Page:A simplified grammar of the Swedish language.djvu/66

48 A fractional amount is made to refer to the greater, and not the lesser number; as, klockan är tre qvarter på fyra, 'it is a quarter (three-quarters on) to four;' klockan half fem, 'half-past four;' half annan, 'one and a half.' Where och, 'and,' is used, the position of the fractional part is altered in such sentences; as, tre och en half mil, 'three miles and a half;' fem och ett halft pund kött, 'five and a half pounds of meat.'

The ordinal numbers may take s in the genitive; as, Karl den tolftes död, 'Charles the XIIth's death.'

In common parlance the word stycken, 'pieces,' is often added to the numeral in defining persons as well as things; as, de voro tio, tolf stycken, 'there were ten or twelve of them.'

'The former,' 'latter,' 'last,' are expressed by den förre, senare, siste; while certain fractional and multiple terms, such as, 'a third,' 'a fourth,' are rendered by en tredjedel, en fjerdedel; 'twofold,' 'threefold,' etc., by tvåfaldig, trefaldig, etc.

The use of the proper pronoun in addressing others presents considerable difficulty in Swedish, which may be said to be passing through a transition period in regard to the ceremonial formulæ of speech. The obsequious deference to rank and social standing enforced in past times, seems, however, to be so far giving way in Sweden, as to warrant the hope that one uniform mode of address may soon be adopted among Swedes of all classes.