Kabardian grammar

Eastern Circassian grammar () is the grammar of standard East Circassian also known as Kabardian, as spoken and written by the Kabardian and Besleney communities primarily in the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic and Karachay-Cherkessian Republic in Russia.

Eastern Circassian is ergative–absolutive, predominantly marks head final and its normal word order is SOV (Subject-Object-Verb). Its nouns are remarkably simple, only marking for 2 numbers and case (which is frequently optional). Its verbal morphology however is the most complex part of the language, being inflected with suffixes and prefixes, making it very agglutinative and polysynthetic. A verb can be marked for several persons (polypersonality), number, tense, mood, causative and with a large array of preverbs. Notions such as "can", "must", and "if", usually expressed as separate words in most European languages, are typically expressed with verbal suffixes in Eastern Circassian.

Ergative–absolutive

Kabardian is an ergative–absolutive language. Unlike nominative–accusative languages, such as English, where the single argument of an intransitive verb ("She" in the sentence "She walks.") behaves grammatically like the agent of a transitive verb ("She" in the sentence "She finds it."), in ergative–absolutive language the subject of an intransitive verb behaves like the object of a transitive verb, and differently from the agent of a transitive verb.

The following examples demonstrate an ergative–absolutive case marking system:

Here, "table" has the absolutive case mark -р /-r/ while "man" has the ergative case mark -м /-m/. We also have the verb "break" in intransitive form "мэкъутэ" and transitive form "екъутэ". In the example above, we specifically used SOV order, but Circassian allows any order.

Nouns in Kabardian can have the following roles in a sentence:

• Ergative case: Marked as -м /-m/, it serves to mark the one that causes change by doing the verb.
• Absolutive case: Marked as -р /-r/, it serves to mark the one that is changed by the verb's, i.e. it is being created, altered, moved or ended by the verb.
• Oblique case: Also marked as -м /-m/, it serves to mark the dative and applicative case roles. It acts as the indirect object in the sentence and its state is not changed by the verb, i.e. we have no indication of what happens to it or how it behaves after the verb.

In intransitive verbs the subject is in the absolutive case thus it indicates that the subject is changing (created, altered, moved or ended).

• In this example the boy is changing by moving:

• In this example the man is changing by moving. The verb еуэн /jawan/ "to hit" describes the movement of hitting and not the impact itself, so we have no indication of what happens to the object (the wall in this case).

In transitive verbs the subject is in the ergative case thus it indicates that the subject causes change to the object which gets the absolutive case.

• In this example the wall changes by being destroyed (it was altered). The verb къутэн /qʷətan/ "to destroy" does not indicate how the subject (boy) destroyed the wall thus we have no indication of the boy changing, making him the one that causes the change (and not the one that changes).

• In this example the rock changes by moving (motion in air), the man causes the change and the wall acts as the indirect object of the preposition.

It is important to distinguish between the intransitive and transitive verb, because the subject and object noun cases as well as the sentences' verb conjunctions (the prefixes that indicate person) depend on it. A fault in this can change the meaning of the sentence drastically, switching the roles of the subject and object. For instance, look at the following two sentences:

Even though the noun cases of the word boy кӏалэ are the same (In the Ergative-Oblique case marked as -м), they behave grammatically different because the verb еплъын "to look" is considered an intransitive verb in contrast to the verb елъэгъун "to see" which is transitive.

Noun

Singular and plural

A Circassian noun can be in one of the following two states: singular or plural

Singular number is marked by a null morpheme, while plural nouns use the -хэ () suffix, which is attached to the main form of the word. A noun in its plural form must be in its definite form, meaning it must include case markers such as -р or -м.

For example: singular:

• унэ (): home → унэхэр () homes
• тхылъ (): book → тхылъхэр () books

Names and vocative uses of a noun are exempt of this rule.

• къардэнхэ лъэпкъышхуэщ (): The Kardan(ov)s are a large family/tribe
• фымыпIащIэ, цIыкIухэ! (): Don't hurry, children!
• ныбжьэгъухэ, зэIущIэм зыкъыкIэрывмыгъэху! (): Comrades, don't be late for the meeting!

However, the plural marking on the noun is optional in most cases. It is however frequently encoded in other parts of the sentence which are mandatory, for example the verb or possessive marking.

• сабийм жеIэ (): the child speaks vs сабийм жаIэ (): the children speak
• сабийм и хьэл (): the child's character vs сабийм я хьэл (): the children's character

As a side note, the suffix -хэ () is also present in verbs to denote that the absolutive participant is plural. However similarly, it is only optional. For example:

• ар макӏуэ he is going → ахэр макӏуэхэ: they are going

Collective nouns

Collective nouns, such as жылэ () village, къуажэ () village, хьэблэ () district, унагуэ () family, are noteworthy, in regards to the usage of the plural. All of them, can also refer to the members of that group and if they do the noun acts as a plurale tantum which can't have.

• жылэм я Iэр яIэтмэ, сэри си Iэр сIэтынщ (): if the villagers vote, I will also vote (lit. if the villagers raise their hands, I will raise my hand too)
• ар мы жылэм щопсэу (): he lives in this village

Definite and indefinite forms

Circassian nouns usually have either definite or indefinite form. The idea behind this concept is close to the idea of definite/indefinite articles in English. The definite form of Circassian nouns have -р or -м (noun cases) formats at the end of the word. For example: щӏалэ "boy" – indefinite noun (has none of the definite formats) – it can be used in generalizations or when the boy is unknown to either the "speaker" or "listener" (a/an or zero article in English); щӏалэр, щӏалэм "the boy" – it is used when the mentioned boy is well known to both the "speaker" and "listener".

Noun cases

Kabardian also declines nouns into four different cases, each with corresponding suffixes: absolutive, ergative, instrumental, and adverbial. The absolutive and ergative cases are considered primary cases, while instrumental and adverbial periphery cases, which means they have less of a core functionality and are frequently built on primary cases

Absolutive case

Has the suffix -р (e.g. щӏалэр 'the boy', щӏалэхэр ('the boys'), шыр 'the horse'). The absolutive case usually expresses subject in conjunction with intransitive verbs or direct object in conjunction with transitive verbs: For example:

In the following example, Щӏалэр is in the absolutive case, it points to the subject (the boy), and the sentence is in the absolutive form with an intransitive verb (кӏуащ);

In the following example, джанэр is in the absolutive case, it points to the direct object (the shirt which is being laundered), and the sentence is in the ergative form (after the form of its subject – Бзылъфыгъэм) with a transitive verb (егыкӏы).

Ergative case

Has the suffix -м (e.g. щӏалэм 'the boy's', щӏалэхэм 'the boys<nowiki>'</nowiki>', щым 'the horse's). This case has two roles: Ergative role and Oblique role.

• The Ergative role functions as subject in conjunction with transitive verbs.

• The Oblique role functions as indirect object with both transitive and intransitive verbs.

An example with an intransitive verb йоджэ "reads" and indirect object тхылъым "book".

An example with an transitive verb ирет "gives" and indirect object пщащэм "girl".

The Ergative-Oblique case can also be used as an adverbial modifier. For example:

• Студентхэм махуэм ӏуэху ящӏащ (): "The students have worked during the day" (махуэм – adverbial modifier of time).
• Щӏалэхэр мэзым кӏуахэщ (): "The boys went to the forest" (мэзым – adverbial modifier of place).

The Ergative-Oblique case is used in possessive constructions. For example:

• лIым и унэ (): the man's house, house of the man

Instrumental-Directional Case

Indefinite nouns are marked by the affix -кӏэ : тхылъ-кӏэ, "by/with book", ӏэ-кӏэ "by/with hand". definite nouns express this case using the ergative affix -м in conjunction with the affix -кӏэ: уадэ-м-кӏэ "by/with the hammer", тхылъ-м-кӏэ "by/with the book".

The Instrumental case can also mark the direction of action:

• гъуэгу /ʁʷaÉ¡Ê·/ road → гъуэгумкӏэ /ʁʷaɡʷəmt͡ʃʼa/ from the road (direction).
• унэ /wəna/ house → унэмкӏэ /wənamt͡ʃʼa/ from the house.
• хы /xə/ sea → хымкӏэ /xəmt͡ʃʼa/ from the sea (direction).

Adverbial case

Has the suffix -уэ , or -у (e.g. щӏалу 'boy'). The adverbial case usually expresses a transition into something, or definition (clarification, which often works like the English words -which, -who, -that... ) of a name. It points to the real (literal, not grammatical) subject in the sentence. For example:

Pro-drop

Kabardian is a pro-drop language. The subject and the object pronouns are sometimes omitted when verb conjugations reflect number and person.

• Both subject and object are mentioned :

• If the direct object is not mentioned :

• If the subject is not mentioned :

• If both subject and object are not mentioned :

Noun and adjective

In Kabardian, if a noun is accompanied by an adjective, the adjective is always placed right after the noun and also gets the grammatical role suffixes instead of the noun.

• Absolutive case

• Ergative case

• Instrumental case

Participle

In Kabardian someone (person) or something (animal, plant, object) that does a specific verb (or something happened to him/it) can be represented with the verb word with the additional suffix -э (a) (for present tense -рэ (-ra)). For example:

• макӏуэ /maːkÊ·'a/ – he is going → кӏуэр /kʷʼar/ – (one), who is going
• машхэхэ /maːʃxaxa/ – they are eating → шхэхэр /ʃxaxar/ – (ones), who are eating.
• лэжьащ /É®aʑaːɕ/ – he worked → лэжьар /É®aʑaːr/ – (one), who worked.
• лӏэнущ /ɬʼanəwɕ/ – he will die → лӏэнур /ɬʼanəwr/ – (one), who will die.

Creating nouns from adjective

In Kabardian someone (person) or something (animal, plant, object) that have a specific adjective can be presented with the adjective word with the additional noun case suffix (absolutive, ergative, etc.) For example:

• дахэ /daːxa/ – pretty → дахэр /daːxar/ – the pretty person (absolutive case).
• ӏэфӏ /ʔafʼə/ – tasty → ӏэфӏэр /ʔafʼar / – the tasty ones (absolutive case).
• щӏыӏэ /ɕʼəʔa/ – cold → щӏыӏэм /ɕʼəʔam/ – in the cold (ergative case).

Demonstratives

Kabardian has three demonstratives: а /ʔaː/, мо /mo/ and мы /mə/.

а /ʔaː/

2. : — that table
3. : — that girl
4. : — that boy is saying

• The determiner /ʔaː/ refer to a referent that is far away and invisible to both the speaker and the listener(s). It is similar to the English language determiner , but with the condition that the referent has to be invisible or far away.

мо /maw/

2. : — that table
3. : — that girl
4. : — that boy is saying

• The determiner refer to a referent that is visible and in a known distance from both the speaker and the listener(s) (both the speaker and the listener(s) can see the referent). It is similar to the English language determiner , but with the condition that the referent has to be visible.

мы /mə/

2. : — this table
3. : — this girl
4. : — this boy is saying

• The determiner refer to a referent that is close to both the speaker and the listener(s). It is exactly like the English language determiner .

Conjugation

The demonstratives can be used to express different things like:

Location: адэ "there", модэ "there", мыдэ "here".

Similarity: апхуэд "like that", мопхуэд "like", мыпхуэд "like this".

Pronouns

Personal pronouns

In Kabardian, only the first and second person, singular and plural, pronouns have dedicated words. Effectively speaking in terms of usage, а is the third person pronoun, however that is a demonstrative (for more details see here).

Demonstrative Pronouns

Demonstrative pronouns are мы "this", мо "that", а "that". There is a contradistinction between 'мы' and 'мо' on how far the referred object is. The pronoun 'а' is neutral on this matter. Third person pronouns are expressed as demonstrative pronouns.

Possessive Pronouns

Indefinite pronoun

In Kabardian whole one – зыгоруэ, Serves for indication of all notions corresponding to English words "someone", "something", "someone", "something", "sometime", "somewhere", etc. Зыгуэрэ changes either as noun – in number and in cases:

Adjectives

From a morphological perspective, adjectives in the Kabardian language share many characteristics with nouns. A key feature of Circassian grammar is phrase-final affixation: when an adjective modifies a noun, the noun itself usually remains in its bare stem form. The grammatical markers for number (plurality) and case (role in the sentence) attach to the end of the entire noun phrase—which usually means they attach to the adjective.

Adjectives are categorized into two main types:

• Qualitative adjectives: Describe qualities (e.g., "good", "white", "tall"). These usually follow the noun.
• Relative (Material) adjectives: Describe material or relation (e.g., "wood", "iron"). These usually precede the noun and do not change form.

Phrase-Final Affixation

Unlike in languages like Spanish or Russian where both the noun and adjective agree (change form), in Kabardian, only the last word in the phrase takes the suffix.

Example 1: Qualitative Adjective (Follows Noun) Here, the noun is (girl) and the adjective is (beautiful).

Example 2: Suffixal Adjective (Augmentative) Some adjectives function as suffixes themselves, like (large/big). The case and number markers still attach to the very end.

Declension

When an adjective is used substantively (as a noun, e.g., "the white one"), it takes the standard noun case markers directly.

Example: ("White")

Adjective Position Examples

Usage in Sentences

Comparison

Adjectives have comparative and superlative forms used to express degrees of quality.

Comparative Degree Formed using the auxiliary word (more).

Superlative Degree Formed using the auxiliary word or (most/more than all).

Affixes

Various suffixes can be added to nouns and adjectives to modify their meaning (diminutives, augmentatives, intensifiers).

Suffixes for Nouns

Suffixes for Adjectives

Examples

Opinion (Psychological Predicates)

To indicate that a quality is perceived by someone (an opinion or feeling), the prefix (fʼa~) is added to the adjective. This transforms the adjective into a verbal construction meaning "X is [ADJ] to Y".

• "pretty" → "it is pretty to him/her"
• "tasty" → "it is tasty to him/her"
• "red" → "it looks red to him/her"

Scaliness (Abstract Nouns)

The suffix (~ʁa) is appended to adjectives to turn them into abstract nouns representing the measure or quality itself (e.g., "length" from "long").

• (long) → (length)
• (fast) → (speed)
• (hot) → (heat)
• (strong) → (strength)
• (wide/thick) → (width/thickness)
• (beautiful) → (beauty)
• (tasty) → (tastiness)

State of the Adjective

The suffix (~ʁaːt͡ʃʼa) forms nouns meaning "the state/essence of being X", which is distinct from the measurable scale marked by ~гъэ.

• (long) → (lengthiness)
• (strong) → (strongness)
• (pretty) → (prettiness)

Verbs

Tenses

Valency

Verb valency is the number of arguments controlled by a verbal predicate. It is very close to the concept of transitivity, in the sense that base intransitive verbs are monovalent, while base transitive verbs are bivalent.

Most operations in Kabardian are valency increasing operations, in frequency as well as in amount of morphemes. Those operations usually affect the transitivity, or rather any operations which affects the transitivity (almost) always affects the valency.

Among the valency increasing operations is the causative prefix and the various preverbs. E.g.:

• ар мажэ: he runs -> абы ар егъажэ: he makes him run
• ар матхэ: he writes -> абы ар егъатхэ: he makes him write

Among the valency decreasing operations is the reflexive person marker. E.g.:

• абы уэ уехуапэ: he clothes you -> абы зехуапэ: he dresses (lit. he clothes himself)
• хъыджэбзым хьэкъущыкъур итхьэщIащ: the girl washee the dishes -> хъыджэбзым зитхьэщIащ: the girl washee herself

Valency increasing

Moods

Imperative

The imperative mood denotes a command.

As its subject, the imperative mood can only have the second person as its subject. It is formed by stripping away all tense suffixes from the verb, with the specialty that the positive second-person singular form doesn't mark the subject. The negative is marked by мы-.

Conditional

Conditional mood is expressed with suffix -мэ: сы-кIуэ-мэ "if I go", сы-жэ-мэ "if I run", с-щIэ-мэ "if I do".

Concessive

Concessive mood is expressed with suffix -ми: сы-кIуэ-ми "even if I go", сы-жэ-ми "even if I run", с-щIэ-ми "even if I do".

Affirmative

Affirmative form is expressed with the affix -къэ: кӏуэ-къэ "isn't he is going?", гыщӏэ-къэ "isn't he washing?".

Positional conjugation

In Kabardian, the positional prefixes are expressing being in different positions and places and can also express the direction of the verb. Here is the positional conjugation of some dynamic verbs, showing how the prefix changes the indicated direction of the verb:

Here is the positional conjugation of some verbs, showing how the root changes indicate position:

Examples:

щыт – [someone or something] stands (as a pose);

Iут – [someone or something] stands (behind);

щIэт – [someone or something] stands (under)

тет – [someone or something] stands (above)

дэт – [someone or something] stands (between), etc.

Adverbs

In the Kabardian language adverbs belong to these groups: adverbs of place, adverbs of time, adverbs of quality and adverbs of amount.

Adverbs of place

• адэ – "there" (invisible).
• модэ – "there" (visible).
• мыдэ – "here".

Adverbs of time

• нобэ – "today".
• дыгъуасэ – "yesterday".
• пщэдей – "tomorrow".
• мыгъэ – "this year".
• иджы – "now".
• иджыри – "still"
• иджыпсту – "right now".
• пщэдджыжьым – "at morning".
• шэджагъуэм – "at noon".
• жэщым – "in the night".
• зэманым – "in the past".
• етӏанэ – "afterwards"

Adverbs of amount

• мащӏэ – "few".
• тӏэкӏу – "a bit".
• тӏэкӏурэ – "few times, for a short period of time".
• куэд "a lot".
• куэдрэ "a lot of times, for a long period of time".
• ӏаджэ "many".

Adverbs of quality

Adverbs of this group are formed from the appropriate qualitative adjectives using the suffix ~у /~w/. Adverbs in this group describe the manner in which the verb was done.

• къабзэ "clean" → къабзу "cleanly"
• жыжьэ "far" → жыжьу "far",
• псынщӏэ "quick" → псынщӏэу "quickly",
• дахэ "beautiful" → даху "beautifully",
• благъэ "near" → благъу "nearly".
• лъэщ "powerful" → лъэщу "powerfully".
• щабэ "soft" → щабу "softly"
• быдэ "firm" → быду "firmly"

Conjunctions

In English, the word "and" is used to connect various parts of speech. In Kabardian, there are different ways (suffixes) to connect words depending on their part of speech and definiteness.

The independent conjunction /ət͡ʃəj/ ("and") can also be used to connect different parts of speech.

• Verbs: ("The boy reads and writes.")
• Adjectives: ("The boy is handsome and tall.")

Conjunctions in the Circassian language play the same role like in English, they are used to connect together, in different ways, words or parts of a difficult sentence. According to structure of Circassian conjunctions they can be separated into two groups: simple and complex.

Simple conjunctions

Among simple Circassian conjunctions are:

• ыкӏи – "and".
• е – "or".
• ауэ – "but".

Complex conjunctions

• арщхьэкӀэ – "because".
• aтӀэ – "in spite of".
• хьэмэ – "or".
• сыту – "as".
• щхьэкӀэ – "though".
• сыт щхьэкӀэ – "because (of) / why".
• папщӀэ – "for".
• папщӀэкӀэ – "as".
• щыгъуэ – "when".
• зэ-зэ – "first…then".
• е-е – "either-or".
• къудейуэ – "as soon as".
• ару – "just".
• пэтми – "although".
• щытмэ – "if".
• ипкъ иткӀэ – "therefore".
• къыхэкӀкӀэ – "because / that’s why".

Particles

In the Circassian language participles are different both by their semantics and structure. Semantically they fall into the following groups: affirmative, negative, interrogative, intensive, indicatory and stimulating.

• дыдэ – "quite, very".
• уеблэмэ – "even".
• пIэрэ – "whether, really".
• мис – "here".
• мес – "there (near by)".
• кхъы1э – "please".
• нэхъ – "more".
• нэхърэ – "more than".
• хьэуэ – "no".
• нтIэ – "yes".
• акъудей (аркъудей) – "quite not".
• къудей – "just now".

Postpositions

In the Circassian language, as well as in other Ibero-Caucasian languages, role of prepositions belongs to postpositions. It is difficult to define the exact count of postpositions in the Circassian language, because even such major parts of speech as nouns (from the point of view of their functionality) sometimes can be included into the group, together with some verb prefixes. For example, in the sentence Тхылъыр столым телъ "The book is lying on the table" the noun has no preposition, but the meaning remains clear because in the verb те-лъ "is lying" the prefix те- expresses something's being on a surface, so this form of the verb literally means "on the surface is lying".

Nouns and adverbs sometimes play role of postpositions. For example, nous that describe different parts of human body (head, nose, side and so on) sometimes function as postpositions. For example: Фызыр лӏым ипэ иту кӏуащ "The wife went in front of the husband" (the preposition "in front of" in the Circassian sentence is expressed by the phrase ипэ иту "being in front of his nose").

Nouns and pronouns combine with a postposition in the ergative grammatical case only. For example, the postposition деж "near, beside" requires a word in the ergative case:

• жыгы-м деж "near the tree".

Postpositions can attach possessive prefixes to themselves. For example, in singular:

• сэ с-а-деж "near me",
• о у-а-деж "near you",
• абы и деж "near him";

in plural:

• дэ д-а-деж "near us",
• фэ ф-а-деж "near you",
• ахэмэ я деж "near them".

The following words are used as postpositions in the Circassian language:

• ипIэкIэ "before".
• пщ1ондэ "before".
• щыгъуэ "during".
• икIуэцIкI "inside".
• лъандэ "since".
• къэскIэ "until".
• нэс "until".
• деж "near".
• дежкIэ "at".
• иужь "after".
• пащхьэ "in front of".
• щ1ыбагъ "behind".
• щIагъ "under".
• нэмыщI "except".
• фIэкIа "except".
• къэс "every".

Word Formation

Compounding

Noun + Noun

• адэ-анэ: parents (cf. адэ: father, анэ: mother)
• джэдкъаз: domesticated bird (cf. джэд: chicken, къэз: goose)
• мэкъумэш: harvest (cf. мэкъу: hay, анэ: millet)
• мастэIуданэ: sewing kit (cf. мастэ: ??, Iуданэ: needle)
• джанэгъуэншэдж: set of clothes (cf. джанэ: shirt, гъуэншэдж: pants)

Noun + Verb

This strategy is very similar to the English one, which gives words like pickpocket, cutthroat, scarecrow.

• пхъащIэ (): carpenter (cf. пхъэ: wood, щIэн: to do Y)
• пщэдэлъ (): scarf (cf. пщэ: wool, дэлъын: to lie at Y)
• псышэ (): water carrier (cf. псы: water, шэн: to lead Y)

Derivation

-ей

A suffix denoting a tree.

• дей (): walnut/hazelnut tree (cf. дэ: nut)
• абрикосей (): apricot tree (cf. абрикос: apricot)
• балией (): cherry tree (cf. балий: cherry)

зэ-

• зэадэзэкъуэ (): father and son
• зэанэзэпхъу (): mother and daughter
• зэдэлъхузэшыпхъу (): brother and sister
• зэлӀзэфыз (): husband and wife
• зэныбжьэгъу (): friends

-тэ

This is an unproductive suffix, which creates new verbs from other verbs.

• лъэтэн (): to fly (cf. лъэн: to jump)
• кIуэтэн (): to move (cf. кIуэн: to go)
• къутэн (): to break Y (cf. къун: to beat Y up)

Numbers

• Numbers from zero to ten are specific words

1 зы

2 тӀу

3 щы

4 плӀы

5 тху

6 хы

7 блы

8 и

9 бгъу

10 пщӏы

• Numbers from eleven to nineteen are built with the word for ten, followed by кӏу () and the unit digit:

11 пщӏыкӀуз

12 пщӏыкӀутIу

13 пщӏыкӀущ

14 пщӏыкӀуплI

15 пщӏыкӀутху

16 пщӏыкӀуÑÂ

17 пщӏыкӀубл

18 пщӏыкӀуй

19 пщӏыкӀубгъу }

• The tens follow a vigesimal system from forty up, with the exception of fifty:

20 тӀощӏ (20)

21 тӀощӏэ зырэ (20 and 1)

22 тӀощӏэ тIурэ (20 and 2)

23 тӀощӏэ щырэ (20 and 3)

...

30 щэщӏ (30)

31 щэщӏрэ зырэ (30 and 1)

32 щэщӏрэ тIурэ (30 and 2)

...

40 плIыщI (20 × 2)

50 тхущI, (half-hundred)

60 хыщI, (20 × 3)

70 блыщI (20 × 3 and 10)

80 ищI (20 × 4)

90 бгъущI (20 × 4 and 10)

• One hundred is щэ (ɕa). The hundreds are formed by the hundred word root (щ (ɕ)) followed by -и-

(-i-) and the multiplier digit root.

100 щэ (ɕa)

101 щэрэ зырэ (ɕara zəra) (100 and 1)

110 щэрэ пщӏырэ (ɕara pʃʼəra) (100 and 10)

200 щитӀу (ɕitʷʼ) (100 × 2)

201 щитӀурэ зырэ (ɕitʷʼəra zəra) (200 × 2 and 1)

300 щищ (ɕiɕ) (100 × 3)

400 щиплӀ (ɕipɬʼ) (100 × 4)

500 щитху (ɕitxʷ) (100 × 5)

600 щих (ɕix) (100 × 6)

700 щибл (ɕibɮ) (100 × 7)

800 щий (ɕij) (100 × 8)

900 щибгъу (ɕibʁʷ) (100 × 9)

• One thousand is мин (min). The thousands are formed by the thousand word root (мин (məjn))

followed by -и- (-i-) and the multiplier digit root.

1000 мин (min)

1001 минрэ зырэ (minra zəra) (1000 and 1)

1010 минрэ пщӏырэ (minra pʃʼəra) (1000 and 10)

1100 минрэ щэрэ (minra ɕara) (1000 and 100)

2000 минитӀу (minitʷʼ) (1000 × 2)

3000 минищ (miniɕ) (1000 × 3)

4000 миниплӀ (minipɬʼ) (1000 × 4)

5000 минитху (minitxʷ) (1000 × 5)

6000 миних (minix) (1000 × 6)

7000 минибл (minibɮ) (1000 × 7)

8000 миний (minij) (1000 × 8)

9000 минибгъу (minibʁʷ) (1000 × 9)

10000 минипщӏ (minipʃʼ) (1000 × 10)

11000 минипщӀыкӀуз (minipʃʼəkʷʼəz) (1000 × 11)

12000 минипщӀыкӀутIу (minipʃʼəkʷʼətʷʼ) (1000 × 12)

20000 минитӀощӏ (minitʷʼaɕʼə) (1000 × 20)

100000 минищэ (miniɕa) (1000 × 100)

200000 минищитӀу (miniɕitʷʼ) (1000 × 200)

When composed, the hundred word takes the -рэ (-ra) suffix, as well as the ten and the unit if any (e.g.: щэрэ зырэ (ɕara zəra) [101], щэрэ тIурэ (ɕara tʷʼəra) [102], щэрэ пщӀыкӀузырэ (pʃʼəkʷʼətʷʼəra) [111], щитӀурэ щэщӀырэ плIырэ (ɕitʷʼəra ɕat͡ʃəra pɬʼəra) [234]).

Ordinal numbers

• Except апэрэ/япэрэ – first (aːpara/jaːpara) are formed by prefix я- (jaː-) and suffix – нэрэ (- nara). For

example: ятIунэрэ – second (jaːtʷʼənara), ящынэрэ – third (jaːɕənara), яплIынэрэ – fourth (jaːpɬʼənara).

first – Япэ

second – ЕтIуанэ

third – Ещанэ

firth – Еянэ

tenth – ЕпщIанэ

eleventh – ЕпщыкIузанэ

sixteenth. – ЕпщыкIуханэ

Discrete numbers

Зырыз – in ones, one by one

ТIурытI – in twos, two by two

Щырыщ – in threes, three by three

ПлIырыплI – in fours, four by four

Тхурытху – in fives, five by five

Хырых – in sixes, six by six

Блырыбл – in sevens, seven by seven

Ири – in eights, eight by eight

Бгъурыбгъу – in nines, nine by nine

ПщIырыпщI – in tens, ten by ten

Fractional numbers

half (1÷2) – Ныкъуэ

one third (1÷3) – щанэ

two thirds (2÷3) – щанитӏу (1÷3 × 2)

one fourth (1÷4) – плӀанэ

two fourths (2÷4) – плӀанитӏу (1÷4 × 2)

three fourths (3÷4) – плӀанищ (1÷4 × 3)

one fifth (1÷5) – тфанэ

one sixth (1÷6) – ханэ

one seventh (1÷7) – бланэ

one eighth (1÷8) – янэ

one ninth (1÷9) – бгъуанэ

one tenth (1÷10) – пщӀанэ

one eleventh (1÷11) – пщӀыкӏузанэ

one twelfth (1÷12) – пщӀыкӏутӏуанэ

one twentieth (1÷20) – тӏощӏанэ

one hundredth (1÷100) – щанэ

See also

• Kabardian language
• Circassia
• Circassians

References

Bibliography

• Аркадьев, П. М.; Ландер, Ю. А.; Летучий, А. Б.; Сумбатова, Н. Р.; Тестелец, Я. Г. Введение. Основные сведения об адыгейском языке в кн.: "Аспекты полисинтетизма: очерки по грамматике адыгейского языка" под ред.: П. М. Аркадьев, А. Б. Летучий, Н. Р. Сумбатова, Я. Г. Тестелец. Москва: РГГУ, 2009 (Arkadiev, P. M.; Lander, Yu. A.; Letuchiy, A. B.; Sumbatova, N. R.; Testelets, Ya. G. Introduction. Basic information about Adyghe language in "Aspects of polysyntheticity: studies on Adyghe grammar" edited by: P. M. Arkadiev, A. B. Letuchiy, N. R. Sumbatova, Ya. G. Testelets. Moscow, RGGU, 2009) (in Russian)
• Kabardian Verbal Affixes: Collected, arranged and edited by Amjad Jaimoukha : http://iccs.synthasite.com/resources/Kabardian%20Verbal%20Affixes.pdf.
• Ranko Matasović, A short grammar of east Circassian (Kabardian) : http://mudrac.ffzg.unizg.hr/~rmatasov/KabardianGrammar.pdf.