# two / a few



## Gavril

Sometimes, a word meaning "two" or "a set of two" develops the meaning "a few" or similar:


- English *a couple* means "a few" in colloquial language (_I saw a couple of birds_ = _I saw_ _a few birds_), but it originally meant "a group of two" (_couple_ can still be used this way, but the first meaning is more common)

- Finnish *pari* comes from Latin *par* "a pair, a set of two", but it can mean both "a pair" and "a small number, a few": _pari sukkia_ "a pair of socks" vs. _pari päivää_ "a couple of days"


What other examples of this development do you know of?


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## sound shift

In BrE, we sometimes say "two or three" when we mean "a few", and not literally "two or three". I once said, "There are two or three shirts to iron" to a Dutch woman, who took the words literally, found that there were six shirts to iron and said, "I don't like that type of humour", but there was no humour, merely a figure of speech.


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## rusita preciosa

In Russian we sometimes say *пара-тройка */para-troyka/(literally, "pair-triad") to indicate a few. I would say, the number of things would be up to 4, may be 5 as a stretch. 

For 5-7 things we use *полдюжины */poldiuzhiny/ - hald a dozen

For 8-14 things we use *дюжинa* /diuzhina/ - dozen


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## Radioh

Hi,


sound shift said:


> In BrE, we sometimes say "two or three" when we mean "a few", and not literally "two or three". I once said, "There are two or three shirts to iron" to a Dutch woman, who took the words literally, found that there were six shirts to iron and said, "I don't like that type of humour", but there was no humour, merely a figure of speech.



Wow, that's really interesting and informative. We say "two or/, three", too. And rarely does one take it literally.
R.


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## apmoy70

Similarly in Greek, we say *«δυο, τρία»* [ðʝo ˈtɾi.a] --> _two, three_ and in reality we mean a few.
For half a dozen we say *«πεντ' έξι»* [ped͜͜ ˈeksi] --> _five, six_, and 
for 10-12 we say *«καμμιά δεκαριά»* [kaˈmɲa ðekaˈɾʝa] --> _nearly ten_.
All of the above are colloquialisms.


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## ThomasK

Dutch: "een paar"...


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## bibax

Czech: *pár*

We differentiate:

Viděl jsem *pár* ptáků. = _I saw *a couple* of birds._

Viděl jsem ptačí *pár* (hnízdící ...). = _I saw *a couple*, a male and female bird (nesting ...).

_*párkrát* = a few/couple of times;

Párkrát to opakoval. = _He repeated it a couple of times._


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## ger4

German: _ein Paar/ ein paar_

_ein Paar Socken_ = a pair of socks
_ein paar Tage_ = a couple of days


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## 123xyz

In Macedonian, we don't use the word for "couple" (пар, двојка) to mean "few", although we use the expression "two-three" (две-три), as well as "five-six" (пет-шест), just in like in Greek, according to apmoy70's earlier post.


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## TitTornade

In most French regions, "une paire" only means "two"...
In Lorraine, it means "two" or "a few"/"a couple of"... Certainly under the influence of German "ein paar"


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## Encolpius

sound shift said:


> In BrE, we sometimes say "two or three" when we mean "a few", and not literally "two or three". I once said, "There are two or three shirts to iron" to a Dutch woman, who took the words literally, found that there were six shirts to iron and said, "I don't like that type of humour", but there was no humour, merely a figure of speech.



I like your answer very much and find it useful....I've learnt something interesting...first of all because there is something like that in *Hungarian*, too. 
*egy-két* [literally *one-two*] which means "a few", but I checked my dictionary and "egy-két" is translated into English as "one or two" 
Of course we use "egy pár" as well.


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## SuperXW

Chinese (simplified):

两 (liang3) could mean either "two" or "a few".
给我两天时间 - give me two / a few days.

Chinese also connect digits to mean an approximate number:
一两天 - one-two days
两三天 - two-three days

In classic Chinese (ancient Chinese, especially in poetry), 三 (three), 九 (nine) or other numbers can all be nominal numbers, not necessarily the real numbers.


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## Encolpius

Interesting "one-two" exists even in Chinese... 
I've heard in *German*: ein-zwei Tage as well, but I am not sure if it is idiomatic in *Czech*, too.


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## bearded

In Italian we say 'un paio':
- un paio di scarpe = a pair of shoes
- un paio di giorni = some/a couple/ of days.


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## mataripis

Tagalog has specific word for a pair- tambalan or dalawahan/ three- tatluhan etc. Few is iilan.


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## marco_2

bibax said:


> Czech: *pár*
> 
> 
> *párkrát* = a few/couple of times;



It is the same in Polish:

*para *- a couple, but:

*parę lat *- a couple of years, a few years

*parokrotnie - *a couple of times


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## SuperXW

SuperXW said:


> Chinese (simplified):
> 
> 两 (liang3) could mean either "two" or "a few".
> 给我两天时间 - give me two / a few days.
> 
> Chinese also connect digits to mean an approximate number:
> 一两天 - one-two days
> 两三天 - two-three days
> 
> In classic Chinese (ancient Chinese, especially in poetry), 三 (three), 九 (nine) or other numbers can all be nominal numbers, not necessarily the real numbers.



In addition,
Chinese has some specific words for "pair/couple", i.e. 对,双, but they CANNOT mean "a few".
We use them for a pair of shoes, chopsticks, lovers...So they must be two.


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## Encolpius

Is it two-three in *Japanese*, too? (I read something like that)


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## 810senior

Encolpius said:


> Is it two-three in *Japanese*, too? (I read something like that)


Exactly. 

2,3日_ni-san nichi_ two-three days(two-to-three days, as in 作業が終わるまで、後*2,3日*はかかると思われます。_it will take *two-to-three days* to finish it_)
However, two doesn't mean a few in Japanese in contrast to Chinese.


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## Encolpius

When I saw it I couldn't believe my eyes. I thought it was just a false translation. Very interesting, thanks! 
Why do you write 2, 3 and not something like 二三? Do you think it comes from English?


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## 810senior

二三日 is also okay but I just wrote 2,3日 in order not to mix up with 二三日(23 days) which seems to be a little misleading. I don't know if the way of writing it that way came from English or other languages.
Btw, if it's for a few(a couple of) days, we can say 数日(suujitsu, 数-number, which used here as an _affix _日-day, sun) ranging from about 2 to 5.


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## Encolpius

810senior said:


> 二三日 is also okay but I just wrote 2,3日 in order not to mix up with 二三日(23 days)



oh, a Japanese homograph


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## Medune

Doesn't 二十三日間 means 23 days?


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## merquiades

Holger2014 said:


> German: _ein Paar/ ein paar_
> 
> _ein Paar Socken_ = a pair of socks
> _ein paar Tage_ = a couple of days


I'm confused. Does this mean two pairs of socks, two days or more?

If someone said a _pair of socks, _I'd understand 2 socks only.  If someone said he was going away for a _couple of days_, I'd understand he would return after two days time.


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## ger4

merquiades said:


> If someone said a _pair of socks_ and a _couple of days _to me I would understand the notion of two but not 3,4,5.


Could there be a difference between American English and British English? In England I often heard 'in a couple of days' meaning something like 'in two or three (or more) days', while 'a pair of socks' means 'a set of no more than two identical socks' (at least that's what I thought...)

The German _paar/Paar_ follows the same logic as _pari_ in Finnish:


Gavril said:


> Finnish *pari* comes from Latin *par* "a pair, a set of two", but it can mean both "a pair" and "a small number, a few": _pari sukkia_ "a pair of socks" vs. _pari päivää_ "a couple of days"


 The only difference is that in German _Paar_ is capitalized whenever it expresses the idea of 'a set of two':
- _ein Paar Socken_ = a pair of socks
- _zwei Paar Socken_ = two pairs of socks 
- _ein glückliches Paar _= a happy couple

Otherwise, it is spelled _ein paar:_
- _ein paar Tage_ = a few days (2,3,4,...)

Edit - _ein paar Socken_ = a couple of socks, a few socks, some socks, a small number of socks,....


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## SuperXW

Medune said:


> Doesn't 二十三日間 means 23 days?


That's 二十三, not 二三.


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## Gavril

Holger2014 said:


> Could there be a difference between American English and British English? In England I often heard 'in a couple of days' meaning something like 'in two or three (or more) days'



I (an American English speaker) use_ a couple_ in this way as well. But, _two or three_ means literally "two or three" for me, not a small indefinite number.


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## merquiades

Holger2014 said:


> Could there be a difference between American English and British English? In England I often heard 'in a couple of days' meaning something like 'in two or three (or more) days', while 'a pair of socks' means 'a set of no more than two identical socks' (at least that's what I thought...)


  No, I'm not speaking really on behalf of any group (It's not my intention, at least).  I just know _a couple of/ a pair of_ and _a few/ some_ are not synonyms for me.  I guess if I were a boss and an employee said he would take a couple of days to finish a translation and it wasn't done on that third day, I might be miffed.  So the best way is to be clear when you hear/ use this in English (or any language).



> The German _paar/Paar_ follows the same logic as _pari_ in Finnish:
> The only difference is that in German _Paar_ is capitalized whenever it expresses the idea of 'a set of two':
> - _ein Paar Socken_ = a pair of socks
> - _zwei Paar Socken_ = two pairs of socks
> - _ein glückliches Paar _= a happy couple
> 
> Otherwise, it is spelled _ein paar:_
> - _ein paar Tage_ = a few days (2,3,4,...)
> 
> Edit - _ein paar Socken_ = a couple of socks, a few socks, some socks, a small number of socks,....


  Ok, this is good for me to know.  If someone says _ein paar Minuten_ I shouldn't expect them back immediately.  If someone is coming to my house with _ein paar Freunden_, I shouldn't be surprised to see four people. _Ein paar Wochen _could be a month?


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## ger4

merquiades said:


> If someone says _ein paar Minuten_ I shouldn't expect them back immediately. If someone is coming to my house with _ein paar Freunden_, I shouldn't be surprised to see four people. _Ein paar Wochen _could be a month?


Yes, that's right.


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## merquiades

Holger2014 said:


> Yes, that's right.


Danke!


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## Dymn

In Catalan _un parell _would definetely mean "two" and not "three" or "four". However, if I don't get it wrong, in Mallorca it can also mean "a few, some" and not exactly "two".

The number we would commonly use as a small indefinite number is _quatre _(4). For example:
_Cauen quatre gotes. _"Four drops fall"
_Ahir hi havia quatre gats. _Lit.: "Yesterday there were four cats" (four people)
_Dir quatre paraules. _"To say four words"
_La vida són quatre dies. _"Life is four days"


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## Sardokan1.0

In Sardinian a pair can be masculine or feminine, according to the word to which refers to

unu paiu, una paia

unu paiu de canes - a pair of dogs
una paia de melas - a pair of apples


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