French Numbers 1 to 100: How to Say and Spell French Numbers (With Audio)

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A French teacher in her twenties, based in the South of France, where palm trees and beaches are part of her daily life.

French Numbers 1 to 100

Starting from 0 to 10

0 — zero
1 — un
2 — Deux
3 — Trois
4 — Quatre
5 — Cinq
6 — Six
7 — Sept
8 — Huit
9 — Neuf
10 — Dix

First of all, let’s start with the basics. Counting from 1 to 10 in French is quite easy. The numbers are all independent. You just need to memorize them.

French Numbers 11 to 19

11 — onze
12 — douze
13 — treize
14 — quatorze
15 — quinze
16 — seize
17 — dix-sept
18 — dix-huit
19 — dix-neuf

When you are counting from 10 to 19 in French, you can now see two types of numbers: independent and composed numbers.

As you might have noticed, from 17 to 19 (dix-sept, dix-huit, dix-neuf) we have the first glance of composed numbers.

When to use the Hyphens in French Numbers

Are you wondering if there’s an easy way to memorize the use of hyphens in numbers?

Well, it really depends on how obsessed you are with spelling French numbers out.

If you are not obsessed, the simple rule is to add hyphens between words in composed numbers. (This rule was mentioned in “Reforms of French Orthography“.)

French Numbers 20 to 69

Counting 20-69 is easy.

The rules:

- Firstly: 20/30/40/50/60 are independent numbers.
- Secondly: 21/31/41/51/61 share the same rule: “vingt/trente/quarante/cinquante/soixante” plus “et un”
- Everything else: “vingt/trente/quarante/cinquante/soixante” plus “-un/deux/trois/…/neuf”

20 vingt	30 trente	40 quarante	50 cinquante	60 soixante
21 vingt et un	31 trente et un	41 quarante et un	51 cinquante et un	61 soixante et un
22 vingt-deux	32 trente-deux	42 quarante-deux	52 cinquante-deux	62 soixante-deux
23 vingt-trois	33 trente-trois	43 quarante-trois	53 cinquante-trois	63 soixante-trois
24 vingt-quatre	34 trente-quatre	44 quarante-quatre	54 cinquante-quatre	64 soixante-quatre
25 vingt-cinq	35 trente-cinq	45 quarante-cinq	55 cinquante-cinq	65 soixante-cinq
26 vingt-six	36 trente-six	46 quarante-six	56 cinquante-six	66 soixante-six
27 vingt-sept	37 trente-sept	47 quarante-sept	57 cinquante-sept	67 soixante-sept
28 vingt-huit	38 trente-huit	48 quarante-huit	58 cinquante-huit	68 soixante-huit
29 vingt-neuf	39 trente-neuf	49 quarante-neuf	59 cinquante-neuf	69 soixante-neuf

Let’s review what we have learned in this video⬇

How about 70?

Well, once you reach 70, the pattern changes. Let’s take a closer look in the next section.

French Numbers 70 to 79

Super easy addition based on “soixante (60)” is involved.

Number — French — English

70 — Soixante-dix (sixty-ten)
71 — Soixante-et-onze (sixty-and-eleven)
72 — Soixante-douze (sixty-twelve)
73 — Soixante-treize (sixty-thirteen)
74 — Soixante-quatorze (sixty-fourteen)
75 — Soixante-quinze (sixty-fifteen)
76 — Soixante-seize (sixty-sixteen)
77 — Soixante-dix-sept (sixty-ten-seven)
78 — Soixante-dix-huit (sixty-ten-eight）
79 — Soixante-dix-neuf (sixty-ten-nine)

French Numbers 80 to 100

Now, similar to counting from 61-79, counting from 81 to 99 in French is done by adding 1-19 to 80.

Number — French — English (literal)

80 — Quatre-vingts (four-twenties)
81 — Quatre-vingt-un (four-twenty-one) (no “et”)
82 — Quatre-vingt-deux (four-twenty-two)
83 — Quatre-vingt-trois (four-twenty-three)
84 — Quatre-vingt-quatre (four-twenty-four)
85 — Quatre-vingt-cinq (four-twenty-five)
86 — Quatre-vingt-six (four-twenty-six)
87 — Quatre-vingt-sept (four-twenty-seven)
88 — Quatre-vingt-huit (four-twenty-eight)
89 — Quatre-vingt-neuf (four-twenty-nine)
90 — Quatre-vingt-dix (four-twenty-ten)
91 — Quatre-vingt-onze (four-twenty-eleven)
92 — Quatre-vingt-douze (four-twenty-twelve)
93 — Quatre-vingt-treize (four-twenty-thirteen)
94 — Quatre-vingt-quatorze (four-twenty-fourteen)
95 — Quatre-vingt-quinze (four-twenty-fifteen)
96 — Quatre-vingt-seize (four-twenty-sixteen)
97 — Quatre-vingt-dix-sept (four-twenty-ten-seven)
98 — Quatre-vingt-dix-huit (four-twenty-ten-eight)
99 — Quatre-vingt-dix-neuf (four-twenty-ten-nine)
100 — Cent (one hundred)

Notice that “quatre-vingt-un” does not add an extra “et” before “un”? Yep, it’s an exception.

Regarding the “s” at the end of “quatre-vingts”, it only applies when “quatre-vingts” is not followed by any other numeral: quatre-vingts for 80, quatre-vingt-trois for 83.

Now you have mastered top 100 French numbers. Let’s review it through the video: French Lesson 1-100

If you want to do more exercises with numbers-related expressions, or even other French expressions that will come in handy, check out the LingoDeer app (Android/iOS) for the free Travel Phrasebook course!

Fun Facts About Numbers in French

In French-speaking Belgium and Switzerland, people don’t say “soixante-dix, quatre-vingts, quatre-vingt-dix”.

They will instead follow the usual pattern as from 20 to 60 and use :

Septante for 70 instead of Soixante-dix.
Octante or Huitante for 80 instead of Quatre-vingts (only in Switzerland).
Nonante for 90 instead of Quatre-vingt-dix.

This would be more logical if you take a step back and look at how 40, 50 and 60 are written. But French will always be French and if there are no complications in the language… it’s not real French!

French Numbers: What happens After 100?

Afterwards, let’s move on to the hundreds. It’s very similar to the English way of counting hundreds. Take a look at this table:

Hundreds (centaines)

100 — Cent
200 — Deux-cents
300 — Trois-cents
400 — Quatre-cents
500 — Cinq-cents
600 — Six-cents
700 — Sept-cents
800 — Huit-cents
900 — Neuf-cents
1000 — Mille

If you would like to read composed numbers out loud, let me show you how to do it:

Let’s take 152 as an example: cent-cinquante-deux. There are no particular tricks here, just assembling the numbers together. Hundreds + tens and units.

Now let’s do the same thing with 368: trois-cent-soixante-huit. Have you noticed something? Yes. The “s” of “trois-cents” has disappeared. This rule is the same as the “s” of “quatre-vingts“: if it’s above 100 and not followed by any other numeral, the “s” stays (deux-cents, trois-cents…).

Before you go ahead and read the next paragraph, try to train yourself and figure out how to spell these numbers now:

145 – 324 – 294 – 569 – 812 – 900

Answer:

Cent-quarante-cinq / Trois-cent-vingt-quatre / Deux-cent-quatre-vingt-quatorze / Cinq-cent-soixante-neuf / Huit-cent-douze / Neuf-cents.

French Numbers: Above Thousands

Thousands in French. Surprisingly, reading thousands in French is not the hardest part of the numbers chapter!

Thousands (millers)—French

1000 — Mille
2000 — Deux-mille
3000 — Trois-mille
4000 — Quatre-mille
5000 — Cinq-mille
6000 — Six-mille
7000 — Sept-mille
8000 — Huit-mille
9000 — Neuf-mille
10,000 — Dix-mille
100,000 — Cent-mille
500,000 — Cinq-cent-mille

In the case of thousands, “mille” stays the same, regardless if it’s followed by another numeral or none.

Above thousands come millions and billions:

million (EN) = million (FR)

billion (EN) = milliard (FR)

Reading Years in French

Reading years in French is simple, it only requires a little bit of training with numbers. The trick is to decompose the year into thousands + hundreds + tens and units:

1952 = mille-neuf-cent-cinquante-deux (1000 / 900 / 52)
1879 = mille-huit-cent-soixante-dix-neuf (1000 / 800 / 79)

Now, your turn! Train yourself how to read these numbers (or years) out loud:

2014 – 1789 – 1515 – 1981 – 1993 – 2003

Answers:

Deux-mille-quatorze / Mille-sept-cent-quatre-vingt-neuf / Mille-cinq-cent-quinze / Mille-neuf-cent-quatre-vingt-un / Mille-neuf-cent-quatre-vingt-treize / Deux-mille-trois.

Mathematics in French

Add, Subtract, Multiply and Divide in French

Reading mathematics is something that you might also have to master if you really want to know how to count in French. Here’s how you do it:

Addition:
- plus — Add — Un plus deux
Soustraction:
- moins — Sustract — Deux moins un
Multiplication:
- fois|multiplié par — Multiply — Trois fois cinq; Trois multiplié par cinq
Division:
- divisé par — Divide — Dix divisé par deux
Equal:
- Est égal à — Equals — Un plus deux est égal à trois

Fractions in French

How do you read fractions in French? This first table will show you how to read some fixed expressions:

Usual Fractions—FR

1/2 — Un demi
1/3 — Un tiers
1/4 — Un quart
1/5 — Un cinquième
1/10 — Un dixème
1/20 — Un vingtième

Regarding other types of fractions, you will have to use this pattern:

(number) sur (number)

Let me show you an example: 5/20 = cinq sur vingt. Easy, right?

And what if you would like to read a number such as x.y? (0.5 , 2.9 … )

👉Regarding decimal separators (the period between numbers) in French, we don’t use the period. In fact, we will use a comma (“,“) to separate decimals: 0,5 or 2,9 … If you would like to pronounce them out loud, just add “virgule” (comma) in between.

0,5 = zéro virgule cinq / 2,9 = deux virgule neuf.

Percentages in French

To read percentages in French, it’s even easier. You only will need to add “pourcent(s)” (or “pour cent”) at the end of your number.

15% = quinze pourcents / pour cent.

Note that “pourcent” will change and agree with the number (if there is more than 1%, then “pourcent” will be written with an “s”). “Pour cent”, on the other side, will always be invariable. In other words, “pourcent” is “per-hundred”, a noun, and “pour cent” is the noun phrase “per one hundred”.

How to Read Phone Numbers in French

Finally, let’s take a look at our last part of how to count in French… phone numbers! This may not be exactly counting, as I would say, but it’s part of daily life.

Note that most French telephone numbers are written this way :

0x xx xx xx xx (Example: 04 . 98 . 10 . 20 . 32)

So we read them by pairs (zéro quatre , quatre-vingt-dix-huit, dix, vingt, trente-deux).

However, you may stumble upon different numbers using different formats (such as 3 by 3 instead of pairs), you may read them using “hundreds” :

851 – 121 (huit-cent-cinquante-et-un / cent-vingt-et-un)