Counting in North Frisian
Language overview
North Frisian (Fresk, Frasch) is a language belonging to the Indo-European family, in the germanic group. Spoken in North Frisia, part of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein, it counts about 10,000 speakers. The dialect used here is the Mooring or Bökingharde Frisian, spoken in Niebüll and the amt of Bökingharde. It belongs to the North Frisian mainland dialects group.
Due to lack of data, we can only count accurately up to 9,999 in North Frisian. Please contact me if you can help me counting up from that limit.
North Frisian numbers list
- 1 – iinj
- 2 – tou
- 3 – tri
- 4 – fjouer
- 5 – fiiw
- 6 – seeks
- 7 – soowen
- 8 – oocht
- 9 – nüügen
- 10 – tiin
- 11 – alwen
- 12 – tweelwen
- 13 – tratäin
- 14 – fjouertäin
- 15 – füftäin
- 16 – seekstäin
- 17 – soowentäin
- 18 – oochttäin
- 19 – nüügentäin
- 20 – twunti
- 30 – dörti
- 40 – fäärti
- 50 – füfti
- 60 – süsti
- 70 – sööwenti
- 80 – tachenti
- 90 – näägenti
- 100 – hunert
- 1,000 – duusend
North Frisian dialects
North Frisian dialects are divided into two groups: mainland and insular. In addition to the Mooring Frisian, the mainland dialects are the Halligen Frisian spoken on the Halligen islands, which is very similiar to the Goesharde Frisian spoken in the historical Goesharde region north of Husum, the Karrharde Frisian from the German amt of Südtondern (an amt is more or less equivalent to a county), the Strand Frisian spoken on the German islands Pellworm and Nordstrand, and the Wiedingharde Frisian (Wiringhiirder freesk) spoken in the German amt of Wiedingharde. The insular dialects are the Fering (Föhr) spoken on the island of Föhr, the Heligolandic dialect (Halunder) of the Heligoland island, the Öömrang of the Amrum island, and the Söl’ring of the Sylt island.
Compared with Mooring Frisian numbers (iinj [1], tou [2], tri [3], tiin [10], hunert [100], duusend [1,000]), Fering numbers (ian [1], tau [2], trii [3], tjiin [10], hunert [100], düüsen [1,000]) and Söl’ring numbers (jen [1], tau [2], trii [3], tiin [10], hönert [100], düüsent [1,000]) are quite similar.
North Frisian 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], iinj (masculine: ån) [1], tou (masculine: twäär) [2], tri (masculine: tra) [3], fjouer [4], fiiw [5], seeks [6], soowen [7], oocht [8], nüügen [9], tiin [10], alwen [11], and tweelwen [12].
- From thirteen to nineteen, the numbers are formed from the matching digits, adding the word for ten (täin) at the end: tratäin [13], fjouertäin [14], füftäin [15], seekstäin [16], soowentäin [17], oochttäin [18], and nüügentäin [19].
- Tens are formed by adding the suffix -ti at the end of the multiplier digit, with the exception of ten: tiin [10], twunti [20], dörti [30], fäärti [40], füfti [50], süsti [60], sööwenti [70], tachenti [80], and näägenti [90].
- From twenty-one to ninety-nine, tens and units are joined with the word än (and), but the unit is said before the ten (e.g.: iinjändörti [31], fiiwänfäärti [45]).
- Hundred (hunert) and thousand (duusend) are not separated from their multiplier by a space (e.g.: touhunert [200], triduusend [3,000], tiinduusend [10,000]).
Write a number in full in North Frisian
Let’s move now to the practice of the numbering rules in North Frisian. 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
Handbuch Des Friesischen / Handbook of Frisian Studies
editors De Gruyter (2012)
[ Amazon.com]
West Germanic languages
Afrikaans, Alsatian, Bavarian, English, German, Gottscheerish, Hunsrik, Luxembourgish, North Frisian, Pennsylvania German, Plautdietsch, Saterland Frisian, Scots, Swiss German, West Frisian, Wymysorys, and Yiddish.
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.