Who said that numbers in French are way too complicated? As long as you remember the basic number, know how to do the counting, and understand how the patterns work, you will get it eventually. Here we provide the tips on how to master the numbers in French!
First of all, you have to know the basic in order to do the rest of the counting:
| 0 | zéro |
| 1 | un |
| 2 | deux |
| 3 | trois |
| 4 | quatre |
| 5 | cinq |
| 6 | six |
| 7 | sept |
| 8 | huit |
| 9 | neuf |
| 10 | dix |
| 11 | onze |
| 12 | douze |
| 13 | treize |
| 14 | quatorze |
| 15 | quinze |
| 16 | seize |
17, 18, and 19 are as easy as 10+7, 10+8, and 10+9.
| 17 | dix-sept | 10+7 |
| 18 | dix-huit | 10+8 |
| 19 | dix-neuf | 10+9 |
Now, let’s take a look of twenty, thirty, up to sixty.
| 20 | vingt |
| 30 | trente |
| 40 | quarante |
| 50 | cinquante |
| 60 | soixante |
For number from 21 to 61 (with 1 at the back), add ‘et’ before the ‘un’. et is literally translated as ‘and’. French uses ‘une’ instead of ‘un’ for feminine nouns.
| 21 | vingt et un |
| 31 | trente et un |
| 61 | soixante et un |
This rule is applied for number from 22 to 69 (except for the numbers with 1 as the unit):
Tens + Hyphen (-) + units
| 22 | vingt-deux |
| 23 | vingt-trois |
| 36 | trente-six |
| 44 | quarante-quatre |
| 58 | cinquante-huit |
| 69 | soixante-neuf |
Unlike Belgian or Swiss, French do not use ‘septante’ to count seventy. They continue the counting from 69 (soixante-neuf). Thus, 70 means 60+10 (soixante-dix), 71 means 60+ et +11 (soixante et onze), etc. Note that the same rules of ‘et’ and ‘une’ are applied on 71 as well.
| 70 | soixante-dix | 60+10 |
| 71 | soixante et onze | 60+11 |
| 72 | soixante-douze | 60+12 |
| 73 | soixante-treize | 60+13 |
| 74 | soixante-quatorze | 60+14 |
| 75 | soixante-quinze | 60+15 |
| 79 | soixante-dix-neuf | 60+19 |
We use four-twenties (quatre-vingts) to express 80, which makes sense because 4×20 equals to 80. To continue, 81 means 4×20+1 (quatre-vingt-un), and the pattern is unchanged until 99 (4×20+19, quatre-vingt-dix-neuf). Note that there is no additional ‘-s’ on vingt from 81 to 99. Besides, we do not have to add ‘et’ for 81 and 91.
| 80 | quatre-vingts | 4×20 |
| 81 | quatre-vingt-un | 4×20+1 |
| 82 | quatre-vingt-deux | 4×20+2 |
| 88 | quatre-vingt-huit | 4×20+8 |
| 90 | quatre-vingt-dix | 4×20+10 |
| 91 | quatre-vingt-onze | 4×20+11 |
| 97 | quatre-vingt-dix-sept | 4×20+17 |
| 99 | quatre-vingt-dix-neuf | 4×20+19 |
So far, so good! ‘cent’ is used to count 100. Hundreds go with deux cents (200), trois cents (300), quatre cents (400), and so on. Note that there is an additional ‘-s’ behind the ‘cent’.
| 100 | cent | 100 |
| 200 | deux cents | 2×100 |
| 300 | trois cents | 3×100 |
| 400 | quatre cents | 4×100 |
| 500 | cinq cents | 5×100 |
| 600 | six cents | 6×100 |
| 700 | sept cents | 7×100 |
| 800 | huit cents | 8×100 |
| 900 | neuf cents | 9×100 |
Starting from 101 to 999, all you have to do is to put the hundreds – cent (100), deux cent (200), trois cent (300) and so on – before the last two digits of 1-99. For this time, omit the ‘-s’ behind cent.
| 101 | cent un | 100+1 |
| 102 | cent deux | 100+2 |
| 111 | cent onze | 100+11 |
| 173 | cent soixante-treize | 100+73 |
| 207 | deux cent sept | 2×100+7 |
| 218 | deux cent dix-huit | 2×100+18 |
| 503 | cinq cent trois | 5×100+3 |
| 777 | sept cent soixante-dix-sept | 7×100+60+17 |
| 999 | neuf cent quatre-vingt-dix-neuf | 9×100+4×20+19 |
For 1000 and above, use these following at the beginning. The rest of the digits are followed by using the pattern we learned above.
| 1000 | mille | 1000 |
| 2000 | deux mille | 2×1000 |
| 3000 | trois mille | 3×1000 |
| 6363 | six mille trois cent soixante trois | 6×1000+3×100+60+3 |
| 10 000 | dix mille | 10×1000 |
| 20 000 | vinght mille | 20×1000 |
| 30 000 | trente mille | 30×1000 |
| 40 000 | quarante mille | 40×1000 |
| 50 000 | cinquante mille | 50×1000 |
| 60 000 | soixante mille | 60×1000 |
| 70 000 | soixante-dix mille | (60+10) ×1000 |
| 80 000 | quatre-vingts mille | 4×20×1000 |
| 90 000 | quatre-vingt-dix mille | (4×20+10)×1000 |
| 100 000 | cent mille | 100×1000 |
| 200 000 | deux cents mille | 2×100×1000 |
| 300 000 | trois cents mille | 3×100×1000 |
| 1 000 000 | un million | 1 000 000 |
| 2 000 000 | deux millions | 2×1 000 000 |
| 3 000 000 | trois millions | 3×1 000 000 |
| 1 000 000 000 (109) | un milliard | 109 |
| 2 000 000 000 (2×109) | deux milliards | 2×109 |
| 1 000 000 000 000 (1012) | un billion | 1012 |
| 1015 | un billiard | 1015 |
| 1018 | un trillion | 1018 |
| 10100 | un gogol | 10100 |
Note that there are no additional ‘-s’ for mille.
For the pronunciations, check it out on LingoCards!