A Simplified Grammar of the Danish Language/Part II/The Numerals
In the following list of the numerals will be found the several forms of numeration, common among Danes and Norwegians respectively.
The Cardinal Numbers.
These are the same among both peoples up to 30; as,
Danish and Norwegian. 1. en, et. 12. tolv. 2. to, (tvende). 13. tretten. 3. tre, (trende). 14. fjorten. 4. fire. 15. femten. 5. fem. 16. seksten. 6. seks. 17. sytten. 7. syv. 18. atten. 8. åtte, (otte). 19. nitten. 9. ni. 20. tyve. 10. ti. 21. en og tyve. 11. elleve. &c. 30. tredive. tretti. 31. en og tredive, &c. en og tretti. 40. fyrretyve. fyrti, or firti. 50. halvtredsindstyve. femti. 60. tredsindstyve. seksti. 70. halvfjærdsindstyve. sytti. 80. firsindstyve. otti. 90. halvfemsindstyve. nitti.
The higher numbers are the same among Danes and Norwegians; as,
100. ... ... ... hundrede. 1,000. ... ... ... tusinde. 100,000. ... ... hundrede tusinde. 1,000,000. ... ... million.
The cumbrous and verbose manner in which the numbers between 20 and 100 are characterized by Danes is of comparatively late introduction into Dano-Norwegian, and may possibly owe its origin to an old habit still prevailing in certain rural districts in Denmark of computing by scores, instead of tens, or dozens. The word sind is an old, otherwise obsolete term, meaning 'fold,' or 'turn,' whence tredsindstyve, 'sixty,' resolves itself into three times (or turns) twenty. Until recently the Norwegians, excepting in some parts of the north and west fjelds of the country, followed this method of reckoning, but of late years they have more and more generally reverted to the older, and simpler decimal system followed by the Swedes and Icelanders, and in Old Northern, where fimtin, sekstin, &c., 'fifty,' 'sixty,' &c., indicated the number with all possible conciseness. Up to one hundred the lesser numbers precede the greater; as, en og fyrretyve, '41;' after one hundred they follow it, as hundrede og femten, '115.'
The ordinal numbers are formed by adding ende, nde, or de to the numeral, according to the final letter of the word; as, syv, 'seven,' syvende, 'seventh;' tyve, 'twenty;' tyvende, 'twentieth;' tretten, 'thirteen;' trettende, 'thirteenth.' The exceptions to this rule are förste, 'first;' anden, 'second;' tredje, 'third;' fjærde, 'fourth;' sjætte, 'sixth;' tolvte, 'twelfth;' tredivte, 'thirtieth.'
The only numbers affected by gender are den, det, ene, 'the one;' and den anden, det andet, 'the other (second).'
The date of the year is thus indicated: atten hundrede tre og firsindstyve (otti Norw.), '1883.' The day of the month is written as follows: den femte (5te) April, 'April 5th.' The time of day is thus expressed: Klokken er ti, 'it is ten o'clock;' while the parts of the hour are always reckoned, as in German, in relation to the following, and never to the preceding hour; as, det er halv to, 'it is half-past one;' tre Kvarter til ni, 'a quarter to nine.'