German to Armenian: reading compound numbers and counting without copying plural endings
A written German number must be understood before its parts are translated
German builds numbers between the tens with the unit joined by und to the tens expression. LEO’s grammar illustrates einundzwanzig and zweiunddreißig. Their component order is not the order in which the corresponding digits appear on the page. Translating the pieces one after another can therefore reverse the intended quantity.
Dum-Tragut’s grammar of Modern Eastern Armenian describes compound numbers with tens before units and without a coordinating conjunction between them. Its example k’sanhing represents twenty-five. This is a different internal arrangement from the German unit-plus-und-plus-tens pattern.
For German-to-Armenian messages containing written-out quantities, establish the numerical value first. Then express that value in the target system. An und inside a German number is part of building one quantity, rather than a request to join two separate quantities in an Armenian list. Keeping that distinction prevents an order for one amount from becoming an order for several amounts.
A counted Armenian noun need not copy a German plural suffix
The Armenian grammar explains that a countable noun modified only by a cardinal number does not show plural marking in the construction described there. It also discusses different behavior when additional attributes modify the noun. The numeral and the full noun phrase therefore matter, rather than just a simplistic rule to remove every plural ending.
German quantity expressions can contain both a number and a noun in plural form. In translation, a target noun without a corresponding plural suffix may still preserve several items because the cardinal supplies the count. A visible mismatch in noun endings is not by itself evidence that the Armenian translation changed several objects into one.
This matters when a German item list is revised by adding a description. A translation that worked for a plain counted noun should not be assumed correct after the phrase acquires further modifiers. The requested quantity remains the same, but the target grammatical environment may have changed. Read the complete item description before reusing its earlier noun form.
The item count and its position in a sequence are different
Dum-Tragut distinguishes cardinal quantities from ordinals that identify a position in an ordered sequence. The grammar gives mek for one and an irregular ordinal ar°ajin for first. An instruction concerning the first item is consequently not a request for one unspecified item, even though the same number underlies both expressions.
German likewise uses written number expressions in different practical roles: an amount ordered, a numbered label or a position in a sequence. Determine which role the source intends before selecting an Armenian number form. Reading a room label as a quantity, or a quantity as a rank, can change where the recipient goes or what they select.
For a German order or schedule, keep the value, the counted object and any ordering relation separate. The target may reverse the internal order of a compound number and package noun number differently, while preserving the same instruction. Those grammatical changes are useful only if the actual amount and the distinction between how many and which in sequence remain intact.
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