Let's look at 40 and 80:
For some reason I get them confused, so I've made 40 green
(it sounds like fir, which is green) and 80 red (it sounds like fierce, which I associate with red).
That's easy enough.
Now let's look at 60 (and 80):
Tres (60) comes from tresindtyve (tre-sinde-tyve), which means "3 times 20"
Sinde is an old word (now obsolete) meaning "times" *
The same goes for 80: fir(e)sindetyve (4 times 20) = shortened to firs.
Now for the hard part: 50, 70, 90
The word halv here means
"the number minus a half" **
50: halvtredje-sinde-tyve = "half 3" (2½) x 20 = shortened to halvtreds.
70: halvfjerde-sinde-tyve = "half 4" (3½) x 20 = shortened to halvfjerds.
90: halvfem-sinde-tyve = "half 5" (4½) x 20 = shortened to halvfems.
While this explanation might be nice, in reality it doesn't help much because you won't have time to make these calculations on the fly. It is much more effective to find a way to associate each word with a number instantaneously, the way I've done with 40 and 80 above. For example, I associate the sound of halvfjerds (70) with the Afrikaans word for half a trenchcoat, which makes no sense, but it works for me.
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