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French numerals | ||
Tags: Number System | French | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| alfajuj Diglot Senior Member Taiwan Joined 6211 days ago 121 posts - 126 votes  Speaks: English*, Mandarin Studies: Taiwanese, French | Message 17 of 23 13 March 2008 at 5:54am | IP Logged | ||
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We so also have something similar in English, although it has fallen from use. Counting by the "score" has been used historically, as in the famous opening of the Gettysburg Address "Four score and seven years ago...", meaning eighty-seven (87) years ago.
The use of a 20 based number system is called the vigesimal system. The vigesimal system is common in European languages. Danish numerals from 50 to 90 are (like the French numerals 80 and 90) based on a vigesimal system, not shared with the other Scandinavian languages. This means that the score is used as a base number: Tres (short for tre-sinds-tyve) means 3 times 20, that is 60. Similarly, halvtreds (short for halvtredje-sinds-tyve) means 2.5 times 20, that is 50. The ending sindstyve is archaic in cardinal numbers, but still used in ordinal numbers. Thus, "fifty-two" is usually rendered to-og-halvtreds, whereas "fifty-second" is to-og-halvtredsindstyvende. Also Gaelic languages: Twenty (fiche) is used in an older counting system in Irish Gaelic, though most people nowadays use a decimal system, and this is what is taught in schools. Thirty is fiche a deich, literally twenty ten. Forty is dhá fhichead, literally two twenties (retained in the decimal system as daichead). trí fichid is sixty (three twenties) and ceithre fichid is eighty (literally four twenties). Similarly, Scottish Gaelic has traditionally used a vigesimal system, with (fichead) being the word for twenty. A decimal system is now taught in schools. Also Welsh and Breton, as well as Basque, Albanian and Georgian use the vigesimal system. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| dmg Diglot Senior Member Canada dgryski.blogspot.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 7011 days ago 555 posts - 605 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English*, French Studies: Dutch, Esperanto | Message 18 of 23 13 March 2008 at 6:59am | IP Logged | ||
Easiest for numbers is to know that 'vingt' and 'cent' are plural when preceded by a multiplier number and not followed by anything. - quatre-vingts - quatre-vingt-un - cent - cent-un - deux-cents - deux-cent-un 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| vanityx3 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6461 days ago 331 posts - 326 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English*, French Studies: Spanish, Japanese | Message 19 of 23 13 March 2008 at 8:24am | IP Logged | ||
I always learned 80 quatre-vingt 81 quatre-vingt et un same for 20 vingt 21 vignt et un 30 trente 31 trente et un 40 quarante 41 quarante et un etc.... 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| guilon Pentaglot Senior Member Spain Joined 6192 days ago 226 posts - 229 votes Speaks: Spanish*, PortugueseC2, FrenchC2, Italian, English | Message 20 of 23 13 March 2008 at 8:47am | IP Logged | ||
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80 quatre-vingt
81 quatre-vingt et un are wrong 80 quatre-vingts 81 quatre-vingt-un 90 quatre-vingt-dix 91 quatre-vingt-onze are correct 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| SamD Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 6659 days ago 823 posts - 987 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French Studies: Portuguese, Norwegian | Message 21 of 23 13 March 2008 at 9:33am | IP Logged | ||
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One of my French teachers once said that the reason the French use such an unusual system for numbers if to prevent saying "neuf-neuf" for 99 and sounding like a dog.
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| vanityx3 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6461 days ago 331 posts - 326 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English*, French Studies: Spanish, Japanese | Message 22 of 23 13 March 2008 at 11:34am | IP Logged | ||
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haha, I learned wrong then. Oh well, it's an easy enough problem to solve.
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| Casey Newbie United States Joined 6613 days ago 26 posts - 28 votes Speaks: English* | Message 23 of 23 05 August 2008 at 8:03am | IP Logged | ||
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. Edited by Casey on 12 August 2008 at 8:58am 1 person has voted this message useful |
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