Danish Numbers
The Danish way of saying numbers is a bit unique and confusing. They use the same numeric system (1, 2, 3, etc.), but when they say a number like '26', it is literally 'six and twenty' instead of 'twenty-six'. This can be hard to grasp when people are giving you telephone numbers or addresses. The telephone number '36 74 21 86' is said (in Danish, of course) "six and thirty, four and seventy, one and twenty, six and eighty". Telephone numbers are always given in double digits instead of single digits (e.g., '36-74-21-86' instead of '3-6-7-4-2-1-8-6'). Of course, it is okay to ask people to give you the numbers one at a time. Better to be sure than get the numbers wrong. Below is a list of numbers so that you can have a better understanding.
0 - nul 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 - hundrede 1000 - tusind
Note: the above rule about saying numbers backwards does not start until you get to 'twenty-one'. Here are a few examples so that you can get the idea: 21- en og tyve (one and twenty) 49 - ni og fyrre (nine and forty) 86 - seks og firs (six and eighty)
The rule changes again when you get to one hundred. You don't say '3-1-1' for '113'. You say the number of hundreds and then the number as you would for the series 1-99. For example: 113 - et hundred og tretten (one hundred and thirteen)
456 - fire hundred seks og halvtreds (four hundred - six and fifty) 8576 - otte tusind fem hundred seks og halvfjerds (eight thousand - five hundred - six and seventy) If you are going to be living in Denmark, it's important that you master this system, since it applies to everything from banking and shopping to addresses and phone numbers - whereever you use numbers!
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