French numbers

UN, DEUX, TROIS...

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French numbers can be a bit tricky. Just when you think you've got the pattern figured out, the rules suddenly change and you're left thinking, "wait, what?"

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So let's start off gently. Even if you've only been studying French half-heartedly until now, you've probably stumbled across a few of the numbers from zero to ten, so these fellas shouldn't come as too much of a shock.

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Les nombres de 1 à 100 en français

We have already seen the numbers from 1 to 10 in French.

 

1 – un

2 – deux

3 – trois

4 – quatre

5 – cinq

6 – six

7 – sept

8 – huit

9 – neuf

10 – dix

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Now we will take it to the next level…

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Numbers from 10 to 20 in French

The numbers from 10-20 are a little irregular so unfortunately, you will just have to learn them by heart.

 

10 – dix

11 – onze

12 – douze

13 – treize

14 – quatorze

15 – quinze

16 – seize

17 – dix-sept

18 – dix-huit

19 – dix-neuf

20 – vingt

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Numbers from 20 to 69 in French

To write the numbers from 20 to 69 in French, you just add the single number (units) to the tens number.

A hyphen is used to join the two numbers together.

vingt (20) + deux (2) = vingt-deux (22)

trente (30) + sept (7) = trente-sept (37)

quarante (40) + neuf (9) = quarante-neuf (49)

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vingt et un OR vingt-et-un?

You may see the numbers ending in 1 after the number 20 (21, 31, 41, etc.) with two different spellings.
In 1990 a new spelling rule came into the place where all numbers made up of two or more words, including large numbers, now need to be joined with hyphens (dashes).

21 = vingt et un (orthographe traditionnelle – traditional spelling)
21 = vingt-et-un (orthographe rectifiée de 1990 – rectified spelling as of 1990)

 

Numbers from 70 to 100 in French

The numbers after 69 follow a different rule that what you may be used to.

The number 70 in French is soixante-dix. You will notice that it is a combination of soixante (60) + dix (10)
The rest of the numbers in the 70s follow the same pattern of 60 + a number from 10-19.

70 – soixante-dix

71 – soixante-onze

72 – soixante-douze

73 – soixante-treize

74 – soixante-quatorze

75 – soixante-quinze

76 – soixante-seize

77 – soixante-dix-sept

78 – soixante-dix-huit

79 – soixante-dix-neuf (which is literally 60 + 19)

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With the numbers in the 80s, quatre-vingt is used which is like saying 4 twenties (in old English Four score was used instead of eighty thanks to this French influence)

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80 – quatre-vingts (notice vingts ends in an S)

81 – quatre-vingt-un (notice vingt does not end in an S)

82 – quatre-vingt-deux

83 – quatre-vingt-trois

84 – quatre-vingt-quatre

85 – quatre-vingt-cinq

86 – quatre-vingt-six

87 – quatre-vingt-sept

88 – quatre-vingt-huit

89 – quatre-vingt-neuf

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The number 90 in French is quatre-vingt-dix. You will notice that it is a combination of quatre-vingt (80) + dix (10)
The rest of the numbers in the 90s follow the same pattern of 80 + a number from 10-19.

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90 – quatre-vingt-dix

91 – quatre-vingt-onze

92 – quatre-vingt-douze

93 – quatre-vingt-treize

94 – quatre-vingt-quatorze

95 – quatre-vingt-quinze

96 – quatre-vingt-seize

97 – quatre-vingt-dix-sept

98 – quatre-vingt-dix-huit

99 – quatre-vingt-dix-neuf (which is literally 4 x 20 + 19)

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Isn’t that easy! 

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Another way of saying 70, 80 and 90 in French

In the French-speaking parts of Belgium and Switzerland they have their own separate words for 70, 80 and 90. They are:

70 – septante

80 – huitante

90 – nonante

 

So in these areas, 73 is septante-trois, 85 is huitante-cinq and 96 is nonante-six etc.

 

Throughout this course we will use the standard French numbers.

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