Numbers and Language, Part 1

I figured I’d write this one to deviate a bit from some more math-intensive blogs to start off the new year and instead talk about something that’s a little more light on math. I’ve always had an interest in learning languages, as Mandarin was my first language, English being my second and the one I am most comfortable with, then having varying degrees of conversational fluency with French, Japanese, and German. So when I thought about this recently, I’ve found there’s quite bit to talk about on how different languages deal with numbers. I’m going to start by talking about western languages before I get into eastern languages (specifically Eastern Asian languages).

Anyhow, before I begin, might I remind you that the numerals we use for numbers are part of the Hindu-Arabic numeral system, which is the most common system for representing numbers around the world.

I guess what I can start with is a table of some numbers in some romance languages:

Number	Spanish	French	Italian	Portuguese
0	Cero	Zéro	Zero	Zero
1	Uno	Un	Uno	Um
2	Dos	Deux	Due	Dois
3	Tres	Trois	Tre	Três
4	Cuatro	Quatre	Quattro	Quatro
5	Cinco	Cinq	Cinque	Cinco
6	Seis	Six	Sei	Seis
7	Siete	Sept	Sette	Sete
8	Ocho	Huit	Otto	Oito
9	Nueve	Neuf	Nove	Nove
10	Diez	Dix	Dieci	Dez
11	Once	Onze	Undici	Onze
12	Doce	Douze	Dodici	Doze
13	Trece	Treize	Tredici	Treze
14	Catorce	Quatorze	Quattordici	Catorze
15	Quince	Quinze	Quindici	Quinze
16	Dieciséis	Seize	Sedici	Dezasseis
17	Diecisiete	Dix-sept	Diciassette	Dezassete
18	Dieciocho	Dix-huit	Diciotto	Dezoito
19	Diecinueve	Dix-neuf	Diciannove	Dezanove
20	Veinte	Vingt	Venti	Vinte
21	Veintiuno	Vingt-et-un	Ventuno	Vinte e um
22	Veintidós	Vingt-deux	Ventidue	Vinte e dois
30	Treinta	Trente	Trenta	Trinta
40	Cuarenta	Quarante	Quaranta	Quarenta
50	Cincuenta	Cinquante	Cinquanta	Cinquenta
60	Sesenta	Soixante	Sessanta	Sessenta
70	Setenta	Soixante-dix	Settanta	Setenta
80	Ochenta	Quatre-vingts	Ottanta	Oitenta
90	Noventa	Quatre-vingt-dix	Novanta	Noventa
100	Cien	Cent	Cento	Cem
101	Ciento uno	Cent-un	Centouno	Cento e um
200	Doscientos	Deux-cents	Duecento	Duzentos
1000	Mil	Mille	Mille	Mil
1000000	Un Millón	Un-million	Un milione	Um Milhão

There’s quite a bit to digest, so let’s take a look at some similarities.

For starters, nearly every number less than 80 sound very alike when considering a number of the same value, the only noticeable difference being the what happens around 16 and 17. For Spanish and Portuguese, 16 gets lumped with 17, 18, and 19 by construction, where as the French and Italian wait to 17. For the former two, 16 is literally “Ten-six”, while the latter two still have a somewhat unique way of reading the number much like the previous five numbers. However, by 17, all are effectively read as “Ten-seven” and so forth.

I think at this point I should address the elephant in the room and why I said “less than 80”. Notice how it’s vastly different with French compared to the other three: the Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese words are similar, yet French just throws “Four twenties”. Interesting. Well, what is “four twenties”? 4 x 20… that’s 80. Hmm.

This points to how the French counting system is partially vigesimal, or base-20. I plan on talking a bit more about bases in a future blog post, but in short, how a base (or radix) works is that it uses various digits to represent numbers. For example, the radix we commonly use is ten (known as decimal), and we correspondingly use the ten digits 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. Binary, which is a common use in computers, is radix or base-2, and uses two digits: 0 and 1. So for vigesimal, base-20, more digits are technically used, although to summarize how it works, multiples of 20 serve as basis for how the base works.

This then plays to how 70 and 90 are similar by construction: 70 is literally “sixty-ten” (notice how 60 is a multiple of 20), while 90 is “four twenties ten”. When speaking numbers of the same tens digit, you have to use which ever number added with the “prefix” (in this case 60) as the “suffix”. So, for example, with 75, it is read as “sixty-fifteen”, or “soixante-quinze”. So there’s always going to be a bit of math involved with higher numbers in French. Try saying 1993 (Mille neuf cent quatre-vingt-treize)!

Here’s another curveball for you: Swiss French and Belgian French (as well as some other countries where French is the official language) avoid this problem with 70 and 90 altogether by having their own separate words: septante and nonante. A lot easier, isn’t it? And get this: the term “huitante” is used for 80 in the Aosta Valley in Italy and some parts of Switzerland. On the latter note, depending on where you are in Switzerland, you might hear some people saying “quatre-vingts” while in other parts you might hear “huitante” instead. Bit of a doozy, ain’t it?

Now let’s take at some numbers in the following languages:

Number	English	German	Dutch
0	Zero	Null	Nul
1	One	Eins	Een
2	Two	Zwei	Twee
3	Three	Drei	Drie
4	Four	Vier	Vier
5	Five	Fünf	Vijf
6	Six	Sechs	Zes
7	Seven	Sieben	Zeven
8	Eight	Acht	Acht
9	Nine	Neun	Negen
10	Ten	Zehn	Tien
11	Eleven	Elf	Elf
12	Twelve	Zwölf	Twaalf
13	Thirteen	Dreizehn	Dertien
14	Fourteen	Vierzehn	Veertien
15	Fifteen	Fünfzehn	Vijftien
16	Sixteen	Sechzehn	Zestien
17	Seventeen	Siebzehn	Zeventien
18	Eighteen	Achtzehn	Achtien
19	Nineteen	Neunzehn	Negentien
20	Twenty	Zwanzig	Twintig
21	Twenty-One	Einundzwanzig	Eenentwintig
22	Twenty-Two	Zweiundzwanzig	Tweeëntwintig
30	Thirty	Dreißig	Dertig
40	Forty	Vierzig	Veertig
50	Fifty	Fünfzig	Vijftig
60	Sixty	Sechzig	Zestig
70	Seventy	Siebzig	Zeventig
80	Eighteen	Achtzig	Tachtig
90	Ninety	Neunzig	Negentig
100	One Hundred	(Ein)hundert	Honderd
101	One Hundred One	(Ein)hunderteins	Honderd en een
200	Two Hundred	Zweihundert	Tweehonderd
1000	One Thousand	(Ein)tausend	Duizend
1000000	One Million	Eine Million	Een Miljoen

There isn’t much to mention here, although it bears mention that the languages here are Germanic, and it shows how similar the numbers build on each other. Notice how 11 and 12 have unique “words” and all sound similar to varying degrees. For example, 11 in German and Dutch are practically identical, whereas 12 sounds similar for all three (I dare you to try saying “12” in German).

Yet 13 onward have a bit of math involved. So with, 13, for example, there’s a prefix meaning “3” and then adding a suffix meaning “10”, because, as we all know, 3 + 10 = 13. So in English, the prefix is “thir-” and the “10”-suffix is “teen”. For German, the prefix is “drei-” and the “10”-suffix is “zehn” (effectively combining literally “3” and “10”).

As you get to higher numbers, the “construction” of the words in German and Dutch are practically identical. For example, with 51, you are literally saying “One and Fifty”, and consider the contrast in English where we literally just add whatever is in the ones digit like a suffix: Fifty One.

Anyhow, there’s more to the story! Eastern Asian languages cover a different set of numerals altogether (although the Hindu-Arabic numerals have begun to see intertwined use). Additionally, there will be some interesting math involved (although still relatively simple). To be continued…