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Numbers and Counting / צאָלן און ציילן
דער עולם ווייסט שוין ווי מע ציילט אויף ייִדיש: איינס, צוויי, דרײַ, פֿיר… אָט זענען אָבער עטלעכע טשיקאַווע כּללים וועגן ציפֿערן וואָס איר האָט וועגן דעם אפֿשר נאָך נישט געקלערט!
[DER ÓYLEM VEYST ShOYN VI ME TSEYLT AF YIDISH: EYNS, TSVEY, DRAY, FIR… OT ZÉNEN ÓBER ÉTLEKhE TShIKÁVE KLÓLIM VEGN TSÍFERN VOS IR HOT VEGN DEM ÉFShER NOKh NIShT GEKLÉRT!]
We all basically know how to count in Yiddish: eyns, tsvey, dray, fir... Here, however, are some unusual counting rules that you may not yet have thought about!
* * *
1. The number one has two forms: the one used to count (איינס) and the other to indicate quantity (איין):
מיר האָבן איין הונט און צוויי קעץ.
[MIR HOBN EYN HUNT UN TSVEY KETS.]
We have one dog and two cats.
2. All cardinal numbers from 20 to 90 end in the suffix ציק..., with the exception of 30, which ends in סיק...
3. All ordinal numbers from 20th on up end in סט... For example: פֿופֿציקסט
EXCEPTIONS:
millionth = מיליאָנ(ס)ט [MILYÓN(S)T]
billionth = ביליאָנט [BILYÓNT]
4. When counting big numbers in English, it’s a hundred/a thousand/a million/a billion; in Yiddish, however, there’s usually no particle.
EXCEPTION: אַ מיליאַרד (synonym for a billion) does come with a particle.
ער האָט הונדערט ‹טויזנט/מיליאָן/ביליאָן› דאָלאַר.*
[ER HOT HÚNDERT ‹TOYZNT/MILYÓN/BILYÓN› DÓLAR.*]
He has a hundred ‹thousand/million/billion› dollars.
*.דער פּראָיעקט האָט אָפּגעקאָסט אַ מיליאַרד רובל
[DER PROYÉKT HOT ÓPGEKOST A MILYÁRD RUBL.*]
The project cost a billion rubles.
* Note that there is generally no separate plural form for currency denominations in Yiddish, except those few ending in ־ע, for example:
1 peso, 2 pesos = איין פּעזע, צוויי פּעזעס
5. If any number is indeed preceded by the particle אַ, it means ‘approximately’:
זיי האָבן איבערגעציילט אַ פֿערציק ‹אַ הונדערט/אַ טויזנט...› שטערן אין הימל.
[ZEY HOBN ÍBERGETSEYLT A FÉRTSIK ‹A HÚNDERT/A TOYZNT...› ShTERN IN HIML.]
They counted approximately forty ‹a hundred/a thousand...› stars in the sky.
6. Fractions or measurements when used with a precise number are given in the singular in Yiddish. In addition, the preposition used in English is understood, but not indicated explicitly in Yiddish:
three-fourths of a cup = דרײַ פֿערטל טעפּל
[DRAY FERTL TEPL]
five kilos of meat = פֿינ(ע)ף קילאָ פֿלייש
[FÍN(E)F KÍLO FLEYSh]
thirteen miles of desert = דרײַצן מײַל מידבר
[DRAYTSN MAYL MÍDBER]
[Image: Early cuneiform clay tablet in archaic Sumerian with counts of various materials, excavated at Jamdat Nasr in Iraq and dated to c.3200-3000 BC; Ashmolean Museum, Oxford University]
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