Counting in Danish

Language overview

Forty-two in Danish North Germanic language of the Indo-European family, Danish (dansk) is the official language of Denmark and cooficial in the Faroe Islands (with Faroese), and is also spoken in Greenland and Schleswig-Holstein (Germany). It counts about 5.6 million speakers.

Danish numbers list

  • 1 – en
  • 2 – to
  • 3 – tre
  • 4 – fire
  • 5 – fem
  • 6 – seks
  • 7 – syv
  • 8 – otte
  • 9 – ni
  • 10 – ti
  • 11 – elleve
  • 12 – tolv
  • 13 – tretten
  • 14 – fjorten
  • 15 – femten
  • 16 – seksten
  • 17 – sytten
  • 18 – atten
  • 19 – nitten
  • 20 – tyve
  • 30 – tredive
  • 40 – fyrre
  • 50 – halvtreds
  • 60 – tres
  • 70 – halvfjerds
  • 80 – firs
  • 90 – halvfems
  • 100 – hundred
  • 1,000 – et tusind
  • one million – en million
  • one billion – en milliard
  • one trillion – en billion

A vigesimal system still alive

If the name of some tens in Danish is simplified, a very specific vigesimal system remains in their etymology and is still alive. Danish tens from forty to ninety are actually based on a vigesimal system, using the score as a base unit, and fractions as multipliers. The fractional system used in these numbers names is as follow: first half is ½ [0.5], second half is 1½ [1.5], third half is 2½ [2.5], and so on. Forty, or fyrre, short for fyrretyve, is quite an exception, as it derives from the Old Norse word fyritiughu, which means “four tens” (even if fyrretyve would directly mean “four twenty”). Fifty is halvtreds, which stands for halvtredje-sinds-tyve, meaning “third half times twenty”, or “two scores plus half of the third score” [2½ * 20]. Sixty is tres, short for tre-sinds-tyve, which means “three times twenty” [3*20]. Seventy, or halvfjerds, is short for halvfjerd-sinds-tyve, meaning “fourth half times twenty”, or “three scores plus half of the fourth score” [3½ * 20]. Eighty is firs, which long form firsindstyve, or fire-sind-styve, meaning “four times twenty” [4*20]. And ninety, halvfems, short for halvfemsindstyve or halv-fem-sinds-tyve, means “fifth half times twenty”, or “four scores plus half of the fifth score” [4½ * 20].

Danish numbering rules

Now that you’ve had a gist of the most useful numbers, let’s move to the writing rules for the tens, the compound numbers, and why not the hundreds, the thousands and beyond (if possible).

  • Digits and numbers from zero to twelve are specific words: nul [0], en [1], to [2], tre [3], fire [4], fem [5], seks [6], syv [7], otte [8], ni [9], ti [10], elleve [11], and tolv [12].
  • From thirteen to nineteen, the numbers are formed from the matching unit digits, adding a form of the word for ten (ten) at the end: tretten [13], fjorten [14], femten [15], seksten [16], sytten [17], atten [18], and nitten [19].
  • The modern (abbreviated) tens are: ti [10], tyve [20], tredive [30], fyrre [40], halvtreds [50], tres [60], halvfjerds [70], firs [80], and halvfems [90].
  • From twenty-one to ninety-nine, the tens and units are joined with the word og (and) with no space, the unit being said before the ten (e.g.: niogtyve [29], fireogtredive [34]).
  • Hundreds are formed by stating the multiplier digit before the word for hundred (hundred, plural hundrede), except for one hundred where it is optional: (et) hundred [100], to hundrede [200], tre hundrede [300], fire hundrede [400], fem hundrede [500], seks hundrede [600], syv hundrede [700], otte hundrede [800], and ni hundrede [900].
  • Thousands are formed the same way as hundreds, i.e. by stating the multiplier digit before the word for thousand (tusind, plural tusinde): et tusind [1,000], to tusinde [2,000], tre tusinde [3,000], fire tusinde [4,000], fem tusinde [5,000], seks tusinde [6,000], syv tusinde [7,000], otte tusinde [8,000], and ni tusinde [9,000].
  • The Danish language uses the long scale for big numbers where every new word greater than a million is one million times bigger than the previous term. Thus, the word for million being million (plural: millioner) or 106, we get milliard (109, the US billion), billion (1012), billiard (1015)…

Write a number in full in Danish

Let’s move now to the practice of the numbering rules in Danish. Will you guess how to write a number in full? Enter a number and try to write it down in your head, or maybe on a piece of paper, before displaying the result.

Books

Colloquial Danish Colloquial Danish
by , editors Routledge (2007)
[Amazon.com Amazon.com]

Danish: An Essential Grammar Danish: An Essential Grammar
by , editors Routledge (2001)
[Kindle - Amazon.com Kindle - Amazon.com, Amazon.com Amazon.com]

Guide de conversation danois Guide de conversation danois
by , editors Assimil (2011)
[Amazon.com Amazon.com]

Source

North Germanic languages

Danish, Faroese, Icelandic, Norwegian (Bokmål), and Swedish.

Other supported languages

As the other currently supported languages are too numerous to list extensively here, please select a language from the full list of supported languages.