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Lesson 7A1

Numbers 11–100

ಸಂಖ್ಯೆಗಳು 11–100

Past twenty, German numbers do something Kannada (and English) never do: they say the units digit before the tens digit — 'one-and-twenty' instead of 'twenty-one'.

Grammar Comparison

ವ್ಯಾಕರಣ ಹೋಲಿಕೆ

Units before tens — the order flips

German

einundzwanzig (21 = 'one-and-twenty': ein + und + zwanzig)

Kannada

ಇಪ್ಪತ್ತೊಂದು (21 = 'twenty-one': ಇಪ್ಪತ್ತು + ಒಂದು, tens first)

Kannada, like English, always states the tens before the units: ಇಪ್ಪತ್ತೊಂದು literally means 'twenty-(and)-one'. German reverses this for every two-digit number from 21 onward — einundzwanzig literally means 'one-and-twenty'. This trips up nearly every learner at first, because you have to hold the first-heard digit in mind until the tens word arrives: when someone says 'dreiundvierzig', keep 'drei' (3) in mind until 'vierzig' (40) confirms it's 43, not some other number starting with 3.

Tens words you can predict once you know 2–9

German

zwanzig (20), dreißig (30), vierzig (40)... digit + -zig

Kannada

ಇಪ್ಪತ್ತು (20), ಮೂವತ್ತು (30), ನಲವತ್ತು (40)... digit + -ವತ್ತು

Both languages build their tens words the same predictable way: take the digit and attach a fixed 'tens' suffix (Kannada -ವತ್ತು/-ಪ್ಪತ್ತು, German -zig, with dreißig as the one irregular exception using -ßig instead). Once you know eins through neun, you can guess most tens words in either language without memorizing each one from scratch.

Vocabulary

ಪದಗಳು

zwanzigTSVAHN-tsikh
Kannada
ಇಪ್ಪತ್ತುippattu
English
twenty (20)
dreißigDRY-sikh
Kannada
ಮೂವತ್ತುmoovattu
English
thirty (30)
vierzigFEER-tsikh
Kannada
ನಲವತ್ತುnalavattu
English
forty (40)
fünfzigFUENF-tsikh
Kannada
ಐವತ್ತುaivattu
English
fifty (50)
sechzigZEKH-tsikh
Kannada
ಅರವತ್ತುaravattu
English
sixty (60)
siebzigZEEP-tsikh
Kannada
ಎಪ್ಪತ್ತುeppattu
English
seventy (70)
achtzigAHKH-tsikh
Kannada
ಎಂಬತ್ತುembattu
English
eighty (80)
neunzigNOYN-tsikh
Kannada
ತೊಂಬತ್ತುtombattu
English
ninety (90)
hundertHOON-dert
Kannada
ನೂರುnooru
English
one hundred (100)
einundzwanzigeyen-oont-TSVAHN-tsikh
Kannada
ಇಪ್ಪತ್ತೊಂದುippattondu
English
twenty-one (21)
dreiundvierzigdry-oont-FEER-tsikh
Kannada
ನಲವತ್ತಮೂರುnalavattamooru
English
forty-three (43)