# If two is company and three is a crowd, what are four and five?

Source: https://silverapuzzles.com/riddles/if-two-is-company-and-three-is-a-crowd-what-are-four-and-five

A proverb set up as a pattern. After two sayings, you expect a third saying, and the riddle gives you arithmetic instead.

**Answer:** Nine.

Four plus five is nine.

Hint: Just add.

## How to think about it

1. The first two lines quote the proverb “two is company, three is a crowd”.
2. The pattern makes you search for a word to complete it: four is a party, four is a riot, and so on.
3. The hint says to just add. Treat four and five as numbers.
4. Four and five are nine.

## Why “Nine” is the answer

Four plus five equals nine, and “what are four and five” is a plain arithmetic question once you stop looking for the next line of the proverb. The joke is a bait and switch: the saying primes you for wordplay, then the riddle asks for a sum. It is a small lesson in reading the question that is actually asked.

## Common wrong answers

- **A party.** A natural extension of the proverb, but the riddle is not asking you to continue it.
- **Twenty.** Four times five is twenty; the riddle says “and”, which means add.