11 | galash | 30 | gakhgal | ||
2 | krul | 12 | galkrul | 40 | zagal | ||
3 | gakh | 13 | galgakh | 50 | krâkgal | ||
4 | zag | 14 | galzag | 60 | rutgal | ||
5 | krâk | 15 | galkrâk | 70 | utgal | ||
6 | rut | 16 | galrut | 80 | skragh | ||
7 | udu | 17 | galudu | 90 | krithgal | ||
8 | skri | 18 | galskri | 100 | bûr | ||
9 | krith | 19 | galkrith | 1000 | tor | ||
10 | gal | 20 | krulgal | 0 | nar |
Note that 21 would be krulgalash, 24 = krulgalzag, and so on.
Exercise
Translate the following numbers into Black Speech: 34, 58, 62, 71, 22, 87, 103, 245, 9068, 4862.
Ordinal Numerals
Ordinal numerals are formed the same way as adjectives. You should suffix -ûrz to a number to get ordinal. So first = âshûrz (the only exception), second = krulûrz, 5th = krâkûrz, 27th = krulgaludûrz and so on.
Word order and measures
Numerals always go after words they modify/count, and this rule is simple. But how to translate more complex expressions
like
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