# hundreds / thousands



## Outsider

There was a recent thread about numbers, but it did not address this. In English, it's customary (mandatory?) to read numbers such as "1200" as "*twelve* hundred", instead of "one *thousand* two hundred".

How many more languages have this form of naming numbers?

In Portuguese, the "hundreds" end at nine.


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## Hakro

In Finnish "twelve hundred" can be used only for years as an archaic expression (I was born in nineteen hundred and forty four). In any other cotext it seems like a joke.


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## Whodunit

Seven years ago, we lived in 1999. This has been read as "nineteen hundred ninety-nine," as far as I'm aware of. In German, we would say "neunzehnhundertneunundneunzig," which means 19+100+9+99, mathematically (although not logically ) expressed.

I learned that it would be possible with numbers in English, French, and German. It occurs rather rarely in other cases, for example:

EN: 1500 (one thousand and five hundred) _people had to die in the terrible bus accident near Manchester._
DE: eintausendfünfhundert
FR: une mille et cinq cent

It is possible to say "fünfzehnhundert Menschen" in German, but it sounds old-fashioned (often very formal) to me. I'm not sure about English and French, but I supposed it was the same in these languages.​


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## Jana337

Outsider said:


> There was a recent thread about numbers, but it did not address this. In English, it's customary (mandatory?) to read numbers such as "1200" as "*twelve* hundred", instead of "one *thousand* two hundred".


Same in Czech: "Dvanáct set" or "tisíc dvě stě".

Jana


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## Chazzwozzer

It's *bin iki yüz *(*one thousand** two hundred) *in Turkish.


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## Whodunit

Chazzwozzer said:


> It's *bin iki yüz *(*one thousand** two hundred) *in Turkish.


 
and what does _yüz_ mean? Or do you mean "*one thousand two hundred*?"


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## Rusañol&Runglish

Russian: "Тысяча двести" ("ty'syacha dvesti") - _"Thousand two hundred" - 1200_
and "В тысяча двухсотом" ("V ty'syacha dvukhso'tom") - _"In thousand two hundred" - in 1200_


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## linguist786

Whodunit said:


> EN: 1500 (one thousand and five hundred) _people had to die in the .._​


We don't say "and" . In British English anyway.. don't know about any other of the world's Englishes..


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## Hakro

linguist786 said:


> We don't say "and" . In British English anyway.. don't know about any other of the world's Englishes..


Remember (one version) when Johnny comes marching home:
"In *eighteen hundred and sixty-one* - hurrah, hurrah,
That was when the war begun - hurrah, hurrah..."


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## linguist786

Hakro said:


> Remember (one version) when Johnny comes marching home:
> "In *eighteen hundred and sixty-one* - hurrah, hurrah,
> That was when the war begun - hurrah, hurrah..."


Oops! Sorry I should have mentioned.

I meant when talking about numbers _in general_. The example Whodunit used it in sounds stilted. We wouldn't use "and" there. 

It can be used when talking about years though (eg. "In the year eighteen hundred and ninety two")


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## Hakro

It's the same in Finnish. We can use 'and' in years but nowhere else.


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## Heba

In Arabic, a number like 1999 is read as follows : 
alf *wa *tos3ome2a* wa* tes3ato *wa *tes3oon - (One thousdand *and* nine hundred *and* ninety *and *nine). Years are read in the same way.

In Egyptian colloquial Arabic, one ''and'' is dropped. So, 1999 would be read as follows: 
alf tos3omya tes3a *w* tes3een (one thousand, nine hundred. ninety *and* nine)


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## Etcetera

linguist786 said:


> We don't say "and" . In British English anyway.. don't know about any other of the world's Englishes..


Don't you? And my University teacher told us that, on the contrary, the British like to add "and". Maybe she meant the Americans?


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## Honour

Whodunit said:


> and what does _yüz_ mean? Or do you mean "*one thousand two hundred*?"


 *yüz* means *hundred*

we don't say *one *before hundreds and thousands however we say it before millions and billions.
it literally means thousand (bin) two (iki) hundred (yüz)


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## linguist786

Etcetera said:


> Don't you? And my University teacher told us that, on the contrary, the British like to add "and". Maybe she meant the Americans?


That's between the _hundreds_ and _units. _For example:

121 - one hundred and twenty one
248 - two hundred and forty eight

BUT:

3429 - three thousand four hundred and twenty nine
8533 - eight thousand five hundred and thirty three

If you were to miss out the "and" between the hundreds and units, it would be very clear you're a foreigner . I've noticed a lot of German miss out the "and", obviously because they don't put "and" between the hundreds and units in German.


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## Etcetera

And what about, for example, 120,000? Our teacher told us that it should be pronounced as "one hundred and twenty thousand". Is that right?


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## linguist786

Etcetera said:


> And what about, for example, 120,000? Our teacher told us that it should be pronounced as "one hundred and twenty thousand". Is that right?


Yes, or more commonly: "a hundred and twenty thousand"


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## Whodunit

Linguist, you are right that in German the word "und" (corresponding to "and") isn't used between the hundreds and thousands. We only use it from 21 to 99 (and of course in 3*44* or 4*73*'8*99*, too ).


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## optimistique

In Dutch you also use the 'hundred'-construction. 

in years: 1999 - _*negentien(honderd)negenennegentig* _(we omit the honderd in years though), the transcription is the same as for German: *9 10 (100) 9 + 90*,

but also in normal numerals. It is the most common way to say it. Using the thousand-construction sounds cumbersome, weird.

So in the following example:
_Er zijn 1500 mensen bij het concert - There are 1500 people at the concert_

1500 is said as: *vijftienhonderd* = fifteen hundred.
To say: _duizend vijfhonderd_ (thousand five hundred) sounds weird.

In Dutch you use this until you can no longer; so until 9999, which is:

*negenennegentighonderdnegenennegentig * 

9 & 90 100 9 & 90

although above 2000 the thousand-construction is more allowed, so you could say as well: _negenduizend negenhonderdnegenennegentig, 9000 900 9 & 90.
_


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## Etcetera

linguist786 said:


> Yes, or more commonly: "a hundred and twenty thousand"


Thank you for explaining me that.


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## amikama

In Hebrew "twelve hundreds" would sound very strange, both in years and in "normal" numbers. Thousands are almost always favored over hundreds.


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## onomatopeya

In Spanish:

1999= mil novecientos noventa y nueve

2006= dos mil seis


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## Cosol

In Italian
1999: Mille Nove Cento Novanta Nove (Thousand Nine Ninety Nine)
2006: Due Mila e Sei(Two Thousands and Six)

In mandarin chinese
1999 一九九九(One Nine Nine Nine) Pin Yin: yī jiǔ jiǔ jiǔ
2006 二零零六 (Two Zero Zero Six) Pin Yin: èr líng líng liù


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## J.F. de TROYES

Whodunit said:


> I learned that it would be possible with numbers in English, French, and German. It occurs rather rarely in other cases, for example:[/LEFT]
> 
> EN: 1500 (one thousand and five hundred) _people had to die in the terrible bus accident near Manchester._
> DE: eintausendfünfhundert
> FR: une mille et cinq cent​
> 
> It is possible to say "fünfzehnhundert Menschen" in German, but it sounds old-fashioned (often very formal) to me. I'm not sure about English and French, but I supposed it was the same in these languages.​


 
In French: 1500   "Mille cinq cents", but it's also possible to say "Quinze cents" ; from 1100 to 1900  it's the same : "Mille cent" or "Onze cents", "Mille neuf cents" or  "Dix-neuf cents"; both are equally used  when it comes to centuries,  but the first phrase is preferred for counting. From 2.000 and so on , there's no more choice: "Deux mille" is only possible.

The word "*et"* (and) is never used between the thousands and the hundreds , or the hundreds and the tens; it only appears in the tens before "one" : "Mille trois cent trente *et *un" (1331), but "Mille trois cent trente deux" (1332), and so on.


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## gigi1

In greek:
"twelve hundred" = χίλια διακόσια (one thousand two hundred)
"eleven hundred" = χίλια εκατό(one thousand one hundred)
2.200 = δύο(2) χιλιάδες διακόσια (χιλιάδες plural for χίλια)


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## parakseno

Although in Romanian it's not prohibited to use hundreds "to express thousands" nobody really uses this...

1201
o mie două sute unu (one thousand two hundred and one)
douăsprezece sute unu(twelve hundred and one) - almost never used...

I remember I've heard the hundreds for thousands expression when we were in the first grade and we were learning the numbers...


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## Mutichou

Whodunit said:


> FR: une mille et cinq cent​


We say "mille cinq cents" in French. We can also say "quinze cents" (fifteen hundred) for dates, but I don't like the latter.


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## kusurija

In Lithuanian there is no such expression as twelve hundreds.
_Only_ Tūkstantis du šimtai. (Thousand two hundreds).


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## Mahaodeh

Heba said:


> In Arabic, a number like 1999 is read as follows :
> alf *wa *tos3ome2a* wa* tes3ato *wa *tes3oon - (One thousdand *and* nine hundred *and* ninety *and *nine). Years are read in the same way.
> 
> In Egyptian colloquial Arabic, one ''and'' is dropped. So, 1999 would be read as follows:
> alf tos3omya tes3a *w* tes3een (one thousand, nine hundred. ninety *and* nine)


 
Don't you mean One thousand and nine hundred and _nine and ninety_? Originally it was read the other way round, i.e. nine and ninety and nine hundred and a thousand; but now this is used only when speaking poetically or trying to imitate classical styles.

nineteen hundred just does not work in Arabic.


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