French Numbers Can Be a Headache
Bonjour! If you are learning French, you might have started complaining about French numbers.
In this article, if you wish to be the master of numbers in French. A quick overview of the content:
- French numbers: 1-100
- French numbers: the hundreds and the thousands
- French numbers: above the thousands
- Maths in French
- Years, Fractions, Phone Numbers in French
- Fun facts about French numbers
My name is Eden, and I’ve been teaching French for 5 years. Let me show you and guide you through the world of French numbers. Looking for tips on learning languages in general? Don’t forget to check out our guide to language learning.
Vous êtes prêts ? Trois, deux, un… C’est parti! Let’s begin counting in French!
French Numbers 1-10
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.
Numbers Song In French, Let’s hear how to read 1-10 in French!
French Numbers 10-20
11 – onze
12 – douze
13 – treize
14 – quatorze
15 – quinze
16 – seize
17 – dix-sept (literally: ten-seven)
18 – dix-huit (literally ten-eight)
19 – dix-neuf (literally ten-nine)
20 – vingt
When you are counting from 10 to 20 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 a first glance of composed numbers : ten-seven, ten-eight and ten-nine.
Vingt is an independent number.
French numbers 20-70
Counting 20-70 is easy. Have a look at the first two rows and the first column in the image below.
The rules:
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- 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 thing else: “vingt/trente/quarante/cinquante/soixante” plus “-un/deux/trois/…/neuf”
How about 70?
Well, once you reach 70, the pattern changes. Let’s take a closer look in the next section.
French numbers 70-80
Super easy addition based on “soixante (60)” is involved.
| Numbers | FR | EN (literal) |
| 70 | Soixante-dix | sixty-ten |
| 71 | Soixante-et-onze | Sixty-and-eleven |
| 72 | Soixante-douze | Sixty-twelve |
| 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 |
| 80 | Quatre-vingts | Four-twenties |
French numbers 81-100
Now, similar to counting from 61-79, counting from 81 to 99 in French is done by adding 1-19 to 80.
| Numbers | FR | EN (lit.) |
| 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
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 instead of Soixante-dix.
Octante or Huitante instead of Quatre-vingts (only in Switzerland).
Nonante 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) | FR |
| 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: The Thousands
Thousands in French. Surprisingly, reading thousands in French is not the hardest part of the numbers chapter !
| Thousands (milliers) | FR |
| 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.
French numbers: the Hyphens –
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“.)
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.
French Numbers: Above Thousands
Above thousands come millions and billions:
One million (EN)= un million (FR)
Billion (EN) = un milliard (FR)
For composed numbers… you know the drill.
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 :
| FR | EN | Example |
| Addition __ plus ___ |
Add | Un plus deux |
| Soustraction __ moins __ |
Subtract | Deux moins un |
| Multiplication __ fois __ __ multiplié par __ |
Multiply | Trois fois cinq Trois multiplié par cinq |
| Division __ divisé par __ |
Divide | Dix divisé par deux |
| 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 dixième |
| 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 – 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 the 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)
Conclusion
There you go! You now know pretty much everything about reading numbers in French and you may now start counting in French.
The key here is to train yourself to read numbers out loud, a little bit exercise with LingoDeer goes a long way.
Remember, with hard work and practice, it will be easier for you to master reading and pronouncing French numbers. Au revoir et à bientôt!