Skip to main content

Determiners

A type of word that describes the reference type of a noun. You could think of determiners as a special class of noun modifiers and the only ones that exist before the head noun.

[determiners][head noun] [modifiers]

Determiners involve something related to plurality (quantity), adequacy, or time. They are the fundamental attributes of nouns alongside what makes each noun unique.

Quantity

You can provide numerals as determiners and they allow you to specify the plurality or quantity of the nouns being referred to. Larger numbers are created by using the below method of assembling parts of a number:

Add one of these before your noun and you have provided a quantity determiner (a cardinal number).

niswî sûtûô li cok sûn zomo. "Three friends are leaving the group."

nûs buswen niswî dus tîû êfun oxon xe bîek ni sûît ôfo. "We need 35 minutes to bake this cake."

Providing a quantity determiner of "one" (kut) can be used as a kind of indefinite article. Like the English article "a" or "an".

Ordinal

Place a numeral word after the nucleus (before, in the midst, or after other modifiers) and it will represent a relative position of an item in a sequence (an ordinal number).

li nomû niswî xe sûn xîmol, û sûko noyo. "The third tree from the left is my favorite."

noyo li umo nonkû xe li cok. "I was the fourth person to leave."

The position of the ordinal does cause a split in the grouping of nouns.

noyo côûfon mokon sûît kut xôn onô. "You made the great first dessert."

noyo côûfon mokon sûît xôn kut onô. "You made the first great dessert."

Multiplier

Place a numeral word after (ônî) and use this as a modifier to represent the number of times something is to be multiplied.

boholon yûnyoû zinkon ônî dûî. "The closet has double doors."

nîo li kîôsô êto kôî tûu zoston ônî nonkû bi obunyun. "He's quite athletic and can do quadruple jumps with ease."

Adverbial

Place a numeral word after the manner/material thematic role marker (ônî) and you get adverbial numerals.

noyo bi ônî kut tôlkî mokon bîek botuk ônî mulô"I have only once eaten pizza"

nîmû bi ônî dûî kûu yôn sîkot hokôlî hôn lono xokôn. You should use your toothbrush twice a day.

Distributive

You can make distributive numerals using xokôn. First, to indicate that a predicate is occurring multiple times with the specified details, you would tack on a xokôn at the end of a noun phrase. Here's a non-distributive action and contrasting distributive one:

umo Tom û umo Zil okôt niswî dibo. "Tom and Jill carried three boxes."

umo Tom û umo Zil okôt niswî dibo xokôn. "Tom and Jill carried three boxes each."

In order to specify that something is double the degree of the associated noun-phrase. You prefix a quantity phrase with xokôn.

motûo wohî noyo bi xokôn dûî dîyondê hôn xe bi elentêt li êo infultîn ônî dûstu wokût. My mother was always doubly careful when winding the clock.

li sonkon û xe besol zinkon, ûn bi xokôn niswî hôn bitûn. It is important to lock the door, and triply so at night.

lolû nîmû oncêmon êo xokôn dûî tônkô hôn doho noyo. Your words feel doubly hurtful given my sacrifices.

Fractional

noyo ke dôstoc niswî fun niswî dus tîû îcwon noyo. I will receive three thirty-fifths of my inheritance.

fîkî sobûnî et onô li nîôk lon niswî ûn fun niswî. The disease rate has increased by 3 and one-third.

Relative

Relative determiners provide relativistic information about the head phrase that they are attached to. They can be relative quantities which are like the above numerical quantities but with a non-exact non-finite understanding of what the exact numerical quantity the noun actually is.

total/all:môî sûtûô noyo sûko kontol doî osyen. All my friends like classical music

highest/most:ôfo li numûno eswen sonkon en môî. This is the most important example.

high/many:li êto tolîko bêsu xe côûfon. "There are many different ways to cook a meal."

higher/more:li eswen tolîko xe tûu ôfo, en fos noyo kôî tûek kut. "There are more ways to xe this than I can count."

lower/fewer:li mênûs umo hoî ôfo bi îbûdû. "There are less people here now."

low/some:yoûtî umo sûko kon mûhoyon. "Some people like camping."

lowest/least:noyo bi tôlkî yûnyoû zôtêstô oxon xe cifû mênûs cino niwos en môî. I can only afford to pay the least of the bills.

zero/none:xûnyu dûî umo li sumon. No two people are the same.

There's also the universal classifications of "every" and "each". The former is used for speaking of a group as a whole and the latter is used for speaking of each individual within a group.

kûu li gufis fos nîmû xûsten xokôn xolu bi xôn. Make sure you wash each bowl well.

bînton lono onô li bi cên hoî xokôn lono hêlxun ûn li bi sêl hoî xokôn bitûn. The sun comes up each morning and sets each night.

môî umo xe hoî kûncên onô, totsi ûn hokûxi. Every person in the room stood and cheered.

Interplay with location and duration thematic relations

Using these with the location/time thematic relation (hoî) and the distance/duration thematic relation (lon) has subtle differences in interpretations.

nûs ke nîltûgu xe li bi fîkî, hoî 5 mônbili xokôn. "We will stop running at 5 miles"

nîmû ke dôstoc îskô hoî môî 5 mônbili xokôn. "You will get a drink every 5 miles"

ke li ônî fîkî bêsu hoî xokôn 5 mônbili xokôn. "There will be a different runner each 5 miles"

nûs ke li bi fîkî lon 5 mônbili xokôn. "We will run for 5 miles"

ke li ônî fîkî bêsu lon môî 5 mônbili xokôn. "There will be a different runner for every 5 mile stretch"

nîmû ke dôstoc îskô dîzel lon xokôn 5 mônbili xokôn. "You get another drink for each 5 mile stretch"

Lastly, there are relative quantities that refer to the speakers feelings that the quantity is an adequate amount for their purposes.

noyo bi ôhêl îskô zôtêstô îskô kîkôlô ûlzo hoî lono ôfo. "I've already had enough coffee today."

nîmû mokon odigon bîek sûît hoî kôndodû onô. "You ate too much cake at the party."

nîo moskûl li bûzôk môfî hôn xe hobîyô mût nîo wohî. "He lacks the courage to tell her."