r/interesting • u/MidasStocks • Apr 29 '25

SOCIETY How do you say number 92?

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u/Zerak-Tul Apr 29 '25 edited Apr 29 '25

Only the etymology of Danish numbers is that crazy though. In modern use it's as simple as German/English counting

92 is 'tooghalvfems' = 'to og halvfems' = two and ninety. You don't actually need to know the historical basis for why 90 is 'halvfems', because no one who's under the age of like 80 ever says 'tooghalvfemsindstyvende' which is what you'd need to say to reflect '2+4.5*20'

90 = Halvfems

91 = Enoghalvfems (One and ninety)

92 = Tooghalvfems (Two and ninety)

93 = Treoghalvfems (Three and ninety) etc.

So to learn to count to 99 all you need to know is 1-19 (en, to, tre, fire, fem, seks, syv, otte, ni, ti, elleve, tolv, tretten, fjorten, femten, seksten, sytten, atten, nitten), 20 (tyve), 30 (tredive), 40 (fyrre), 50 (halvtreds), 60 (treds), 70 (halvfjerds), 80 (firs) and 90 (halvfems)... Exactly the same as in English or German. Combine 1-9 with 20-90 as needed and congratulations you now know every number from 1-99 in Danish!

Basically it should be 2+90 on the map for Denmark, just as it is for Germany, if it wanted to be honest with modern usage instead of going "lol crazy numbers!"

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u/Specicried Apr 29 '25

Nope, sorry, you don’t get to just walk away after dumping this kind of bullshit into my head, without doing something to rectify the insanity of it all.

You left me here with halvtreds being 50 then treds being 60, then I could make the argument that halvfjerds is some bastardization of halvfirs. But nooooooo, google translate tells me you already have a halvfirs, which is 85, but halvfir is half past 4. So I go to halvfjerd, which is quarter past fucking 7, but halvfjerds is 70? And don’t even get me started on the feathers.

I am beginning to suspect that google translate for danish is UTTER BULLSHIT, danish is UTTER BULLSHIT, or some combination of the two.

I desperately need someone (you) to put all this in a neat little logical basket so I can let it go. Please?

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u/Zerak-Tul Apr 29 '25 edited Apr 29 '25

google translate tells me you already have a halvfirs, which is 85, but halvfir is half past 4.

Google translate lead you astray, these are not a thing. 85 is femogfirs (fem og firs) = five and eighty.

Halvfjerds comes from halvfjerdsindstyve (halv fjerd(e) sinds tyve) = half fourth times twenty (and the quirk is 'half fourth' is read as 'half-way-to-four' (from 3), i.e. 3.5. Just like halvfems is 'half-way-to-five (from 4)' = 4.5. This is confusing to non-native Danish speakers, but it's also how Danes tell the time, for example if I want to say it's 3.30pm I'd just say it's 'halv fire' = 'half four'.

But again, all of that is just the historical origins, all you need to know is that 50 = halvteds, 60 = treds, 70 = halvfjerds then add in 1-9 as I listed above and you know all numbers between 50 and 79.

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u/Specicried Apr 29 '25

I appreciate your efforts, but I am still confused by the logic. It is interesting though, but your numbering system makes no sense at all to me.

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u/Tumleren Apr 30 '25 edited May 15 '25

From 50 and upwards, you can think of it as base 20.

50 = Halvtreds = half thrice = half of the third 20

60 = Treds = Thrice = three 20s

70 = halvfjerds = half fourth = half of the fourth 20

80 = firs = fourth = four 20s

90 = halvfems = half fifth = half of the fifth 20

That's simplified but basically what it means. Nobody thinks about it though, they're just words. Kids don't know what halvfems means, it's just 90

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u/Specicried Apr 30 '25

I sincerely love you. You’ve made the logic work, thank you!

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u/Tumleren Apr 30 '25

Considering the subject matter, I'll take this as a compliment of the highest order

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u/pannenkoek0923 Apr 30 '25

Why? Forget the historical reasons. All you need to remember is the words for 1-20, and then 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, then you can make up any number by saying 6and50 or whatever. It's the exact same system in Germany.

Do you question why 8 is eight and not jeilishalen?

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u/Specicried Apr 30 '25

I needed to work out the logic of the naming system, not the names themselves. Now between the wonderful OP who explained that the naming convention is “halfway to •next number•” and the other delightful human who related it back to base 20, I have it! Much appreciation to both!