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quatre-vingts (lemmy.world)
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[-] sp451@lemmy.sdf.org 76 points 1 year ago

Wait until you hear what the Danes do.

Why is “97” “7 + [-½+5] x 20” in Danish?

https://jose-lesson.com/lin/2017/01/16/nonaginta-septem/

[-] nxfsi@lemmy.world 27 points 1 year ago

Normal children usually gain fluency in their native language by age 5. Danish children need to wait until age 7.

[-] Holyhandgrenade@lemmy.world 25 points 1 year ago

It's kind of funny how aware Danes are of their weird numbers system. I speak Norwegian and whenever I'm in Denmark they use the more sensible Norwegian number system to explain to me the prices of stuff (probably because I give them the deer in the headlights-stare whenever I hear something like "fem og halvfjerds").

[-] v_krishna@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 year ago

I'm otherwise decently fluent in Danish (first learned nynorsk then lived in Denmark for a few years). But when numbers come out I immediately switch back to Norwegian. Fucking Danes.

[-] Comment105@lemm.ee 3 points 1 year ago

They think we're stupid and infantile for evolving past tradition.

[-] Creazle@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

No kidding. It's the sort of thing that makes you think about how different people process info differently

[-] VikingHippie@lemmy.wtf 5 points 1 year ago

TIL that there's actually (kinda but not really) a method to the madness that is our numbers 😄

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[-] Norgur@kbin.social 24 points 1 year ago

English: What's that?
German: "Was ist das?"
Dutch: "Wat is dat?"
Spanish: ¿Qué es eso?
French: "qu'est-ce-que c'est ?"

What. the fuck?!

[-] Jean_Mich_Much@jlai.lu 11 points 1 year ago

Agree. But you can say "C'est quoi ?" too. More "street language" but it's okay

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[-] A_A@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

French-Québec : “Kossé ça?”
French also : “C’est quoi?”
… or : “Qu’est-ce?”

Word for word of "qu’est-ce-que c’est ?” …
…goes like : "What’s this that this is?
…or : “What’s this which this is?”

“Qu’est-ce?” sounds like the english “Case”.
Since this is just one syllable it might be difficult to hear out of context.
Edit : Delayed 8h because of DDOS attack

[-] readthemessage 5 points 1 year ago

I ended up replying to the original comment, but your translation to English made me realize that in Portuguese we commonly say "O que que é isso?" which is basically "qu'est-ce-que c'est?"

[-] readthemessage 5 points 1 year ago

In Portuguese we actually can say "O que é isso?", basically the same as in Spanish, but I'd say I use more commonly "O que que é isso?", which seems closer to French version. Funny, had never thought about it like that.

[-] DokPsy@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Portuguese is what happens when a Spaniard speaks French while hungover

[-] monsieur_jean@kbin.social 4 points 1 year ago

Although most French say "Qu'est-ce que c'est", it is worthy to note that the proper/formal French is "Qu'est-ce?". So strictly equivalent to "What is that", word for word. :)

[-] anonymous5432@lemmynsfw.com 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

And the French is pronounced keskecè. Half the letters are silent because why not

[-] Zagorath@aussie.zone 2 points 1 year ago

Then ask someone who hasn't learnt French how many syllables there are in "qu'est-ce que c'est ?" And watch the look of horror on their face when you tell them it's just 3.

[-] moitoi@feddit.de 20 points 1 year ago

This doesn't apply to all french speaking regions. Switzerland use septante and nonante and in some regions of the country also huitante.

[-] Nariom@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago

was gonna say props to Switzerland and Belgium for having proper numbers :) idk why we don't switch

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[-] someguy3@lemmy.ca 15 points 1 year ago

With the exception of Eleven and Twelve, English is actually pretty good at this.

[-] independantiste@sh.itjust.works 14 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

The other day I decided I would stop saying quatre-vingt-dix (4, 20, 10 = 90) instead I would say huit-dix-dix (8, 10, 10) or even deux-quarante-dix (2, 40, 10) and shit like that

to add some context i forgot about it an hour after

[-] wildbus8979@sh.itjust.works 11 points 1 year ago

Why not use the existing septante, octante, neunante?

[-] independantiste@sh.itjust.works 7 points 1 year ago

idk i was tired and i tought it was the funniest thing

[-] alex@jlai.lu 5 points 1 year ago

confirming it's funny

[-] thedarkfly@feddit.nl 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I'd actually be down for huitante, in order to keep the latin root like other numbers instead of the greek one

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[-] monsieur_jean@kbin.social 3 points 1 year ago
  • Combien pour ma commande ?
  • Alooors... Une bavette de trois livres et deux-cent trois vingt et douze grammes... Ca fera deux-vingt et sept euros et deux-vingt et cinq centimes s'il vous plait.
  • Tenez, voici un billet de deux-vingt et dix tout neuf !
  • Et voici votre monnaie, deux-vingt et quinze centimes et un comprimé d'aspirine.
  • Merci bonne journée !
  • De même !
[-] Chickenstalker@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago

The French is the reason English is a clusterfuck of inconsistent grammar and spelling.

[-] elscallr@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago

Well and German, and some other Latin languages, and a bit of Nordic/Slavic languages, and all the other languages whose pockets English rifled for loose vocabulary.

I love the language, honestly, I love how completely and unapologetically a clusterfuck it is, but it's a clusterfuck.

[-] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 7 points 1 year ago

Highly Irregular: Why Tough, Through, and Dough Don't Rhyme―And Other Oddities of the English Language

You are the person I've been waiting to recommend this book. It's fascinating. It was wild to see everything explained. It all has very good reasons for being completely insane, but it gave me a much deeper appreciation for why it is as is.

And for those of you too lazy to read a book, here's a podcast interview with the author:

https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/corpse-corps-horse-and-worse/

[-] redballooon@lemm.ee 12 points 1 year ago

I think it was around that time in my French class, with my teacher just without any comment expecting us to take that seriously, that I decided that’s not a language I wanted to deal with.

[-] Username@feddit.nl 11 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

... Four Twenties Ten Nine, Hundred

[-] BarrelAgedBoredom@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago
[-] AlmightySnoo@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago

he meant 99, the French read it as 4x20+10+9

[-] olosta@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago

The "four twenties" might seems more familiar to americans by replacing "twenties" by "score" as in : " four score and seven years ago...."

[-] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 3 points 1 year ago

Yeah, that's weird too.

[-] BlueMagma@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 year ago

I've seen this coutless times, and as a french native I'm getting tired of this, I want to tell you that no french think of it that way.

You know how you have "eleven" "twelve" and then you switch to "xxteen" for the next 6 number ? You never dissociate them, because that's just the way it is. French are the same "douze", "treize".... and then suddenly "dix-sept" but nobody dissociate them, this is just one word that means "17"

And then it's the same with "seventy", french don't dissociate 60 and 10 in their mind, it's just one word. Sure from an ethymologic standpoint it comes from two word but it's not how we think about it.

When you say "sunday" you never think "day of the sun", when you say "blueberry", "blackberry" you don't think of the color, you think of the particular fruit, everybody can see the origin of the word, but nonetheless the word is one unit.

Anyway. Yes it is weird to learn a new language and see how it evolved into a weird mess, but please know that when you make this kind of comment you don't look like you are well informed about the french language, you just look like kids that have learned a new word and can't stop using it everywhere.

[-] gjghkk@lemmy.dbzer0.com 25 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I want to tell you that no french think of it that way.

Of course not, that's the point though. It is your first language, so for you that's the norm. But for the rest of the world with another language that's weird as fuck.

[-] C_Leviathan@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 year ago

Nah, it's weird, that dude's just touchy.

[-] elscallr@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago

There's only one place a French native gets this wound up about a joke. Are you Parisian?

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[-] Hadriscus@lemm.ee 5 points 1 year ago

It doesn't matter, it's just something every child learns by heart and doesn't question. You don't have to be offended by this post, it's just funny

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[-] C_Leviathan@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 year ago

Uh, French is my first language and I've definitely thought that four-twenty-ten-seven was a weird as fuck way to say ninety-seven since I was a kid.

[-] johnlobo@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

nah, you guys are just weird.

[-] Blyfh@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago

I think this actually roots in the problems of conversion to base ten from base twelve. Not sure though, maybe I remembered this wrong.

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[-] Pregnenolone@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

"seventeen, eighteen, nineteen..... ten..... ten ten"

[-] Cheshire@feddit.de 3 points 1 year ago

On a similar note: In German, "seven hundred fifty three" would be said as "seven hundred three and fifty".

At least it's consistent - starting at "thirteen" , which is "three ten", up to ninety nine, which is "nine and ninety", the multiples of ten come last.

It is pretty annoying, though, when a number like 123'456'789 is spoken as 132-465-798, though.

Apparently, it's because in old Germanic, the numbers were spoken "backwards" (one hundred twenty three being spoken as "three and twenty and hundred"), and we only partially reversed that.

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this post was submitted on 11 Aug 2023
768 points (98.7% liked)

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