A couple of examples with Catalan, Spanish and English:
* Catalan and Spanish: blanc i negre / blanco y negro. English: black and white
* Catalan and English: de cap a peus / from head to toes. Spanish: de pies a cabeza (in English it’s toes, in Catalan and Spanish feet, but I’m talking about the order)
7 comments
I am not sure if it is a good example but in Turkish we say and write e.g. “yüzde 5” unlike English or German (5 percent / 5 Prozent). Number comes last.
– “comme chien et chat” = “like dog and cat” is “like cats and dogs” in English.
And for the examples you gave :
– We say “noir et blanc”, same as in English, so reverse from Spanish
– Both “des pieds à la tête” (feet to head) and “de la tête aux pieds” (head to feet) can be used. So we do both A&B and B&A for that one.
For your examples the Swedish order corresponds with English.
We go *’fram och tillbaka’* (“forth and back”) instead of “back and forth”. And things may be *’ut och in’* (“out and in”) rather than “inside out”.
Not really a great example, but numbers above 20 are swapped around in Dutch (and German). For example 54 in Dutch (and German) are spoken like fourandfify (vierenvijftig).
I know English only does it for numbers below 20, but for us it is everything.
Timber sizes: “two by four” (inches) in American English was “four by two” in New Zealand when I was a kid and I think it’s that way in the rest of the world.
Addresses.
In German it’s street name first, house number second.
“Ich wohne in der Schlossstraße 10.”
In English it’s the other way around.
“I live in 10 Castle Road.”
And another fun fact: in Germany it’s rarely “dogs and cats”. It’s more often “cats and mice”. 😃
English: Bow and arrow
Dutch: Pijl en boog (“Arrow and bow”)