People make fun of French numbers, and it’s not undeserved. But have you heard of Danish numbers‽
79, “nioghalvfjerds” translates to English as “nine and half fourth”. “Halvfjerds” being implicitly short for “halvfjerdsindstyve”, which translates as “half fourth times twenty”, where “half fourth” implicitly means “three plus half the fourth” (i.e., 3.5).
That is so much more insane than 83 being “four twenties three”.
and i thaught we germans were stupid with our numbers because we say stuff like “zwei und dreißig”/“two and thirty” instead of “dreißig und zwei” or “dreißig-zwei”.
i wonder how stuff like this came to be, it must have been good for something to have stuck around.
It’s the same in Arabic!
“مئة واثنان وثلاثون” = “hundred and two and thirty”
Not sure about German, but the Arabic example can theoretically come with in any order. However, you almost never see it another way
There’s this nursery rhyme about “four-and-twenty blackbirds baked in a pie” that I can’t remember the rest of. Except that the previous or next verse ended with “rye”.
if it’s any consolation, native danish speakers don’t think about it like this, you just kinda memorize what each multiple of 10 is called. although the etymology does appear a little when using ordinals, e.g. 72nd in danish is tooghalvfjerdsindstyvende (two and half four twenties), but i think most young people would just say tooghalvfjerdsende (72 + ordinal suffix)
Plus we have that whole thing where the only way to know if any definitive noun uses the “en” or “et” suffix (or the same as a separate word in front of the noun if it’s indefinite) is to know already 🤦😄
Sure, but in most cases, there’s something loosely related to rules and logic about it.
In Danish, the grammatical genders aren’t 'male, female, nongender". There’s nongender and multigender, and ABSOLUTELY no reason for anything being one or the other 🤷🏻
Ah yes this table is such a masculine table, such a good example of how all tables manifest masculinity, by um, having uh, legs and um.
Describing any noun gendering in any language reads like a “we have been played for absolute fools” meme.
If it makes you feel better, grammatical genders in Norwegian are arbitrary too. There are no rules or tricks to help you figure out if a noun is masculine, feminine or neuter. :S
People make fun of French numbers, and it’s not undeserved. But have you heard of Danish numbers‽
79, “nioghalvfjerds” translates to English as “nine and half fourth”. “Halvfjerds” being implicitly short for “halvfjerdsindstyve”, which translates as “half fourth times twenty”, where “half fourth” implicitly means “three plus half the fourth” (i.e., 3.5).
That is so much more insane than 83 being “four twenties three”.
I’m a simple man, someone mentions the delicacies of the Danish language, I post this video.
I immediately knew what video you posted and said “Kamelooso” in my head
and i thaught we germans were stupid with our numbers because we say stuff like “zwei und dreißig”/“two and thirty” instead of “dreißig und zwei” or “dreißig-zwei”.
i wonder how stuff like this came to be, it must have been good for something to have stuck around.
Oh, you guys use little endian!
nope, because 132 is “einhundert zwei und dreißig” and not “zwei und dreißig und hundert” that it’s inconsistent is what bothers me.
It’s the same in Arabic! “مئة واثنان وثلاثون” = “hundred and two and thirty” Not sure about German, but the Arabic example can theoretically come with in any order. However, you almost never see it another way
Spanish with the sanity again!
Ciento treinta y dos (Literally: Hundred thirty and two)
Except no, because one hundred and twenty three is ein hundert drei und zwanzig (spaces added in for ease of comprehension for non-German speakers).
Pretty sure it’s some very old way of counting.
English used to do it the same way after all.
There’s this nursery rhyme about “four-and-twenty blackbirds baked in a pie” that I can’t remember the rest of. Except that the previous or next verse ended with “rye”.
Slovenia also uses reversed reading of numbers. 32 is zwei und dreissig in German and we have dvaintrideset (twoandthirty).
Compared to some of the ways numbers are put together in languages, German is positively simple and understandable.
As someone learning danish now, yup this is hell and the worst numbering system. And no, other Scandinavian countries don’t do this shit.
if it’s any consolation, native danish speakers don’t think about it like this, you just kinda memorize what each multiple of 10 is called. although the etymology does appear a little when using ordinals, e.g. 72nd in danish is tooghalvfjerdsindstyvende (two and half four twenties), but i think most young people would just say tooghalvfjerdsende (72 + ordinal suffix)
Yeah, I actually don’t mind the 10s as much. It’s not that many to remember. But it’s quite fun to complain about :D
It is too late for me to understand that text but I’ll come back at it after I’ve slept.
Plus we have that whole thing where the only way to know if any definitive noun uses the “en” or “et” suffix (or the same as a separate word in front of the noun if it’s indefinite) is to know already 🤦😄
Grammatical gender.
Which is a thing in many languages. And many languages have more than just the two in Danish.
Grammatical gender is a thing in a shitload of languages.
Sure, but in most cases, there’s something loosely related to rules and logic about it.
In Danish, the grammatical genders aren’t 'male, female, nongender". There’s nongender and multigender, and ABSOLUTELY no reason for anything being one or the other 🤷🏻
Ah yes this table is such a masculine table, such a good example of how all tables manifest masculinity, by um, having uh, legs and um.
Describing any noun gendering in any language reads like a “we have been played for absolute fools” meme.
If it makes you feel better, grammatical genders in Norwegian are arbitrary too. There are no rules or tricks to help you figure out if a noun is masculine, feminine or neuter. :S
Relevant username
Yup, am a Danish Dane of Denmark born and bred 😁
Stephen Miller walks into Donald Trump’s office, “sir, bad news, we heard three Brazilian people were shot by ICE accidently”.
“oh no…how many is a brazilian?”
Thank you Mason for finally telling us what the numbers mean
Mason?
https://youtu.be/HcqCOVFn9bw
Old black ops 1 meme 😁