Introduction:

Kannada  is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in the southwestern region of India. The language is also spoken by linguistic minorities in the states of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Kerala and Goa; and also by Kannadigas abroad. The language had roughly 43 million native speakers by 2011. Kannada is also spoken as a second and third language by over 12.9 million non-native speakers in Karnataka, which adds up to 56.9 million speakers. It is one of the scheduled languages of India and the official and administrative language of the state of Karnataka. Kannada was the court language of some of the most powerful empires of South and Central India, such as the Chalukya dynasty, the Rashtrakuta dynasty, the Vijayanagara Empire and the Hoysala Empire. Just like any other language, Kannada to has its own script for numbers, which has evolved over a period of time. Kannada script has also been influenced by various other languages like Sanskrit, Prakrit, and Pali, which are the earliest known languages to mankind.

It has the Base Numbers i.e. 0 – 10. Using these Base Numbers, the numbers which follow are formed.

Numbers 1 to 10

1. As in any other language, the Kannada numbers begin with Zero(0) or ‘Sonne’.All the numbers in Kannada from 1 to 100 end with the ‘u’ sound.For eg:  1 is called ‘Ondu’
                 2 is called ‘Eradu’ and so on.
   Now, writing the Kannada numbers will become easy if we notice the pattern.
   • Number 0 remains the same as in English
   • Number 1 is like inverted ‘u’ in English
   • Number 2 is similar to 2 in English 
   • Number 3 looks like a curved 2
   • Number 4 is almost similar to the alphabet ‘ಳ’ in Kannada excluding the top line
   • Number 7 is again similar to 2 in English
   • Numbers 6 and 9 are the inverted images of each other
   • Number 8 is like the alphabet ‘ಲ’ in Kannada

 

1. Below is a table depicting the Base Numbers in Kannada : 

Number in English	Numbers in Kannada	Kannada Number Name	Pronunciation
0	೦	ಸೊನ್ನೆ	sonne
1	೧	ಒಂದು	ondu
2	೨	ಎರಡು	Eradu
3	೩	ಮೂರು	mooru
4	೪	ನಾಲ್ಕು	nalku
5	೫	ಐದು	aidu
6	೬	ಆರು	aaru
7	೭	ಏಳು	elu
8	೮	ಎಂಟು	entu
9	೯	ಒಂಬತ್ತು	ombattu
10	೧೦	ಹತ್ತು	hattu

Kannada Numbers 10 to 100

• These are a set of two-digit numbers which are formed by using the above-mentioned single-digit numbers. Ten is the first two-digit number and Hundred being the first three-digit number.

• The Kannada numbers 11 and 12 begin with the prefix ‘Han’

• The numbers 13 to 18 begin with prefix ‘Hadi’ and end with words of base numbers like ‘ondu- 1‘, ’eradu- 2’ and so on till ‘entu- 8’. Eg: Nineteen is called ‘Hattombattu’ , Twenty is called ‘Ippattu’

• The numbers from 21 to 29 begin with ‘Ippatu’ and end with ‘ondu- 1‘, ’eradu- 2’ and so on till ‘ombattu- 9’ . Eg: Thirty is called ‘Muvattu’

• The numbers from 31 to 39 begin with ‘Muvattu’ and end with ‘ondu- 1‘, ’eradu- 2’ and so on till ‘ombattu- 9’ . Eg: Forty is called ‘Nalavattu’

• The numbers from 41 to 49 begin with ‘Nalavattu’ and end with ‘ondu- 1‘, ’eradu- 2’ and so on till ‘ombattu- 9’ . Eg: Fifty is called ‘Aivattu’

• The numbers from 51 to 59 begin with ‘Aivattu’ and end with ‘ondu- 1‘, ’eradu- 2’ and so on till ‘ombattu- 9’. Eg: Sixty is called ‘Aravattu’

• The numbers from 61 to 69 begin with ‘Aravattu’ and end with ‘ondu- 1‘, ’eradu- 2’ and so on till ‘ombattu- 9’ . Eg: Seventy is called ‘Eppattu’
• The numbers from 71 to 79 begin with ‘Eppattu’ and end with ‘ondu- 1‘, ’eradu- 2’ and so on till ‘ombattu- 9’ . Eg: Eighty is called ‘Embattu’

• The numbers from 81 to 89 begin with ‘Embattu’ and end with ‘ondu- 1‘, ’eradu- 2’ and so on till ‘ombattu- 9’ . Eg: Ninety is called ‘Tombattu’

• The numbers from 91 to 99 begin with ‘Embattu’ and end with ‘ondu- 1‘, ’eradu- 2’ and so on till ‘ombattu- 9’ . Eg: Hundred is called ‘Nooru’