Why Germans Count numbers backward || FOREIGN REACTS

[@giobozzde]

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[@MichaEl-rh1kv]

1:22 No, at this point English does something weird. Until nineteen = neunzehn it put like German the nine at the first place and the ten at the end. And now English switches sides and starts with twenty and puts the one at the end? German however is consistent and keeps the tens at the end.

[@giobozzde]

Nah I totally get it 😂 It’s just weird because it’s different but not weird like in a bad way More like strange

[@mako6919]

@@giobozzde The German system does not change after 20, the English system changes after 20.

[@Bunny99s]

@@mako6919 Exactly, why isn't it "ten three", "ten four", "ten five" in english? German has a consistent rule which, admittedly is a bit weird, but english essentially use both systems but with more exceptions :)

[@MattWhite-vh6xh]

It's the Norse influence on English. The old form survives in things like 'four and twenty blackbirds...' but modern usage is closer to the Scandinavian (but without all the weirdness.) English sixty two = Norwegian sekstito.

[@martinhemme7890]

And the Dutch too!!!!!!!!

[@dirkst73]

it's totally logical: if you say seven-teen, it's logical to say seven-and-twenty, right? so the germans don't turn it around, they stay with their logic. ok, at least until 100... but still

[@SlimNesbitt-p6s]

No, we'll stick with logic. And from then on, always say 1 first for the full hundred, like in English. So the number sequence is 132 up to the number 119. Then suddenly in English the number sequence changes back to 123. In English the number sequence changes all the time. Not in German. I have no idea what the guy wants. He has been misrepresenting the number sequence 13 to 19 from the start. That's why he's spreading nonsense.

[@livinghypocrite5289]

And here I am as a german thinking the original arabic system makes more sense, and we should have written 132 as 231 and read it a something like two thirty hundred. Seems so much more simple. If you give someone a number, you always have the problem to have to wait in german, what to put in the middle. As einhundertfünf (105) can be just 105 or the beginning of einhunderfünfundzwanzig (125). So to write down a number that someone else is telling you, that would make things a lot easier. Also if we go to elementary school math, I leaned adding and subtracting numbers from right to left. Which is exactly opposite to how we read. So even adding and subtracting would be easier in the original system. Can we please change to that? 😂

[@martinhemme7890]

And the Dutch too!!!!!!!!

[@morlewen7218]

If you think German is confusing. In Alamblak, a language of Papua New Guinea, there are only words for 1, 2, 5, and 20, and all other numbers are built out of those. So 14 is (5x2)+2+2, or tir hosfi hosfihosf, and 59 is (20x2)+(5x(2+1))+(2+2) or yima hosfi tir hosfirpati hosfihosf. Ndom, another language of Papua New Guinea, has a base-6, or senary number system. It has basic words for 6, 18, and 36 (mer, tondor, nif) and other numbers are built with reference to those. The number 25 is tondor abo mer abo sas (18+6+1), and 90 is nif thef abo tondor ((36x2)+18).

[@ViviNorthbell]

french too is weird

[@friedrichjunzt]

interesting, thank you!

[@Bunny99s]

So its almost like a mix of roman numerals and binary :D In binary you have those position values as seen from right to left: (1,2,4,8,16,32,64,128) while it's (1,10,100,1000) in decimal. Though they use a composite system like in roman numerals. Though how are actual larger number represented? Do you have any actual position related values? If not you don't get that far with those 4 values. How do you write for example a year like "1998" That's also a pain in roman numerals, but they have more symbols for higher values I=1, V=5, X=10, L=50, C=100, D=500, M=1000

[@morlewen7218]

​ @Bunny99s I assume these tribes do not deal and have not dealt with such large numbers in their daily life. Most likely they use the english or another modern system for large numbers.

[@SlimNesbitt-p6s]

No, that's wrong. In English you suddenly reverse the numbers. I say thirteen, so first the second digit, just like in German. It goes on like that up to nineteen. So always the second digit first. From twenty-one onwards you suddenly say the first digit first and then the second. So you switch. In German, however, the second number is still said first. It's strange that the guy didn't notice that. A serious error in thinking. That's why his further conclusions are also wrong. By the way, the German language does not have to follow the English language. That's very arrogant.

[@martinhemme7890]

And the Dutch too!!!!!!!!

[@maxwilli3718]

13 = thirteen. In English, the number from 13 to 19 is said first as the one.

[@stephanieblum4919]

French is even more confusing when you lern the language. But, when you are used to it, it is simple. 80 is eighty in english or achtzig in german but quatre vingt (4 times 20) in french. That‘s it! 😂

[@autingo6583]

german native speaker here. i hate german and french numbers. learned french in high school for only two years, i can barely speak and understand a sentence, but i remember the year i learned numbers, dix-neuf-cent-quatre-vingt-treize, instantly. ten nine hundred four twenty thirteen. so much weirdness. edit: just googled and again it seems we germanic tribes are to blame. i take the blame!

[@ViviNorthbell]

me being bad at math, is the reason I never learned french. lol

[@morlewen7218]

@@stephanieblum4919 about 200 years ago 80 was four score and 60 three score. Just read the beginning of the famous Gettysburg Address.

[@jonson856]

No, it is not us Germans who do something weird. Its the English. At least we are consistent in our numerals. The English first do it like us Germans but then suddenly switch around. Why dont the English do it consistently one way or another? So they should say 10 and 3, etc.

[@Bag_monkey]

If you think the German number system is weird, let me welcome you to Danish. 60: Three twenties. 87: Seven and four twenties. 56: Six and two and a half twenties.

[@giobozzde]

😮😮😮😮

[@berndf0]

Even wierder: 56 is six and half 3 times twenty. -- 40 is two times twenty, 60 is three times twenty and 50 is half way between them, hence half three times twenty.

[@jonyjohnson83]

just as the Amerika say month then day and then a year😂

[@dirkspatz3692]

Except for July 4th - Sorry 4th of July

[@charlesgrant-skiba5474]

Supposedly it can be the reason that Germany had so many great mathematicians and philosophers. Higher level of abstract thinking ability.

[@assellator]

For my point of view, only the English swapped the way of counting and the Germans stay. Thirteen, fourteen etc. The English switch at the 20th to twenty one, twenty two etc.The Germans stay with einundzwanzig, zweiundzwanzig etc..

[@martinhemme7890]

And the Dutch too!!!!!!!!

[@assellator]

​@@martinhemme7890 I apologize very much. Of course I didn't mean to ignore my dearest neighbors. Oranje boven alles!

[@henkhessel3651]

Old English was like German. Somewhere they got lost. Don't blame German or Dutch for that matter.

[@giobozzde]

Yeah that’s the ironic thing

[@icerepublic]

As a German I can say that I perceive all numbers below 100 as a single entity. Just like you do with thirteen. You don't think about it consisting of a thir and a teen. You hear it and write down 13. And you read it and say thirteen. It's the same for me with 21. I hear "einundzwanzig" and I write down 21 and vice versa. I don't really give it much thought. That's just as an explanation for those interested on how this works and why it isn't confusing for us. I can understand though that it's confusing for English speakers.

[@lolcityexpress]

As a native german speaker I can confirm that I jumble numbers up especially when noting down telephone numbers.

[@gregorygant4242]

Leibniz and Gauss had no problems with numbers back then.

[@danielr.5785]

WE Just grown Up with IT and are used to it

[@drei-zwei-eins]

Vierhundertzwanzig

[@MrTruthAndFacts]

This is the same as Arabic. In fact, in Arabic there are two different ways to say a number; one of which is old fashioned

[@maxwilli3718]

1900 = CM not adding together. CM means 1000-100 or -100+1000 CMXCIIX = -100+1000 -10+100 -2+10 => 1900 + 90 + 8

[@rainerzufall42]

I think, you mean MCM not CM!

[@maxwilli3718]

@rainerzufall42 MCM of course

[@michaelgrieacher7761]

I think one big reason is the language itself: three and twenty sounds just as strange in English as zwanzigdrei in German. For this reason it is also called fourteen in English because teenfour just sounds strange. Dreiundzwanzig sound just better in german

[@livinghypocrite5289]

Only sounds strange, because you are used to say it the other way around.

[@stroke_of_luck]

Now do a video on French numbers. German has a weird logic and English used to do it the German way till recently. French numbers are infected with the spirit of the square root of -1

[@Blackwallz]

DUTCH does the same as German. But if you understand it, it makes sense why it is that way. German and Dutch have this with numbers and English has it with WORDS

[@prasakmanitou4925]

Czech language has it like German, but Slovak use normal way

[@Blackwallz]

@ oooh nice, learn something new. Even my own language has the same thing. Example. 12 we say 10.2 and will go till 10.9 and . 20 we say more 10.2…….. 22. We say more 10.2 and 2. It’s make sense to us but to other wil be like WTF.

[@Cau_No]

German, Dutch, English are all in the Germanic language family. English however due to its Island location (and probably Viking and French influence) changed a lot through time.

[@ProfTydrim]

1951 is VERY recently.

[@RicardoEspanol89]

In the Netherlands we also do it that way

[@danielr.5785]

Norwegen 1951 IS recent cause when you remember how many thousand years mankid use Numbers. 70 sears IS nothing than

[@matthiasbehrendt6112]

Norway 1951 is not recent, in fact it's very different from today. It was the time of a "restart" after WW2 and in this particular case the Norwegians abandoned the "German system" and adopted a non-German system. After WW2 there was a strong desire in Quislingstan to hide any connection they had to Germany.

[@tommay6590]

The term „recent“ has to be seen in the context of which it is used. While 1951 may be before of the life span of many people today (2025) there are still people who were not only alive but who could still remember the time before and what was „normal“ then. And as danielr pointed out, in context with language and its pattern 74 years is quite recent.

[@Torrriate]

Try French...👌

[@JoducusKwak]

no one tell him about french numbers

[@morlewen7218]

English was never that confusing. Or was it? Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.

[@ViviNorthbell]

tbh, I never understood why we do the numbers backwards and it's so annoying. But the french are worse- you have to do math for numbers.....

[@2MannzumHochbeamen]

Arab does numbers the same way.

[@joppejaapbusscher2851]

Same for dutch

[@autingo6583]

I'm a native German speaker, autistic, and have an IQ of 139 (SD 15). I also struggle with German numbers because the reversed order often makes me write them incorrectly. It’s frustrating, and I hate it.

[@PalimPalim-y7l]

Sure. If you were autistic with an IQ of 139 you would see why our system is way more consistent.

[@gregorygant4242]

You must have a real problem with palindromes then right in German ? They make you go verrückt?

[@BrannaghDennis-k6z]

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[@sakurayuki5301]

123456789 would be spokenly ordered 132465798 1hundred3andtwentymillion 4hundred6and5zigthousend 7hundred9and8zig All 20, 30, ..., 90 have a zig as a denominator like you have 6-ty Irregular: Zehn = Ten, zwei -> zwanzig not zweizig