# One is black and one / the other is white.



## elroy

*English: *
I have two cats.  One is black and *one* is white.
I have two cats.  One is black and* the other *is white.

*Palestinian Arabic:*
عندي بستين. واحدة سودة و*واحدة* بيضة.
عندي بستين. واحدة سودة و*التانية* بيضة.

What is it like in other languages?


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## apmoy70

*Greek:*
«*Έχ**ω* δύο γάτες. *Η* μία είναι μαύρη κι *η* άλλη (*είναι*) άσπρη» [ˈe̞.xo̞.ˈði.o̞.ˈɣa.t̠e̞s̞.i.ˈmi.a.ˈi.ne̞.ˈma.vri.ciˈa.li.ˈas̠.pri]
*I* *have* two cats. *The* = feminine definite article in the nominative singular one is black and *the* other (*is* =the verb is omitted in the vernacular) white.
«*Έχω* δύο γάτες. *Η* πρώτη είναι μαύρη κι *η* δεύτερη (*είναι*) άσπρη» [ˈe̞.xo̞.ˈði.o̞.ˈɣa.t̠e̞s̞.i.ˈpro̞.t̠i.ˈi.ne̞.ˈma.vri.ciˈðe̞f.t̠e̞.ɾi.ˈas̠.pri]
*I* *have* two cats. *The* first is black and *the* second (*is* =the verb is omitted in the vernacular) white.


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## bearded

In Italian we can say both, without any difference:
_Ho due gatti: uno bianco e uno nero / uno bianco e l'altro nero._

( it is remarkable that in speech we prefer the white one to come first... probably in analogy to the fixed phrase _bianco e nero _)


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## elroy

apmoy70 said:


> *I* *have* two cats. *The* = feminine definite article in the nominative singular one is black and *the* other (*is* =the verb is omitted in the vernacular) white.
> 
> *I* *have* two cats. *The* first is black and *the* second (*is* =the verb is omitted in the vernacular) white.


What about “(the) one … (the) one”?  Is that possible?


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## apmoy70

bearded said:


> In Italian we can say both, without any difference:
> _Ho due gatti: uno bianco e uno nero / uno bianco e l'altro nero._
> 
> ( it is remarkable that in speech we prefer the white one to come first... probably in analogy to the fixed phrase _bianco e nero _)


Haven't noticed any difference in colour word order in Greek, even in compounds one cat can be «μαυρόασπρη» [ma.ˈvro̞.as̠.pri] (fem.) = _black-white_, or «ασπρόμαυρη» [as̠.ˈpro.ma.vri] (fem) = _white-black_, it's a matter of personal preference (and I guess of euphonious sounding, the latter sounds to me more fluid than the former, perhaps the consecutive vowels /oa/ makes it sounding less fluid)


elroy said:


> What about “(the) one … (the) one”?  Is that possible?


Nope, it's impossible, or rather highly improbable for a native speaker to use this structure


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## Penyafort

elroy said:


> *English: *
> I have two cats.  One is black and *one* is white.
> I have two cats.  One is black and* the other *is white.



Catalan:

Tinc dos gats. *L'un* és negre i *l'altre* és blanc.

(You need the article in both)


Spanish:

Tengo dos gatos. *Uno *es negro y *el otro* es blanco.

(While it's possible to use the article for the first one too, it's much more common to use the article only for the second element, as in English)


Aragonese:

Tiengo dos gatos. *La un* ye negro y *l'atro* ye blanco.

(The fact that it seems to be a feminine article is due to dissimilation of the masculine article _lo_ in some phonetic contexts)


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## apmoy70

Inspired by @Penyafort, let me add the same sentence in Classical Greek:

«*Δύο αἰλούρω** *ἔχω* *εἷς λευκός* *ἐστι*, *ἕτερος δὲ μέλᾱς*» *dúŏ ailoúrō ékʰō*, *heîs leukós*‿*ĕstĭ*, *hétĕrŏs dè mélās* = lit. _two cats I have, one white *is*_ (=enclitic copula), (_the) other_ (*δὲ* is a postpositive conjuction, untranslatable in English, its twin *μέν mén*, a discourse particle used to introduced antithesis or a follow up clause, set in the main clause, is omitted) _black_ (the copula is omitted).
«*Δύο αἰλούρω ἔχω* *μίᾱ λευκή ἐστι*, *ἑτέρᾱ δὲ μέλαινα*» * dúŏ ailoúrō ékʰō*, *míā leukḗ*‿*ĕsti*, *hĕtérā dè mélainā

**Dual number of the noun «αἴλουρος» aílourŏs (masc. or fem. nom. sing.). Replace it in Koine with the feminine «κάττα» kắttă < Latin catta.

Note that the first sentence presupposes a masculine cat, while the second one a female one. For unspecified gender use the masculine one.
Note also, that the definite article is absent in both sentences. The acients used it much more rarely than in MoGr (a trend started with late Koine). The verb «ἐστι» _to be_ is also omitted in the subordinate clause (after the comma).


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## Yendred

French:
_J'ai deux chats. L'un est noir et *l'autre *est blanc._

Saying _"L'un est noir et *l'un *est blanc" _would sound clumsy and unnatural.

You can also naturally say:
_Il y en a un noir et il y en a un blanc._


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## elroy

Penyafort said:


> Catalan:
> 
> Tinc dos gats. *L'un* és negre i *l'altre* és blanc.
> 
> Spanish:
> 
> Tengo dos gatos. *Uno *es negro y *el otro* es blanco.
> Aragonese:
> 
> Tiengo dos gatos. *La un* ye negro y *l'atro* ye blanco.


Same question: 


elroy said:


> What about “(the) one … (the) one”?  Is that possible?


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## Ghabi

elroy said:


> I have two cats. One is black and *one* is white.


Cantonese:
我有兩隻貓一隻黑一隻白
I-there is-two-[measure word]-cat-one-[measure word]-black-one-[measure word]-white


> I have two cats. One is black and* the other *is white.


I won't say it like that in Cantonese, although it's possible (the use of "the other" just sounds unnecessary).

In any case, black precedes white.


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## Yendred

Ghabi said:


> In any case, black precedes white.


Is it a grammatical constraint or just usage?


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## Ghabi

Probably similar to what friend bearded said earlier:


bearded said:


> probably in analogy to the fixed phrase _bianco e nero_


All the set phrases in Cantonese seem to have "black" first.


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## Awwal12

Russian can basically use all three models (one... one, one... the other, first... second), though one + the other is basically the default one.

У меня (есть) две кошки: одна белая, (а) другая чёрная.
U menyá (yést') dvé kóshki: odná bélaya, (a) drugáya chórnaya.
At me (is/are) two (fem.) cats: one (fem.) white (fem.), (and/but: a non-contradictory contrastive conjunction, optional) other (fem.) black (fem.).

У меня (есть) две кошки: одна белая, (а) одна чёрная.
U menyá (yést') dvé kóshki: odná bélaya, (a) odná chórnaya.
At me (is/are) two (fem.) cats: one (fem.) white (fem.), (and/but) one (fem.) black (fem.).

У меня (есть) две кошки: первая белая, (а) вторая чёрная.
U menyá (yést') dvé kóshki: pérvaya bélaya, (a) vtoráya chórnaya.
At me (is/are) two (fem.) cats: first (fem.) white (fem.), (and/but) second (fem.) black (fem.).


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## Penyafort

elroy said:


> Same question:



You mean saying _*L'un* és blanc i *l'un* és negre?_ No, not possible, it wouldn't really make sense.


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## Welsh_Sion

*Cymraeg/Welsh*

I have two cats. One is black and *one* is white.
- Mae gen i ddwy gath. Mae un yn ddu ac *un* yn wyn. (North Wales)
- Mae dwy gath (gy)da fi. Mae un yn ddu ac *un* yn wyn. (South Wales)

I have two cats. One is black and* the other *is white.
- Mae gen i ddwy gath. Mae un yn ddu ac mae*'r llall*/a*'r llall* yn wyn. (North Wales)
- Mae dwy gath (gy)da fi. Mae un yn ddu ac mae*'r llall*/a*'r llall* yn wyn. (South Wales)

No verb 'to have' in either dialect. Use inflected preposition 'gan' ('by') for Northern structures and non-inflected preposition 'gyda' (> 'da', i.e. 'with') to use 'have' to denote 'possession'.


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## amikama

Hebrew:

יש לי שני חתולים. *אחד *לבן *ואחד *שחור. (one... and one...)
יש לי שני חתולים. *אחד *לבן *והשני *שחור. (one... and the second...)


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## elroy

So האחר is not possible?


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## amikama

elroy said:


> So האחר is not possible?


Possible, but not common / not natural in my opinion.


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## elroy

I just realized that the second Palestinian Arabic sentence in my first post uses what literally means “the second,” but that’s also what we generally use for “the other,” as I’m just now realizing!  We don’t use a separate word for “the other.”  In my initial post, what I was trying to show (but didn’t explicitly say) was that both “one” and “the other” work in both languages, and I was wondering if that also applied to other languages.  I instinctively used the word that literally means “the second,” because again, that’s what we use for “the other”!  There’s no other option (no pun intended ).

Standard Arabic does have separate words for “the second” and “the other.”  I find “one” and “the other” (the first two options below) natural, while “the second” (the third option below) is correct but doesn’t seem very natural to me.  (So it’s the opposite of Hebrew.)

عندي قطتان، واحدة سوداء وواحدة بيضاء.
عندي قطتان، واحدة سوداء والأخرى بيضاء.
عندي قطتان، واحدة سوداء والثانية بيضاء.


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## Armas

In Finnish it is:
_yksi... toinen.._*.* (one... other...)
_toinen... toinen... _(other... other...)
We also usually omit the second "is".


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## Mori.cze

Czech:

The most natural way would be *One* is black and *[the] second *[is] white (_jedna je černá a druhá bílá_).
_The second _is rather a direct equivalent of English _the other_, can be used also in plural (the seconds=the others)

*One* is black and *one* (is) white (_jedna je černá a jedna (je) bílá_) is also possible.


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## Awwal12

elroy said:


> the second Palestinian Arabic sentence in my first post uses what literally means “the second,” but that’s also what we generally use for “the other,”


The shift seems entirely common. In most Slavic languages the original word for "the other" now means "second" - even in some Russian dialects.


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## Terio

Yendred said:


> French:
> _J'ai deux chats. L'un est noir et *l'autre *est blanc. _
> 
> Saying _"L'un est noir et *l'un *est blanc" _would sound clumsy and unnatural.
> 
> You can also naturally say:
> _Il y en a un noir et il y en a un blanc._


I agree.

Another natural way to express it :

J'ai deux chats : un noir et un blanc.

[In fact : J'ai deux chattes : une tigrée et une grise !]


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