3 ms·
One thing I found interesting is that French doesn't really have words for 70, 80, or 90. As if people in the past just didn't really need to go that high.
by SamReidHughes 6y ago
One thing I found interesting is that French doesn't really have words for 70, 80, or 90. As if people in the past just didn't really need to go that high.
- GuB-42 6y agoIn fact the French number system used to be base-20. It ancient times we had spellings like "deux vingt et dix": 2x20+10=50, or "six vingt": 6x20=120. Now, that spelling only remains for 70 to 90. And not in all French speaking regions. Switzerland and Belgium use "septante", "octante" and "nonante" instead of "soixante-dix" (60+10=70), "quatre-vingt" (4x20=80) and "quatre-vingt-dix" (4x20+10=90).
- SamReidHughes 6y agoThat's really interesting to know! I'll have to add saying "octante" to a French person to my bucket list. (That'll show them.)