Numbers < DANISH < LANGUAGES

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DANISH NUMBERS

Danish has a rather weird number system. The tens from fifty on are not based on the number 10, as is the case in most European languages (French being another outstanding exception).

CARDINALS ORDINALS 1 en 10 ti 1. første 10. tiende 2 to 20 tyve 2. anden 20. tyvende 3 tre 30 tredive 3. tredje 30. tredivte 4 fire 40 fyrre 4. fjerde 40. fyrretyvende 5 fem 50 halvtreds 5. femte 50. halvtredsindstyvende 6 seks 60 tres 6. sjette 60. tresindstyvende 7 syv 70 halvfjerds 7. syvende 70. halvfjerdsindstyvende 8 otte 80 firs 8. ottende 80. firsindstyvende 9 ni 90 halvfems 9. niende 90. halvfemsindstyvende

This strange system combines two archaic ways of counting:

20-based instead of 10-based fossilized expressions for two and a half, three and a half and four and a half

50 halv-tred-s(ind-s-tyve) half-third-t(imes-of-twenty) 60 tre-s(ind-s-tyve) three-t(imes-of-twenty) 70 halv-fjerd-s(ind-s-tyve) half-fourth-t(imes-of-twenty) 80 fir-s(ind-s-tyve) four-t(imes-of-twenty) 90 halv-fem-s(ind-s-tyve) half-fifth-t(imes-of-twenty)

In cardinal numbers the part in parenthesis is almost always omitted. The full forms are very rarely spoken nor written, giving them an archaic, pompous feel. But in the ordinal numbers the full forms reappear obligatorily, yielding

50 = halvtreds, 50th = halvtredsindstyvende

60 = tres, 60th = tresindstyvende

etc.

The awkwardness of these ordinal forms can not be reduced by truncation, only by reformulation:

halvtredsindstyvende -> nummer halvtreds,

and this anglicism (?) is becoming very widespread.

Only the initial consonant of the word for "times of" = "sinds" is realized. "Sinds" is genitive of "sinde" and both are obsolete - the modern Danish equivalent is "gange", genitive "ganges" - and occur only in numbers and in fossilized compound expressions like "nogensinde" = "ever".

The bases that 20 is multiplied with also have strange archaic forms that are now unproductive and hardly recognizable:



2,5 halvtredje half-third 3,5 halvfjerde half-fourth 4,5 halvfemte half-fifth A similar construction is still in normal use, though 1,5 halvanden half-second

Furthermore they are truncated:

halvtredje, but halvtred(je)s

halvfjerde, but halvfjerd(e)s

halvfemte, but halvfem(te)s

Also:

fire, but fir(e)s

The "logic" of the system is NOT transparent nor generally known to native speakers. This, together with the fact that _d_ is silent in the clusters _ds_ and _rd_, creates very common spelling errors like

halvtres, (should be halvtreds (50))

treds, (should be tres (60))

halvfjers, (should be halvfjerds (70)).

A Scandinavist language reform movement tried to get the 20-based forms replaced by 10-based like Norwegian and Swedish have. With absolutely no success.

Danish 10-based forms are only used in inter-Scandinavian communication and money documents like cheques.

They are: femti, seksti, syvti, ot(te)ti, niti

Ole Stig Andersen

An earlier version of this article was published in

L O W L A N D S - L * 20.AUG.2001 (02) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226

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