3 ms·
For counting, is that similar to a 'couple', 'few', 'handful' in english?
by tibbon 14y ago
For counting, is that similar to a 'couple', 'few', 'handful' in english?
- ajuc 14y agoI don't understand what you mean (I'm not really good with English). In Polish every noun changes with the number in the way I've show. When you count up, you use numbers in abstract wihout the noun, so no noun to change ending. If you mean the ranges, it's strict in Polish - 1 has one ending for noun, 2-4, 22-24, 32-34, 42-44, etc have other, and all the others have another ending. I don't know how the ranges for "few", "a couple" etcare defined in English. I've heard that this strange system in Polish comes from the times Polish had 3 possible pluralities: singular, dual and plural, but I might be wrong about that.
- goblin89 14y agoYes, but modern English lacks case markers. If we consider ‘a couple of apples’ a genitive construction, then I guess you could probably say it's similar to два яблока (‘two apples’), where ‘яблока’ is singular genitive form. (The example is in Russian, which seems to be like Polish in this regard.)