Re: Cardinals and ordinals

Nik Taylor wrote:
> Isidora Zamora wrote:
>
>>How widespread is this phenomenon?
>
>
> Pretty common.  Tho, as far as I know, Japanese forms all ordinals
> regularly, with (dai-)number(-ban)(-me), with any of those optional, so
> that "first" can be _daiichibanme_ (one = ichi), _daiichiban_,
> _ichiban_.  I think there are some restrictions on which can be dropped,
> but I'm not sure.  At any rate, first, second, etc. are formed reguarly.
Isn't the count suffix "-ban" always required for ordinals?

Also, does "dai-" mean "great" here?

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