"There are twenty one horses on the farm."

Translation: Tá capall is fiche ar an bhfeirm.

[DoreenPrimrose]

I thought 'fiche' was 20. Where is the 'one' in 'is fiche'?

[galaxyrocker]

Read it literally and it should make sense:

There is a horse and twenty on the farm.

[DoreenPrimrose]

So 'is' is like 'agus' in this instance?

[galaxyrocker]

Yes. is is often seen as an abbreviated for of agus

[DoreenPrimrose]

Thank you. That's very helpful

[Sada299160]

I thought the same...

[KellyManni3]

I'm trying to figure out why it's not 'aon chapall is fiche'. I could easily accept this as an alternative, but it didn't allow 'aon chapall' and I can't see why.

[lentilbear]

I was wondering the same thing... isn't 'aon chapall is fiche' an equivalent way of saying '21 horses'? That is what I learned elsewhere.

[SeamusWeixel]

It would help if they would mention this little exception in the tips, especially since Duolingo defaults to this form.

[SilverPill]

Okay, so I came here with the same question others had before and I think I understand now. In the past on this course I've seen sentences about a double digit number of something and it's goes like "[single digit] [object] [double digit]" or in English "5 horse 20", but in this case it's just "horse 20".
Am I right?

[ululu12]

wouldn't 'aon chapall is fiche' be acceptable here?

[LeeInCalif]

I have the same question, given that in the tips for this lesson, "21 cats" is translated as "aon chat is fiche."

[AinePoilin]

I agree; Duolingo appears to contradict itself here? Can someone explain?

[Sboyne84]

Does any one actually speak like this any more. I've never heard this usage. It's the equivalent of four score and seven years ago

[John365571]

If you speak Irish that is what you say- this is normal.
Someone who is 21 years old is " bliain is fiche" & 21 people "duine is fiche"
and the pattern repeats for thirty, forty, a hundred etc.
Just be thankful they don't still count in scores aondeag ar fichid meant 31 ; even now forty daichead comes from da fhichid.

[clairelanc3]

Isn't fiche twenty?

[KristenF42]

My math brain just translated that to how we don't put the one in front of variables

[sandraCole7]

Should tá fiche is a haon capall not be accepted

[abbylands]

Why is "Tá fiche a haon capall ar an bhfeirm" incorrect

[Bredacm]

Why is fiche capaill is naonur not accepted?

[John365571]

because that means twenty horses and nine people.

[EdwardAndrew5]

Where is the word for one in the Irish

[19O492554]

In numbers, is means "and". "a horse and 20" is 21 horses.

[bruce476782]

Fiche is 20, how is the 21st horse shown?

[19O492554]

capall is fiche - "a horse and twenty (horses)" = "twenty one horses"

[bruce476782]

20 is fiche, what makes this 21?

[19O492554]

At the risk of sounding like a broken record:

capall is fiche - "a horse and twenty (horses)" = "twenty one horses"

[Alec523013]

I'm not arguing...capall is fiche...but is "tá capall is fiche a haon ar an bhfeirm" wrong, or just too literal?

[Knocksedan]

No, it's just wrong. If you want to use the maoluimhreacha like English does when specifying an amount (and many people do, nowadays), it is just fiche a haon capall.

[OyindaOwoe]

I tried "amhain capall is fiche" instead of just "capall is fiche". Is that technically wrong or just an alternate answer not yet accepted?

[Knocksedan]

amháin goes after the noun, so you say capall amháin, not "amháin capall". But in this case, if you wanted to add a number to capall, you would say aon chapall is fiche, not capall amháin is fiche

[Irene7498]

There is noooooo word for one

[Knocksedan]

There is no word for one in "a horse", yet we know that "a horse" is only speaking about one horse, not two horses or zero horses, or any other number but one.