Are there any languages which use different cases of numbers for different uses?
4 Answers
Yes, there are.
Finnish is one of such languages and especially interesting in that in complex numbers, all individual numerals are declined:
Matkust-i-n kolme-en maa-han.
travel-IPF-1SG three-ILL country-ILL
"I travelled to three countries."
Hän tarvitse-e kahdeksa-a-tuhat-ta-kolme-a-kymmen-tä-kuut-ta euro-a.
he/she need-3SG eight-PAR-thousand-three-PAR-ten-PAR-six-PAR euro-PAR
"He/She needs eight thousand and thirty-six euro."
elo+kuu-n kahde-nte-na-kymmene-nte-nä-viide-nte-nä päivä-nä
life+moon-GEN two-th-ESS-ten-th-ESS-five-th-ESS day-ESS
"on twenty-fifth of August"
1SG/3SG = first/third person singular
IPF = imperfect tense
ILL = illative case (for movement towards something)
PAR = partitive case (here: to be imagined as "to take some part of all euros there are")
GEN = genitive case (for posssession; here: case for the month that the specified day relates to)
ESS = essive case (for being in a state; here: case for date specification)
answered Aug 8, 2016 at 21:50
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I'm referring to the arabic numerals (1,2...). Are there other symbols used for certain declensions? Aug 10, 2016 at 14:59
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Oh, so you mean the symbols and not the words. That was very hard to understand, asking it on a language site without making clear you are talking about graphemes (because linguists are usually not so much concerned with written language), plus the word case was in this context easily to be confused with the linguistic term. Well, in this case, I'm not aware of any language or writing system which does that. Aug 10, 2016 at 15:52
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Okay, thank you. I hadn't made it very clear; sorry about that. Aug 10, 2016 at 16:00
In Sanskrit all numbers are inflected for case. Similarly in Arabic. Greek inflects some of them.
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But when it's inflection for case, it should be declension not conjugation, right? Aug 8, 2016 at 21:50
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Many Slavonic languages have complex declension of numerals, both cardinal and ordinal ones. For example, Ukrainian:
Add lessons to your fourty- two daily tasks
Додай уроки до своїх сорока двох щоденних справ
add+IMP lessons+ACC to your+PL+GEN fourty+DAT two+DAT daily+PL+GEN task+PL+GEN
IMP = imperative mood
PL = plural
GEN = Genitive case
DAT = Dative case
ACC = Accusative case
Note that fourty-two even declines into the different case (Dative) than the linked NP (daily tasks).
answered Aug 8, 2016 at 22:05
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@MorellaAlmånd, in Ukrainian, numerals with no linked N/NP have little use. They can act as contractions (e.g., "call me after five" or "you must arrive by five", omitting "o'clock"), and yes, "after" governs for Genitive case, "by" governs for Instrumental, so "five" declines. Aug 10, 2016 at 14:22
Numerals were declined in Proto-indoeuropean heavily. The declensions are preserved very well in Sanskrit and to a certain measure in Ancient Greek as well as most contemporary Slavic languages or Lithuanian.
e.g. numeral "five" in Sanskrit, Czech and Lithuanian
nom.: pañca - pět - penki
gen.: pañcānām - pěti - penkių
dat.: pañcabhyaḥ - pěti - penkiems
etc.
Many IE languages still preserve some remains of declensions of the most basic numerals like one,two or three (e.g. in Romance languages, they still distinguish gender if not case itself).
7→ㄥ), not words ("seven"), then the last edit invalidates three existing answers. I'm not sure it this phenomenon qualifies declension at all, but anyways, the OP should better revert the edit and ask another question.