sumu (Numbers) – suninjesa.com

While numbers are not for everyone, learning to count helps us to easily say many things with fewer words.

Numbers become modifiers for. days of the week, colors, shapes, gender, and other information. Most of these only require 7 numbers or less.

As numbers can quickly get complex, memorization of the combinations can be a preferable method of learning.

Days of the week (teja + number)

Monday – teja wan
Tuesday – teja tu
Wednesday – teja si
Thursday – teja po
Friday – teja ki
Saturday – teja sa
Sunday – teja sa wan

Colors (kala + number)

Red – kala wan
Orange – kala tu
Yellow – kala si
Green – kala po
Blue – kala ki
Purple – kala sa

Light and dark uses sole (white) and nu sole (black)

Light red – kala wan sole

Dark green- kala po nu sole

Because brown is a mix of various colors, it is not directly defined. Some suggestions for a brownish color are: kala sulan (earthy color/soil color), kala wan an si an ki (blue and yellow and red color), kala pe suta nu ala (color of dead plants).

Shapes (sepa + number)

Line – sepa wan
Angle – sepa tu
Triangle -sepa si
Square – sepa po
Hexigon – sepa ki
Pentagon – sepa sa
Circle – julen
Flat – lano

If specifying between a square or a blocky object, lano and nu lano can be used.

sepa po lano – square
sepa po nu lano – cube

Gender (kenta + number)

Female – kenta wan
Intergender- kenta tu
Male – kenta si
Non-binary – kenta po

The terminology of gender is limited and sunin jesa recognizes that gender lies on a spectrum and seeks not to compartmentalize anyone but rather to provide a framework in which to discuss one’s identity, expression, and role from within the language’s simplified structure. Speakers are encouraged to expand upon this framework to fit their own personal needs. Some basic examples where this can be useful include:

Mother – mama kenta wan
Father – mama kenta si

Sex and sexuality can also be expressed through use of sepa (body) and sesu (attraction). By using selo (zero, none) one can express terms such as agender, asexual; alternatively one could say: mi li nu kenta – I am not gendered.

Counting 0-11

Introduction to base 6: While base 10 is the most popular counting system, base 6 just has less numbers to count with. When counting you simply skip over 6, 7, 8, and 9 to go straight to 10.

0 – selo

1 – wan

2 – tu

3 -si

4 – po

5 -ki

10 – sa

11 – sa wan

While selo does not always play a role in the above terms, it can provide an alternate route to talk about not having the attribute. For instance, kala selo (colorless) vs nu kala (no color).

Basic Math

Math works similarly to what most people are used to (base 10) except for those pesky missing numbers. 1+1 still is 2 so that’s easy enough.

Base 6 just means we have 6 digits 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. When we run out of digits we need add a new place for them to go. 01+01=02.

Now when we get to 01+05 we can’t have it equal 06 because we don’t actually have a 6. We add a one to the ten’s place. 01+05 = 10.

Confused yet? Like anything, with enough practice it gets easier. Here are some already solved problems: The terms ata (add) and nu ata (subtract) are being used with sema (equals).

wan ata wan sema tu. 1+1=2
wan ata ki sema sa. 1+5=10
tu ata wan sema si. 2+1=3
tu nu ata wan sema wan. 2-1=1
sa ata ki sema sa ki. 10+5=15
sa ki nu ata ki sema sa. 15-5=10
tu sa wan ata tu nu ata si nu ata sa sema sa. ???

Negative numbers use nu.

nu wan ata tu sema wan. -1+2=1
nu tu ata nu wan sema nu si. -2+-1=-3

Counting 1-100

1 – wan	2 -tu	3 -si	4 – po	5 – ki	10 – sa
11 – sa wan	12 – sa tu	13 – sa si	14 – sa po	15 – sa ki	20 -tu sa
21 – tu sa wan	22 – tu sa tu	23 – tu sa si	24 – tu sa po	25 – tu sa ki	30 – si sa
31 – si sa wan	32 – si sa tu	33 – si sa si	34 – si sa po	35 – si sa si	40 – po sa
41 – po sa wan	42 – po sa tu	43 – po sa si	44 – po sa po	45 – po sa ki	50 – ki sa
51 – ki sa wan	52 – ki sa tu	53 – ki sa si	54 – ki sa po	55 – ki sa ki	100 – nin

Counting beyond 100

The highest number is ki nin ki sa ki or 5555. Beyond this, numbers can be proceeded by sumu then listing the individual numbers.

543,210 – sumu ki po si tu wan selo
123,450 – sumu wan tu si po ki selo

The elephant₁₀ in the room

To compromise with minimalism while also picking the most optimal number system, seximal was chosen over the still also very good dozenal system. A special thanks to jan Misali at seximal.net.

So with base 10 being so popular, how do we talk about base 10 things in a base 6 language?

The good new is that not everything in the world is base 10, such as clocks. The day in sunin jesa gets broken into 4 pieces with 6 hour sections.

The bad news is that until everyone switches to using seximal some compromises will need to be made. In the case of sunin jesa, there are currently three proposed solutions:

Numbers can be converted.For small numbers this can work, but it can quickly become impractical for large ones or numbers that would need to be converted back for use such as phone numbers.

The current word list can loan words to be placeholders for the missing 6, 7, 8, and 9. For instance, these could be assigned to wese, nota, sota, and mise; or imen, koto, jajun, and upen.

Additional words for 6, 7, 8, and 9 can be added in future revisions to the language.

All things considered, sunin jesa does embrace the idea of minimalism. The numbers, while integral to the systems in the language, does not (at its core) require additional complexity. In future revisions, additional words may be implemented for ease of daily use outside the sunin jesa community.