Welsh/Numbers

Welsh Number System Welsh, being a Celtic language, traditionally used the base 20 (vigesimal) system. This system is common among adults, but not so common among children (who now use the newer base 10 system). Vigesimal System Using a base of 20 means that numbers start counting again when you reach 20 instead of the modern (and common) 10. A few vestiges of this type of system exist in English (e.g Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address: Four score and seven years ago...) as well as in other languages (French 80 quatre-vingts, lit. four twenties) The numbers (1-20): 1Un11Unarddeg2Dau12Deuddeg3Tri13Tri ar ddeg4Pedwar14Pedwar ar ddeg5Pump15Pymtheg6Chwech16Un ar bymtheg7Saith17Dau ar bymtheg8Wyth18Deunaw9Naw19Pedwar ar bymtheg10Deg20Ugain (Note deunaw literally means "two nines" - 18) From this point, we count the same, only adding ar hugain (on twenty) at the end 21Un ar hugain22Dau ar hugain23Tri ar hugain24Pedwar ar hugain25Pump ar hugain26Chwech ar hugain27Saith ar hugain28Wyth ar hugain29Naw ar hugain30Deg ar hugain31Unarddeg ar hugain32Deuddeg ar hugain33Tri ar ddeg ar hugain34Pedwar ar ddeg ar hugain35Pymtheg ar hugain36Un ar bymtheg ar hugain37Dau ar bymtheg ar hugain38Deunaw ar hugain39Pedwar ar bymtheg ar hugain40Deugain - This system repeats itself until 60 (note, 50 on its own is often called Hanner cant - half a hundred), and on again until 80 Trigain - 60 Pedwar Ugain - 80 When we get to 100, we use cant. This time, we use cant a/ac, thus: Cant ac un - 101 Cant ac un ar hugain - 121 (literally One hundred and one on twenty) Further numbers Mil - 1000 Deg Mil - 10,000 Can Mil - 100,000 Miliwn - 1 Million Biliwn - 1 Billion Decimal System As Welsh language education took off, the difficulties of using a base 20 number when trying to teach children maths became apparent (three score and eleven minus three, anyone?), so a decimal system in common with other Indo-European languages was set up to make the teaching in Welsh simpler. This system has become common among the younger generation, in the same way the metric system has taken hold in the UK as a whole. The decimal system is very simply sum-of-parts: 34 is "three 10 four" tri deg pedwar, 20 is "two 10" dau ddeg.