Klingon numbers used to be based on threes rather than tens: counting went one, two, three; 3 + 1, 3 + 2, 3 + 3; 2 × 3 + 1, 2 × 3 + 2, 2 × 3 + 3; 3 × 3 + 1, 3 × 3 + 2, 3 × 3 + 3, and then it got complicated.

However, fortunately for learners on Earth, the Klingon scientific community has since created a number system based on ten, and this is the one we will be teaching here.

(Cultural note: the first three number names wa', cha', wej were kept, and the additional numbers los, vagh, jav, Soch, chorgh, Hut were borrowed from the names of the fourth through ninth notes of the Klingon musical scale.)

Numbers higher than nine use a set of suffixes that attach only to numbers.

Unlike English, these number names are completely regular—as if we used onety, twoty, threety, fourty, fivety etc. based on one, two, three, four, five plus a suffix -ty for tens.

In Klingon, the suffixes are:

-maH for tens (e.g. wa'maH 10, cha'maH 20)
-vatlh for hundreds (e.g. wejvatlh 300, loSvatlh 400)
-SaD or -SanID for thousands (e.g. vaghSaD 5,000, javSanID 6,000)—both suffixes are used about equally often and there is no known difference between them.
-netlh for tens of thousands (e.g. Sochnetlh 70,000, chorghnetlh 80,000)
-bIp for hundreds of thousands (e.g. HutbIp 900,000)
-'uy' for millions (e.g. wa"uy' 1,000,000)

Numbers in between are written with multiple words, e.g. loSvatlh vaghmaH jav 456, wa'SaD Soch 1,007.

The word for zero, as we have seen before, is pagh.

Numbers indicating how many of something there are come before the noun they are counting: wa' paq one book.

As we have seen before, plural suffixes on nouns are optional; this is particularly true after numbers, e.g. loS puqpu' or loS puq both mean four children.

Ordinal numbers are formed with the number suffix -DIch, e.g. cha'maH loSDIch twenty-fourth, cha'DIch second. Ordinal numbers come after the noun they are indicating: Duj wa'maHDIch the tenth ship.

To count the number of repetitions of something, you can add the suffix -logh to a number: wa'logh once, cha'logh twice, javvatlhlogh six hundred times. Repetitions act like adverbs and come at the front of the sentence (i.e. before the OVS).

The question word 'ar

The word 'ar means how many? or how much? This word follows the singular form of the word that it is inquiring about. For example:

nagh 'ar Daje'? How many rocks did you buy?
nIm 'ar Daje'? How much milk did you buy?

If the noun that 'ar is referring to can take a type 2 plural suffix, the plural suffix should not be used, but the word should still be treated as plural:

Duj 'ar DIghaj? How many ships do we have?

If the noun that 'ar is referring to does not normally take a type 2 plural suffix, for instance mass nouns and inherently plural nouns, then the word should be treated as singular:

bIQ 'ar wIghaj? How much water do we have?

Remember that we do not use the interrogative verb suffix -'a' with question words such as 'ar. The interrogative verb suffix -'a' is only used to form a yes/no question from a statement.

law' and puS

In this unit you will also learn the words law' be many and puS be few. These are verbs and not actually numbers. They can be used as verbs to make complete sentences:

law' tlhIngan Duj. The Klingon ships are many. (In English we might be more likely to say it as, There are many Klingon ships.)
puS verengan yoH. The brave Ferengi are few. (In English we might be more likely to say it as, There are few brave Ferengi.)

These verbs can also be used in an adjectival manner by following a noun:

pawtaH tlhIngan Duj law'. Many Klingon ships are arriving.
yoH verengan puS. A few Ferengi are brave. (In English we might be more likely to say it as, There are a few brave Ferengi.)