Learn English – English equivalent to the German “zig”

grammatical-numbernumberstranslation

The German language has the term zig as a kind of affix to signal a following quantity as a unknown multiple of 10. Just like dutzend (dozen) signals an unknown multiple of 12.

For example:

Ich habe dir zig-mal gesagt, dass du deine Schuhe im Eingang ausziehen sollst!
(I've told you umpteen times, to take off your shoes on the entry!)

Wir kennen uns seit zig Jahren.
(We know us for umpteen years.)

However, I've heard multiple times that the following example, while perfectly fine in German, is incorrect in English:

Sie hat mit diesem Produkt zig-millionen verdient.

Which I'd translate to:

She had made umpteen millions with that product.

I got told that you can't put umpteen as a suffix before a discrete quantity (million).

Is this correct? If not, how to translate it properly?

The question is NOT about whether zig/umpteen is a good term to use in a formal context, but about the general use of an affix for unknown multiples of ten.

Best Answer

I don't know who told you that you can't use umpteen before million. M-W's Student Dictionary seems to disagree with that assertion:

umpteen (adj) numerous but not fixed in amount : umpteen million things to do

So, grammatically, I don't find anything wrong with your translation.

That said, umpteen is an informal word in English – note how Macmillan includes an INFORMAL label on its entry. It really depends on the context. If you are talking about how many people died in a war, for example, that might call for a more solemn word than umpteen.

However, there are cases where the word could work. If you are trying to express frustration and exasperation, umpteen might be a word that could do that.

In other words, if a student was writing a historical report about World War II, or a veteran was writing a dedication speech for a WWII memorial, I think:

Umpteen million people died in World War II.

would not be an appropriate sentence to use. However, if someone was giving an emotional plea for an end to hostilities, then I suppose that word might work:

Umpteen million people have died in this war – when are we going to have peace?

That use of umpteen essentially conveys, "too many to bother to count, but I'm not concerned with the exact number right now – when will we have peace?"

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