French Numbers - Les Nombres

Learn how to count in French (French cardinal numbers)

Lesson | Numbers quiz (listening) | Numbers quiz (written)

Learn how to count in French - click on a link to hear that number pronounced in French.

0	zéro		20	vingt	80	quatre-vingts
1	un		21	vingt et un	81	quatre-vingt-un
2	deux		22	vingt-deux	82	quatre-vingt-deux
3	trois		23	vingt-trois
4	quatre				90	quatre-vingt-dix
5	cinq		30	trente	91	quatre-vingt-onze
6	six		31	trente et un
7	sept		32	trente-deux	100	cent
8	huit
9	neuf		40	quarante	200	deux cents
10	dix		41	quarante et un	201	deux cent un
11	onze
12	douze		50	cinquante	1,000	mille
13	treize
14	quatorze		60	soixante	2,000	deux mille
15	quinze
16	seize		70	soixante-dix	1,000,000	un million
17	dix-sept		71	soixante et onze
18	dix-huit		72	soixante-douze	2,000,000	deux millions
19	dix-neuf		73	soixante-treize
			74	soixante-quatorze	a billion	un milliard

 
Notes:

The French numbers 0 through 19 are easy enough, right?

For 20 through 69, counting is almost just like in English: the tens word (vingt, trente, quarante, etc.) followed by the ones word (un, deux, trois). The only difference is that for 21, 31, etc., the word et is introduced between the tens word and one: vingt-et-un, trente-et-un, quarante-et-un, etc.

70 to 79 is trickier. In French, 70 is soixante-dix, literally "sixty-ten." 71 is soixante et onze (sixty and eleven), 72 is soixante-douze (sixty-twelve), and so on, up to 79.

80 is quatre-vingts, literally four-twenties (think "four-score"). 81 is quatre-vingt-un (four-twenty-one), 82 is quatre-vingt-deux (four-twenty-two), and so on, all the way up to ninety. 90 is quatre-vingt-dix (four-twenty-ten), 91 is quatre-vingt-onze (four-twenty-eleven), etc.

100 to 999 work just like in English, except that when you have cent at the end of the number, it takes an s, but when cent is followed by another number, the s is dropped. Also, note that you cannot pause after the word cent.

• 200 = deux cents
• 500 = cinq cents
• 350 = trois cent cinquante
• 872 = huit cent soixante-douze

1,000+ are similar to English, except that the separator is a period or space, rather than a comma (learn more). When reciting a number, you can pause to take a breath at the separator (after mille, million, or milliard). Note that mille never takes an s.

• 5.000 or 5 000 = cinq mille
• 2.500 or 2 500 = deux mille cinq cents
• 10.498 or 10 498 = dix mille quatre cent quatre-vingt-dix-huit
• 2.700.102 or 2 700 102 = deux millions sept cent mille cent deux
  

Pronunciation note:

The numbers cinq, six, huit, and dix drop the final sound when followed by a word beginning with a consonant (such as cent, mille, million, milliard, or francs). For example, 8 is normally pronounced [weet], but 800 is pronounced [wee sa(n)].

Practice! French numbers a) Listen to numbers b) Numbers quiz (listening) c) Numbers quiz (written) d) Conversation with numbers   More French numbers Number lesson for kids French counting gesture Ordinal numbers Numerical adjectives Approximate numbers Roman numerals

  

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