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.
elleve
eleven
Unique word — not based on 1
tolv
twelve
Unique word — not based on 2
tretten
thirteen
tre (3) + ten
fjorten
fourteen
fire (4) + ten
femten
fifteen
fem (5) + ten
seksten
sixteen
seks (6) + ten
sytten
seventeen
syv (7) + ten
atten
eighteen
otte (8) + ten
nitten
nineteen
ni (9) + ten
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.
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.