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submitted 1 year ago by genfood@feddit.de to c/europe@feddit.de
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[-] ChaoticNeutralCzech@feddit.de 39 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)
# 🇩🇰
1 en
2 to
3 tre
4 fire
5 fem
6 seks
7 syv
8 otte
9 ni
10 ti
11 elleve
12 tolv
13 tretten
14 fjorten
15 femten
16 seksten
17 sytten
18 atten
19 nitten
20 tyve
21 enogtyve
22 toogtyve
30 tredive
40 fyrre
50 halvtreds
60 tres (threes)
70 halvfjerds (½fourths)
80 firs (fours)
90 halvfems (½fifths)
92 tooghalvfems (twoand½fifths)
100 hundred

In Czech, we say „čtvrt na osm“ (quarter to eight), „půl osmé“ (half of eighth) and „tři čtvrtě na osm“ (¾ to eight) to mean 19:15, 19:30 and 19:45, respectively, so I kinda get it.
Similarly, in German, 🕢=„halb acht“.

[-] Bruno@feddit.de 8 points 1 year ago

TIL that it not French with the weirdest way to count. I still don't really get the Danish way. Even with your explanation.

[-] ChaoticNeutralCzech@feddit.de 5 points 1 year ago

It’s not really an explanation, just a table where I leave the linguistically inclined to figure it out. The point is, the “s” at the end is short for “×20” and “half fifth” is short for ●●●●◖ = 4½ (four and half of the fifth).

[-] Bruno@feddit.de 1 points 1 year ago

Thanks. Do you know the history of that?

[-] abecede@feddit.de 2 points 1 year ago

Maybe the Danish don't just count with their fingers to 10, but include their toes... So 10 fingers + 10 toes = 20?

[-] vidarh@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

"Four score and seven years ago"‍ from the Gettysburg Address... Many languages have or had words for counting in 20's. They've just mostly gone out of fashion.

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this post was submitted on 26 Sep 2023
768 points (98.0% liked)

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