Nouns following er “one” or aht “two” are unmarked. For numerals three or higher, inanimate nouns are marked with the 4th person possessive suffix. Animate nouns remain unmarked.
hreis voluŋgah.
hreis
three
voluŋ-ah
spaceship-4pl
Three spaceships.
hreis fraht.
hreis
three
fraht
girl
Three girls.
5.2.3. Animacy Distinctions
In verbal clauses, animate nouns require a possessive construction involving a body part, whereas inanimate nouns don't.
Inanimate example:
aht pfah.
aht
two
pfah
door
Two doors.
ipfemi aht pfahu.
ipf-en-mi
eye-1sg-v
aht
two
pfah-u
door-pat
I see two doors.
Animate example:
aht fraht.
two
girl
Two girls.
ipfemi aht bufutfrahtu.
ipf-en-mi
eye-1sg-v
aht
two
buf-ut-fraht-u
body-3pl-girl-pat
I see two girls.
Although on its own “two girls” is simply aht fraht, when inside a verbal clause bufut is inserted, whereas such an insertion doesn't happen for inanimate nouns.
Inanimate nouns do drop the 4th person possessive when in the patientive case, though:
hreis pfahah.
hreis
three
pfah-ah
doors-4pl
Three doors.
ipfemi hreis pfahu.
ipf-en-mi
eye-1sg-v
hreis
three
pfah-u.
door-pat
I see three doors.
Tellingly, mo'ipf is treated as an inanimate noun. It appears that other species, especially multi-eyed creatures, are regarded as inferior beings:
er mo'ipf.
er
one
mo'-ipf
pl-eye
A monster.
aht mo'ipf.
aht
two
mo'-ipf
pl-eye
Two monsters.
hreis mo'ipfah.
hreis
three
mo'-ipf-ah
pl-eye-4pl
Three monsters.
ipfemi er mo'ipfu.
ipf-en-mi
eye-1sg-v
er
one
mo'ipf-u
monster-pat
I see one monster.
5.2.4. Counting
The verb for counting is erahrtmi[ɛrɑxʀ̥θˈmɪ], from erahrt "number, count", a portamenteau of er "one" + ahr- "two" + hreis "three" with the nominalizing suffix -t. This verb governs the ablative for the objects being counted:
aŋ erahrtmi maluŋgahat.
aŋ
imp.2sg
erahrt-mi
number-v
maluŋ-ah-at
alien_spaceship-4pl-abl
Count the number of alien spaceships.
erahrtetmi voluŋgahat.
erahrt-et-mi
number-3sg-v
voluŋ-ah-at
spaceship-4pl-abl
He is counting spaceships.
The result of the counting is stated with the predicative suffix -i: