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Lesson 9A1

Numbers 11–100

സംഖ്യകൾ 11–100

French numbers regain the transparency Malayalam had the whole time from 17 onward — right before a strange base-20 detour that Malayalam has no equivalent of.

Grammar Comparison

വ്യാകരണ താരതമ്യം

17–19: transparent again, after 11–16's exception

French

dix-sept, dix-huit, dix-neuf — literally 'ten-seven', 'ten-eight', 'ten-nine'

Malayalam

പതിനേഴ്, പതിനെട്ട്, പതിനൊമ്പത് — 'ten' plus the unit, exactly like every teen before it

After the opaque onze–seize (11–16) you met earlier, French numbers become transparent again from 17: dix-sept visibly contains dix (ten) plus sept (seven). This matches what Malayalam has done consistently since eleven — no exception, no memorizing needed here.

80 and 90: a base-20 detour with no Malayalam equivalent

French

quatre-vingts (80, literally 'four-twenties'), quatre-vingt-dix (90, literally 'four-twenty-ten')

Malayalam

എൺപത്, തൊണ്ണൂറ് — each is its own single decade word, built purely on base-10 the whole way

French counts 80 as 'four twenties' and 90 as 'four-twenty-ten' — a leftover from an older counting system based on twenties instead of tens. Malayalam has nothing like this: എൺപത് (80) and തൊണ്ണൂറ് (90) are each their own decade word, following the same simple base-10 pattern as every other decade. Treat 80 and 90 as their own irregular pocket to memorize in French.

Vocabulary

വാക്കുകൾ

dix-septdee-SET
Malayalam
പതിനേഴ്pathinezhu
English
seventeen
dix-huitdee-ZWEET
Malayalam
പതിനെട്ട്pathinettu
English
eighteen
vingtvahn
Malayalam
ഇരുപത്irupathu
English
twenty
trentetrahnt
Malayalam
മുപ്പത്muppathu
English
thirty
quarantekah-RAHNT
Malayalam
നാൽപത്naalpathu
English
forty
cinquantesan-KAHNT
Malayalam
അമ്പത്ambathu
English
fifty
soixanteswah-SAHNT
Malayalam
അറുപത്arupathu
English
sixty
quatre-vingtskat-ruh-VAN
Malayalam
എൺപത്enpathu
English
eighty
quatre-vingt-dixkat-ruh-van-DEES
Malayalam
തൊണ്ണൂറ്thonnooru
English
ninety
centsahn
Malayalam
നൂറ്nooru
English
one hundred