There are many good reasons to learn a new language. For instance, it can open up a world of new job opportunities, help you make foreign friends. It has many cognitive benefits, and it’s also fun. However, the fun part ends when you encounter certain peculiar grammar rules of the new language that simply don’t make sense. One of the languages that make its learners go ‘huh?’ once in a while is French. Some parts of this language, as YouTuber Matt Colbourne puts it, are ‘absolutely bonkers’. And believe it or not, one of the weirdest parts of the French language is the numbers.
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22-year-old Matt, from Newfoundland, Canada, enjoys making funny videos and recently shared one about counting in French. “The inspiration [for the video] actually came from a conversation I was having with a bilingual friend of mine one night. We were discussing the French numbers and kind of realized mid-discussion that it was like it deserved its own chapter in a math textbook. I started to just riff off a bunch of language jokes, with an NYC accent funny enough, and after 10 minutes of laughing, we figured we might have something going with this,” he told Bored Panda.
“I got to tell you something about the French number system. How they count to a hundred it’s absolutely bonkers man,” Matt says in the video
Excited about this idea, Matt grabbed his friend, jumped into his car, and went about town filming for 20 minutes. Thus, the hilarious viral video showing him pretending to be a cab driver from New York, and explaining how he learned the peculiarities of French grammar, was born.
Then he goes on to say that in French “When you get to 16 for some reason, they say damn the rest of it we’re gonna do some random stuff now”
The video quickly went viral for obvious reasons. Because who would have thought that the French numeric system is so odd? Matt says that he doesn’t speak French, but he knows how to count in the language. “I do not speak French. Well, I speak some French but am certainly not fluent. But I will say, I was definitely aware of how to count to 100 in French prior to the video,” he revealed.
“21 is ‘twenty and one’ why is there an ‘and’ I don’t need to say ‘and’ it’s just 21”
However, he was happy that his little bit of knowledge and a talent for making hilarious jokes blew up. “Most definitely, this is the first time I’ve gone viral. My most viewed video before this had just over 1000 views, I believe, so this one blowing up was a complete shock, but it was super cool to watch it unfold,” Matt said.
“80 is four twenty again hilarious because 420 that’s like weed thing”
While happy about the success, Matt says he’s not planning to become a full-time youtube comedian. “The biggest thing for me going forward is that I want to be able to do something I enjoy. With that said, it was still very important for me (and my mom, lol) to finish my undergrad, so now that I’m in possession of a University degree, the next year or so will be spent figuring out what path is best for me and my future.”
“81 is ‘four twenty and one'”
“I’m certainly not treating this opportunity as a Plan A or a Plan B, its more of a “Plan Maybe.” If it works, and I get to pursue it further, awesome. But if not, I have a degree to fall back on, and can just as easily further my education, or get a job elsewhere,” Matt said.
Can you guess what 100 is? Watch the video to find out!
Here’s how people reacted
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Oh honey, you should look at counting things in Irish. 23 teacups is "tri cupain is fiche" --which translates to "three cups and twenty". You start with the small number, stick the object in the middle, and end with the large number. It's super confusing for native English speakers to learn. Also, the word for the number is different if you're counting pure numbers, or the number of people, or the number of objects.
German numbers? What? Those make sense, except for being backwards. We're not stuck on some old base-20 system! It's twenty, one-and-twenty, two-and-twenty, three-and-twenty...then thirty, one-and-thirty, two-and-thirty...nice and predictable. Mind you, calling Blackjack "Vingt-et-un" has much more cache, so sometime French numbers are cool.
To be fair German and English aren't that normal either. In German you say 1 and 20 instead of 21. And in English you read years in pairs so instead of one thousand nine hundred and eighty four you say nineteen eighty four.
i was taught that saying "and" caused a decimal point to be added as in cents ... so one thousand nine hundred and eighty four would be 1900.84 . you would say it it as one thousand nine hundred eighty four for 1984 .
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I can relate. Back in French class, we always had to say the current date in french at the beginning of each lesson. The year was 1999, so we had to say "dix-neuf cent quatre-vingt-dix-neuf", which translates to "ten-nine hundred four-twenty-ten-nine". Madness. It's not that much better in my own language, though. In German, for twenty-one you say "einundzwanzig", which is "one and twenty", which is the wrong way around. It gets even more ridiculous when more than two digits are involved. 121 is "einhunderteinundzwanzig", meaning "a hundred one and twenty".
"Dix-neuf cent " is how old folks or less educated people would speak (at least where I live, in Quebec, I guess there can be regional differences). Most people would say "Mille neuf cent".
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I'm French and totally agree, lol! Now try conjugating verbs that pretty much sound the same but are spelled in a multitude of ways. Ah, languages, lmfao!!
Oof, I just had a test on French verbs. Pretty sure that's the hardest part of learning a new language.
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In thai and lao counting can be weird too. They say 10-1 for 11 or 2-10-2 for 22xD
Is this the "we got car parks everywhere, mcdonalds, the supermarket... the f*****G M25" guy from vine
What about Roman numerals? You've got LETTERS, and then they threw in subtraction as well.
... sitting here patiently waiting until he discovers German. 21? spoken "one and twenty"
the english language did the same kind of thing "back in the day". Ever heard of "four score and 7 years ago"?? This method of counting numbers, is not isolated to the french language.
Yeah, I agree: counting in french might seem 'crazy' (I'm french ;)) But, which language don't have its particularity for counting ? :) Anyway, thanks for the share ;)
In Wallonia - the French speaking part of Belgium - they say the more logical septante and nonante for 70 and 90. But they still have the quatre-vingt. In Switzerland, they also solved the 80 problem, with an "huitante".
Two hundred and twenty dollars ? Isn't it or i'm wrong?
I usually don't like these "as seen on the internet posts", but this one was worth sharing, imo. Better than most stand-up comedians I've seen lately!
If you pay cash in France and they say the number or the amount of change, it's f'd up! 'quatre vingt dix huit et soixante seize cents' (€98,76) talking super fast. WHAT?!
Yeah,exactly! Even if I speak overage French, the numbers make me cringe: Deep breathtaking, concentration and try to sound nonchalant.....until the situation is like described above. Swallowing, ...repeat please... and imagine the written numbers on my mind.
Load More Replies...
Glad someone said it I was like Jesus you'd struggle comprehending the German numbers
Oh honey, you should look at counting things in Irish. 23 teacups is "tri cupain is fiche" --which translates to "three cups and twenty". You start with the small number, stick the object in the middle, and end with the large number. It's super confusing for native English speakers to learn. Also, the word for the number is different if you're counting pure numbers, or the number of people, or the number of objects.
German numbers? What? Those make sense, except for being backwards. We're not stuck on some old base-20 system! It's twenty, one-and-twenty, two-and-twenty, three-and-twenty...then thirty, one-and-thirty, two-and-thirty...nice and predictable. Mind you, calling Blackjack "Vingt-et-un" has much more cache, so sometime French numbers are cool.
To be fair German and English aren't that normal either. In German you say 1 and 20 instead of 21. And in English you read years in pairs so instead of one thousand nine hundred and eighty four you say nineteen eighty four.
i was taught that saying "and" caused a decimal point to be added as in cents ... so one thousand nine hundred and eighty four would be 1900.84 . you would say it it as one thousand nine hundred eighty four for 1984 .
Load More Replies... I can relate. Back in French class, we always had to say the current date in french at the beginning of each lesson. The year was 1999, so we had to say "dix-neuf cent quatre-vingt-dix-neuf", which translates to "ten-nine hundred four-twenty-ten-nine". Madness. It's not that much better in my own language, though. In German, for twenty-one you say "einundzwanzig", which is "one and twenty", which is the wrong way around. It gets even more ridiculous when more than two digits are involved. 121 is "einhunderteinundzwanzig", meaning "a hundred one and twenty".
"Dix-neuf cent " is how old folks or less educated people would speak (at least where I live, in Quebec, I guess there can be regional differences). Most people would say "Mille neuf cent".
Load More Replies... I'm French and totally agree, lol! Now try conjugating verbs that pretty much sound the same but are spelled in a multitude of ways. Ah, languages, lmfao!!
Oof, I just had a test on French verbs. Pretty sure that's the hardest part of learning a new language.
Load More Replies... In thai and lao counting can be weird too. They say 10-1 for 11 or 2-10-2 for 22xD
Is this the "we got car parks everywhere, mcdonalds, the supermarket... the f*****G M25" guy from vine
What about Roman numerals? You've got LETTERS, and then they threw in subtraction as well.
... sitting here patiently waiting until he discovers German. 21? spoken "one and twenty"
the english language did the same kind of thing "back in the day". Ever heard of "four score and 7 years ago"?? This method of counting numbers, is not isolated to the french language.
Yeah, I agree: counting in french might seem 'crazy' (I'm french ;)) But, which language don't have its particularity for counting ? :) Anyway, thanks for the share ;)
In Wallonia - the French speaking part of Belgium - they say the more logical septante and nonante for 70 and 90. But they still have the quatre-vingt. In Switzerland, they also solved the 80 problem, with an "huitante".
Two hundred and twenty dollars ? Isn't it or i'm wrong?
I usually don't like these "as seen on the internet posts", but this one was worth sharing, imo. Better than most stand-up comedians I've seen lately!
If you pay cash in France and they say the number or the amount of change, it's f'd up! 'quatre vingt dix huit et soixante seize cents' (€98,76) talking super fast. WHAT?!
Yeah,exactly! Even if I speak overage French, the numbers make me cringe: Deep breathtaking, concentration and try to sound nonchalant.....until the situation is like described above. Swallowing, ...repeat please... and imagine the written numbers on my mind.
Load More Replies... Glad someone said it I was like Jesus you'd struggle comprehending the German numbers
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