[General] how manyth

A guy was asking how to translate a Chinese sentence which basically said, in Chinese:

The how many'th president are you?

I said, we'll have to rephrase the question, then translate that to:

How many presidents have there been before you?

He searched the wonderful web and came up with:

Which number president are you?

I have my head full of Chinese, so I get confused. Would anyone really say this? Maybe it's American?

There isn't a word in English to easily ask this question (what number in a succession).

Yes, "which number president was Grover Cleveland?" is how it would be asked.

(Trick question, he was 22 and 24.)

Those interested in this topic will enjoy this thread.

Bide said:

a Chinese sentence which basically said

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Should a sentence be 'spoken' instead of 'said'?

Personally, I would never say the awful 'Which number president are you?' Sounds like Baby-English and or Chinglish or both!
I find it hard to believe anyone would ask thus. I suppose context is everything.

Wow. This may have been the longest amount of time I've experienced in my 10+ years on English learning forums that I have gone without encountering this question. I feel like it used to come up twice a month or more.

We do NOT have a way to ask a question that guarantees you will get "13th" versus "13."

Despite so many convoluted and unnatural suggestions that I could fill a short book with them ("What ordinal number was the presidency of Abraham Lincoln?" is one example. I mean... really??) simply asking "what number..." will almost always result in "16th" versus "16." ("He was our 16th president," not "He was number 16."

And as I've maintained since this question came up, what INFORMATION is lost if you get "two" instead of "second"? Is essential data lost? "Oh, I would have understood what you mean if you'd said "twelfth" but you said "12" and now I am SO confused!" Not likely.

Just say "What number..." and don't worry about it.

(Yes, it's odd that English doesn't have this, and if I heard "how manyeth?" I'd know exactly what you meant, but I haven't seen it catch on yet.)

Bide said:

Personally, I would never say the awful 'Which number president are you?' Sounds like Baby-English and or Chinglish or both!

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Not to me, it doesn't.
"What number president was FDR" is exactly how I'd ask it. What is your "non-awful" version to get that information?

I find it hard to believe anyone would ask thus. I suppose context is everything.

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Is it so amazing to think that someone might want to know where in a line of succession someone or something is?
"How many seats away from the aisle are our seats?" We're the third and fourth ones in.
"What number are you in the lottery for room selection?" I pick seventh.

I probably would have said "What number of president are you?"

Not a teacher.

Piscean said:

The 'of' seems completely unnatural to me.

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It kinda did to me too but then I was thinking the answer would be "I am this number of/45th president." and I think the question can be changed into "What president's number are you?" I might be wrong about this though.

Must be an Americanism. I find lots of 'What number President is Obama?' but not 'What number Prime Minister is David Cameron?'

James Hadleigh from The Times here, Mr Cameron, what number Prime Minister are you?
Eh, sorry, do you speak English?
I mean, which Prime Minister are you?
I am the Prime Minister of Great Britain and Dominions.
But which number Prime Minister are you sir?
I am the number one Prime Minister, we only have one in our system.
How many Prime Ministers has Britain had before you sir?
Eh, a very good question, let me put it this way .....

I would ask "In the order of American Presidents, what number is Abraham Lincoln?

MikeNewYork said:

I would ask "In the order of American Presidents, what number is Abraham Lincoln?

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Seriously??

Yes.

Bide said:

How many presidents have there been before you?

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May I use the simple past instead of the present perfect in such a question?
For example, 'How many presidents were there before Barack Obama?'

Yes.

Piscean said:

No.
No.
Yes.

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Why?

They seem self-explanatory to me.

Rover_KE said:

They seem self-explanatory to me.

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But not to me so can you tell me why?

mawes12 said:

"I am this number of/45th president."

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It sounds to me as if 'I am this quantity of president', which does not make sense, but I am not a teacher.

Piscean said:

"No" means "This is not the case" and "Yes" means "This is the case".

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I meant to tell me why is it wrong?

Matthew Wai said:

It sounds to me as if 'I am this quantity of president', which does not make sense, but I am not a teacher.

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I think you might be right.