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Pemmican Posted 22 years ago
Grammar

"The how manyeth..." ;-)

How do you have to ask a question if you want to know what number in order or line a person/thing is?

E.g.:
"Louisiana is the 18th state of the USA"
--> "The how manyeth state is Louisiana?"???
(I know this is wrong, but would it be understood?)

How would you ask such a question properly??

Thanks for your suggestions.
  

Top answer

Wow, what a great question! What is your native language? " As you note there is no such word in English but I think we should nominate it for inclusion because it would come in handy.

— Rocketeer

  • Wow, what a great question!
  • What is your native language?
  • " As you note there is no such word in English but I think we should nominate it for inclusion because it would come in handy.
  • " but that would imply you want to know the date it joined.
  • In fact, I'm finding it difficult to think of an elegant way to ask the question.
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25 Answers
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Wow, what a great question! What is your native language? Does your language have the equivalent of "manyeth?" As you note there is no such word in English but I think we should nominate it for inclusion because it would come in handy.

("Come in handy" means it would be useful.)

There is no simple equivalent to "manyeth." You could ask, "When was Louisiana admitted to the U
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How about:

Louisiana's joining brought the number of states in the Union to what total?
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Or:

Louisiana's joining brought the number of states in the Union to what new total?
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The closest I can get is 'ranking';

What is Loiusiana's rank among American states?
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Wow - I didn't know that this is such a hard question ***
I nearly broke my head already to find out how it could be asked properly, but the best way I could think of was "What number (of states) is Louisiana in joining the US?".

I was asking a lot of native English speakers from the US, the UK, and Australia already, but neither did anyone know ***

Rocketeer, my native l
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What is Loiusiana's position in the American States ranking?
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I agree about the goodquestionness, Pemmican.

'What day of the month is it today?' 'The 18th.'
'What hole are you on?' 'The 18th.'
'Which birthday did you say it was?' 'My 18th.'
'Where did Manchester United come in the league, last season?' '18th.'
'What's that, your 17th beer?' '18nzzth...'

Not much help there. Every kind of sequence seems to have its ow
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I am frm India .we have a equilavent word of Manyeth in our language but when speaking in english i just got struck today and was searching for the word.by the way is "manyeth" correct?

Reji
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This is a question that is asked over and over-- and over. No, English does not have an equivalent word or phrase. 'Manyeth' may well appear casually in conversation for that very reason, but it is an ad hoc coinage, not a recognized word, and it cannot be used in reputable writing.
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I strongly agree to the way the question is framed. In general there is a tendency to not to ask the few questions like (If you consider "Howmanyth" as a word) Howmanyth birth day you have celebrated or howmanyth son/daughter you are to your parents?. In fact non usage of such questions took the word out of dictionay. There is no wrong in putting the back the word in to dictionay which will ease
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