Can You Count to 100?

Of course you can. Can you do it in Russian? You do not need to know Russian to do it; you just need to solve my puzzle. Below are some numerals written in Russian. You have enough information to write any number from 1 to 99 inclusive in Russian.

  • 1 — один
  • 10 — десять
  • 11 — одиннадцать
  • 12 — двенадцать
  • 13 — тринадцать
  • 14 — четырнадцать
  • 15 — пятнадцать
  • 18 — восемнадцать
  • 22 — двадцать два
  • 31 — тридцать один
  • 33 — тридцать три
  • 40 — сорок
  • 44 — сорок четыре
  • 46 — сорок шесть
  • 55 — пятьдесят пять
  • 88 — восемьдесят восемь
  • 97 — девяносто семь
  • 99 — девяносто девять

If you are too lazy to write all the Russian numerals I requested, try the most difficult ones: 16, 17, 19, 67 and 76.

If you know Russian, then I have a back-up puzzle for you. Do the same thing for French:

  • 1 — un
  • 10 — dix
  • 11 — onze
  • 12 — douze
  • 13 — treize
  • 14 — quatorze
  • 16 — seize
  • 17 — dix-sept
  • 21 — vingt-et-un
  • 22 — vingt-deux
  • 31 — trente-et-un
  • 33 — trente-trois
  • 40 — quarante
  • 44 — quarante-quatre
  • 46 — quarante-six
  • 48 — quarante-huit
  • 55 — cinquante-cinq
  • 61 — soixante-et-un
  • 71 — soixante et onze
  • 72 — soixante-douze
  • 75 — soixante-quinze
  • 79 — soixante-dix-neuf
  • 80 — quatre-vingts
  • 81 — quatre-vingt-un
  • 91 — quatre-vingt-onze
  • 98 — quatre-vingt-dix-huit

And again, if you are lazy, you can concentrate on translating 15, 18, 19, 41, 51, 56, 65, 78 and 99 into French.

I invite my readers to create similar puzzles in all languages.

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8 Comments

  1. Jonathan:

    I’ll send on a Turkish one when I get a chance. It requires but 9 pieces of information, which must be minimal.

    91 in French lost a q: quatre-vingt-onze. And I used to spell well in French, but I would have missed most of the hyphens. It’s been a long time. (I never spelled well in Russian)

  2. Tanya Khovanova:

    Thanks, Jonathan,

    I fixed 91.

  3. Konstantin:

    For Italian

    1 – uno
    10 – dieci
    11 – undici
    12 – dodici
    13 – tredici
    14 – quattordici
    15 – quindici
    16 – sedici
    17 – diciasette
    18 – diciotto
    19 – diciannove
    22 – ventidue
    27 – ventisette
    28 – ventotto
    29 – ventinove
    34 – trentaquattro
    45 – quarantacinque
    56 – cinquantasei
    67 – sessantasette
    73 – settantatre
    90 – novanta
    91 – novantuno

    Translate 2, 3, 4, 30, 41, 57, 69, 85, 88, 96 into Italian.

  4. Leonid Grinberg:

    For Foodtongue:

    1 – Carrot
    10 – Stew
    11 – Stew
    12 – Stew
    5164 – Stew

    Translate 14, 21, and 16

    On a slightly more serious note, there is what I call the Usable Foodtongue Number System:

    0 – Water
    1 – Carrot
    2 – Tomato
    3 – Zucchini
    4 – Corn
    5 – Carrot-Water
    6 – Carrot-Carrot

    Translate, into English, “Carrot-Corn”.

  5. Misha:

    Tanya, here is the Uzbek version.
    It sounds 100% identical to Turkish, however I can’t spell in Turkish.
    Also, the cyrillic spellings of Uzbek words miss some decorations
    (and now Uzbekistan uses Latin graphics anyway, also with some decorations).
    Now, the following is hard — and may be a bit of a stretch.
    If you can correctly translate 79 based on the following,
    then eight pieces of info are really enough.
    If not, you need 9 pieces which will then make it easy.

    12 ун икки
    23 йигирма уч
    34 уттиз турт
    45 кирк беш
    56 эллик олти
    68 олтмиш саккиз
    87 саксон йетти
    91 туксон бир

    Note on prononciation: stress is always on the last syllable, and “и” under stree is pronounced as Russian “ы”

  6. Aires:

    In Portuguese:
    1 — um
    10 — dez
    11 — onze
    12 — doze
    13 — treze
    14 — quatorze
    15 – quinze
    16 — dezesseis
    18 – dezoito
    19 – dezenove
    22 — vinte e dois
    31 – trinta e um
    33 — trinta e três
    40 — quarenta
    44 — quarenta e quatro
    55 — cinquenta e cinco
    66 – sessenta e seis
    77 — setenta e sete
    88 – oitenta e oito
    99 – noventa e nove

  7. Arun Kumar:

    In one of the Indian Language.
    In Malayalm:

    1 – onnu
    10 – pathu
    11 – pathinonnu
    12 – pantrnandu
    13 – pathimonnu
    14 – quattordici
    15 – pathinanju
    16 – pathinaru
    17 – pathiunezhu
    18 – pathinettu
    19 – pathonpathu
    22 – erupatti randu
    27 – erupatti ezhu
    28 – erupatti ettu
    29 – erupatti onpathu
    34 – mupatti nalu
    45 – nalapatti anju
    56 – anpatti aaru
    67 – arupatti ezhu
    73 – ezhupatti moonnu
    90 – tonnuuru
    91 – thonnutti onnu

  8. Kayr:

    I designed a Gibberish version:

    (Tips: Figure out its methodology, not so usual)
    1 – Gotron
    2 – Lius
    3 – Inteus
    29 – Norrus
    34 – Lyospet
    35 – Mordesa
    52 – Slipalce
    61 – Gibrus
    75 – Incsemorg
    81 – Csinte
    83 – Palcebrus
    88 – Giton
    119 – Desuspet
    192 – Lintefaralinte
    375 – Intecsemorg
    512 – Sintefaralia
    527 – Ospegotrontrus
    667 – Nitenor
    874 – Lyagonite
    972 – Slimorfarente

    Can you figure out the Gibberish spelling of any number in 1000? Or larger? Some difficult ones: Translate 12, 56, 404, 537, 675 and 703.

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