NATIVE JAPANESE NUMERALS. 89
N. B. It will assist the memory to notice that the even numbers are formed from the odds of which they are the doubles by a process of vowel-strengthening, the consonants being originally the same, though slightly disfigured in modern pronunciation, thus :
i hto (anciently probably pi to) 2/Qte (anciently probably puta)
3 m 6 mu
4 jo 8ja
5 itsu (anciently itu) 10 to
IF 148. The substantive forms of the numerals may either be used quite alone, or they may follow a noun, or lastly they may take the postposition no, "of," and precede the noun. They very rarely precede a noun without the intervention of no. Thus :
Ikutsu gozaimasu ka ?
non-many are ? How many are there ?
Hltotsu. I One.
One.
Tsutsumi hltotsu, or ) ~
Hltotsu no tsutsumi. ' One P arce1 '
Mitsu de takiisan (de } _,,
Three by, great-deal ! -Three Will no doubt be
gozaimasho). I plenty.
r ill-p rob a b lij-b e.
Yatsu de tarimasu ka ? win ei ht be enou h ?
it t -fit l by, will-suffice ? j
To bakari kudasai. Please & ive me about
fen about condescend* |ten.
Iki mo kaeri mo (
at,o< returning ai.o, 1 Taking the same road
hitotsu michi. [there and back again.
one road.
II 149. The form used in compounds always precedes the noun to which it refers ; as hito-tsuki, " one month ;" fiita-hako, " two boxfuls;" mi-ban, "three nights."
