Danish Numbers 11–20
Like English, Danish has special words for eleven and twelve. The numbers 13–19 follow a pattern where the unit comes first, combined with -ten. And 20 (tyve) introduces the tens.
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Danish
English
Note
11
elleve
eleven
Unique word — not based on 1
12
tolv
twelve
Unique word — not based on 2
13
tretten
thirteen
tre (3) + ten
14
fjorten
fourteen
fire (4) + ten
15
femten
fifteen
fem (5) + ten
16
seksten
sixteen
seks (6) + ten
17
sytten
seventeen
syv (7) + ten
18
atten
eighteen
otte (8) + ten
19
nitten
nineteen
ni (9) + ten
20
tyve
twenty
The first "tens" word
The Pattern: 13–19
For 13–19, the structure is the unit digit followed by -ten (a shortened form of ti). This is very similar to English "thir-teen", "four-teen", etc.
tre+tten=tretten(13)
fem+ten=femten(15)
ni+tten=nitten(19)
Watch the spelling
Some teens have slight spelling changes: tretten (not tre-ten), seksten (not seks-ten), and atten (not otte-ten). These are the ones to practice extra.