…de la Country Times:
Nothing is ever easy it seeems. Even a straightforward lesson such as days of the weeks and dates soon descended into chaos.
First and second were okay. After all, I can accept some slight irregularity, they bear no relation to one and two in English either.
But by the time we got to 15th, things were getting a little odd.
Fifteen in Welsh is un deg pump. Yet fifteenth becomes pymthegfed. Sixteen is un deg chwech, yet sixteenth is, taking the literal translation, fifteenth plus one. Seventeenth becomes fifteenth plus two, but yet eighteen becomes two nines.
Following this? No. In the twenties, things become a little more straightforward, but then thirtieth becomes twenty plus ten and thirty one becomes twenty plus ten plus one.
Someone asked the obvious question, what if you wanted the forty ninth. Where would you start? Well the answer is I haven't got a clue.
The explanation given was that Welsh has an archaic form of numbers which are still used, especially by some older Welsh speakers...
Nothing is ever easy it seeems. Even a straightforward lesson such as days of the weeks and dates soon descended into chaos.
First and second were okay. After all, I can accept some slight irregularity, they bear no relation to one and two in English either.
But by the time we got to 15th, things were getting a little odd.
Fifteen in Welsh is un deg pump. Yet fifteenth becomes pymthegfed. Sixteen is un deg chwech, yet sixteenth is, taking the literal translation, fifteenth plus one. Seventeenth becomes fifteenth plus two, but yet eighteen becomes two nines.
Following this? No. In the twenties, things become a little more straightforward, but then thirtieth becomes twenty plus ten and thirty one becomes twenty plus ten plus one.
Someone asked the obvious question, what if you wanted the forty ninth. Where would you start? Well the answer is I haven't got a clue.
The explanation given was that Welsh has an archaic form of numbers which are still used, especially by some older Welsh speakers...
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