Learn French Numbers – French Numbers Can Confuse!
You would think that French numbers are pretty much the same as English, wouldn’t you? 1,2,3,4,5… how can they be different? Well of course French numerals when written like that are exactly the same. However, when you write them out in full, for example one, two, three, etc., there are a few differences between the French and the English and a few little traps for the unwary. This article will teach you how to avoid them.
Everything is OK from one to ten: the French numbers are un, deux, trois, quatre, cinq, six, sept, huit, neuf, dix. Of course “un” (one) can also be “une” because in French things have gender. “Un” if it’s masculine, for example “un table” (easy one that, a table), “un chat” (a cat) but “une” if it’s feminine, “une chaise” (a chair) and “une girafe” (a giraffe).
There are no problems from eleven to twenty either: onze, douze, treize, quatorze, quinze, seize, dix sept, dix huit, dix neuf, vingt.
French numbers have just a small change when you get to twenty one: “vingt et un”. Literally translated they say “twenty and one”. We’re OK for the rest of the numbers though, the French revert to the same style as English for twenty two “vingt deux” and the remainder of the numbers until thirty which is “trente”. Thirty one is like twenty one “trente et un” – you see, it’s that “thirty and one” thing again.
Forty (quarante), fifty (cinquante) and sixty (soixante) give us no problems either, as long as we remember the “and one” thing: “quarante et un” is forty one but for forty four we just use “quarante quatre”. “Soixante sept” is sixty seven but we use “soixante et un” for sixty one.
When we get to seventy, however, is when the French really throw a spanner in the works. There is no French number seventy! I’m not kidding. No seventy at all. So what do they do?
What they do is say “sixty ten”. Now don’t ask me why but that’s the way they do it. Seventy is “soixante dix”, sixty ten. Note it’s not sixty and ten, it’s sixty ten. Then sixty eleven, “soixante onze”, sixty twelve “soixante douze” and so on.
So what do you suppose eighty is? If you’ve guessed sixty twenty you’re way off! In fact it’s four twenty, no not forty twenty, four twenty: “quatre vingt”, like four multiplied by twenty I suppose. Again, don’t ask me why. Someone once said that you don’t have to like the rules, just understand them and if you want to learn French numbers the principal is the same. Don’t worry about why, just learn them.
Then just when you thought you’d got the hang of the “and one” bit, the French change it. Eighty one is “quatre vingt un” and so on for the rest of the eighties: “quatre vingt deux” eighty two, and so on.
I bet you’re really looking forward to ninety, aren’t you!
Ninety is four twenty eleven: “quatre vingt onze” and afterwards we have four twenty twelve “quatre vingt douze” and so on, the same pattern as with the seventies, all the way up to a hundred “cent”. Yes, that’s where the word Cent comes from.
After that, it’s mostly repetition. Two hundred is “deux cents” (note the ’s’ on the end of cent because there’s more than one of them), three hundred is “trois cents” and so on. We don’t do the “and one” thing for two hundred and one, we do “deux cents un”. Same for the other hundreds.
A thousand is “un mille”, a million is “un million” and a billion is “un milliard”. So for example 243,586 is “deux cents quarante trois mille cinq cents quatre vingt six” that’s two hundred forty three thousand five hundred four twenty six. Simple really isn’t it!
In fact when you break it down and go over it a few times it’s not that difficult to learn French numbers. It’s a bit different, yes, and it takes a bit of practice, but that’s all it is. Write down a few random numbers and practice. Whenever you see a number – we do it with license plates – just try to translate it into French. You’ll soon get the hang of it and by the end of the year (2008 or “deux mille huit” – note not two thousand ‘and’ eight) you’ll be completely fluent!
About the Author
Get free independent information on how to learn French numbers and six professional language lessons absolutely free at How2LearnFrench.com.
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