Les nombres
Counting to a hundred and past it — including the three numbers that make learners give up.
The sixteen you simply learn
Nothing here follows a rule. Learn them the way you learned them in your own language: out loud, in order, until they arrive without thinking.
| French | Number | Note |
|---|---|---|
| zéro | 0 | |
| un | 1 | une before a feminine noun |
| deux | 2 | |
| trois | 3 | |
| quatre | 4 | |
| cinq | 5 | |
| six | 6 | see the pronunciation note below |
| sept | 7 | the p is silent |
| huit | 8 | |
| neuf | 9 | |
| dix | 10 | see the pronunciation note below |
| onze | 11 | |
| douze | 12 | |
| treize | 13 | |
| quatorze | 14 | |
| quinze | 15 | |
| seize | 16 |
Sixteen, not twelve. English stops its irregular run at twelve and switches to -teen. French keeps going to seize, then switches. Learners coming from English reliably invent dix-six. There is no such word.
Seventeen to sixty-nine: the pattern
From 17 the numbers are built, not memorised. Tens, then a hyphen, then the unit.
| French | Number | How it is built |
|---|---|---|
| dix-sept | 17 | ten-seven |
| dix-huit | 18 | ten-eight |
| dix-neuf | 19 | ten-nine |
| vingt | 20 | |
| vingt et un | 21 | note the et, and no hyphens |
| vingt-deux | 22 | hyphen from 22 onwards |
| trente | 30 | |
| quarante | 40 | |
| cinquante | 50 | |
| soixante | 60 | |
| soixante et onze | 71 | the last et you will meet |
et appears only in 21, 31, 41, 51, 61 and 71. Everywhere else the parts are joined by a hyphen.
Seventy, eighty, ninety
The famous problem. French stops naming new tens at sixty and starts doing arithmetic instead.
| French | Number | The sum |
|---|---|---|
| soixante-dix | 70 | 60 + 10 |
| soixante et onze | 71 | 60 + 11 |
| soixante-dix-neuf | 79 | 60 + 19 |
| quatre-vingts | 80 | 4 × 20 |
| quatre-vingt-un | 81 | 4 × 20 + 1 |
| quatre-vingt-dix | 90 | 4 × 20 + 10 |
| quatre-vingt-onze | 91 | 4 × 20 + 11 |
| quatre-vingt-dix-neuf | 99 | 4 × 20 + 19 |
Two spelling traps in that table:
- quatre-vingts takes an
-sonly when nothing follows it. Quatre-vingts but quatre-vingt-un, quatre-vingt-dix. - quatre-vingt-un takes no et, even though vingt et un does.
Not everywhere. Belgium and Switzerland use septante (70) and nonante (90), and parts of Switzerland use huitante (80). They are not slang and they are not wrong — they are simply the local standard. In France they will be understood and found charming.
A hundred and beyond
| French | Number | Note |
|---|---|---|
| cent | 100 | no un in front of it |
| cent un | 101 | no et |
| deux cents | 200 | -s when nothing follows |
| deux cent trois | 203 | no -s when something does |
| mille | 1 000 | never takes an -s |
| deux mille | 2 000 | |
| un million | 1 000 000 | this one does take un, and de before a noun |
French writes large numbers with a space or a full stop where English uses a comma, and a comma where English uses a decimal point: 1 234,56.
Un or une?
Only the number 1 changes for gender, and it does so wherever it appears.
- un livre, vingt et un livres
- une table, vingt et une tables
Every other number is fixed. Deux tables, never deuxe.
Saying them out loud
The final consonant of a small number is silent before a consonant, and pronounced before a vowel.
| Written | Sounds like | When |
|---|---|---|
| six | seess | alone, or at the end |
| six livres | see livres | before a consonant |
| six ans | seez ans | before a vowel |
| dix | deess | alone |
| dix euros | deez euros | before a vowel |
| neuf | nurf | almost always |
| neuf ans | nurv ans | f becomes v — only with ans and heures |
Exercises
1. Write 78 in French.
Show answer
soixante-dix-huit — 60 + 18. Not septante-huit in France.
2. Write 81 and 80. What is different, and why?
Show answer
quatre-vingt-un and quatre-vingts.
Quatre-vingts keeps its -s because nothing follows it. As soon as
another number is added the -s goes. And unlike vingt et un, there is
no et in quatre-vingt-un.
3. Translate: "twenty-one women".
Show answer
vingt et une femmes.
Une, because femme is feminine and un is the only number that agrees. Note also et with no hyphens — that spelling belongs to 21.
4. Read aloud: J'ai six amis et neuf ans de français.
Show answer
Six amis links: seez amis. Neuf ans turns its f into a v: nurv ans. Both are liaisons, and both are compulsory.