जना / वटा

Counting People and Things

Level 1Sounds Like janā ra vaṭā

Nepali uses one counting word for people and another for things.

How It Works

Nepali counts with a small word between the number and the noun, and the word depends on what you count.

जना is a separate word: तीन जना. वटा joins the number: दुईवटा, पाँचवटा. You may also see ओटा, but this course writes वटा.

Ask how many with कति: कति जना? for people and कतिवटा? for things.

A counted noun usually takes no हरू. Say दुई जना साथी, not दुई जना साथीहरू.

दुई जना साथी छन्।
There are two friends.
जना counts people and stays a separate word.
मसँग तीनवटा किताब छन्।
I have three books.
वटा joins the number when you count things.
एउटा कुकुर घरमा छ।
One dog is in the house.
एउटा is one thing.
कति जना आउनुहुन्छ?
How many people are coming?
कति जना asks about people.
घरमा पाँचवटा कोठा छन्।
There are five rooms in the house.
पाँचवटा counts the rooms.

Joining जना to the number.
तीनजना साथी आउँछन्।
तीन जना साथी आउँछन्।
जना is written as its own word.
Counting things with जना.
दुई जना किताब छन्।
दुईवटा किताब छन्।
जना is only for people. Use वटा for things.

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

जना / वटाLevel 1Counting People and Things

जना counts people and वटा counts things, and both follow a number.

Patterns that build on this one.

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