French Roman Numerals - Chiffres romains

Using Roman numerals in French

Roman numerals are used quite often in French, as both cardinal numbers and ordinal numbers.* They are commonly used to express all of the following:

Years	(especially in official documents and on monuments)
établi MMIV	established 2004
© MMI	© 2001

Time periods
XIVe siècle	14th century
trimestre II	second quarter**
IIIe millénaire	third millenium

Proper names
Pope John Paul II	Pope John Paul II
Louis XIV	Louis the 14th

Governments
la Ve République	the 5th Republic
la XXe dynastie	the 20th dynasty

Events and assemblies
les jeux de la XXIXe Olympiade	Games of the 29th Olympiad
IIIe Sommet de l'APF	Third summit of the APF

Arrondissements
le IIe arrondissement	2nd district
le XVIIIe arrondissement	18th district

Books:	title page dates; introductory page numbers; illustration numbers; section, installment, volume, appendix numbers
introduction p. vi	introduction, page 6
volume I	volume 1
appendice II	appendix 2
titre xi	title 11

Music and poetry:	verse and stanza numbers
couplet II	verse 2
strophe V	stanza 5

Divisions of plays
Acte I	Act 1
Scène II	Scene 2
I'm not saying you can't ever use Roman numerals like this in English, but they are far less common than in French, especially for ordinal numbers. Terms like Xe siècle* will virtually always be translated as "10th century." **Trimestre is a false cognate.

Advanced French Vocabulary Lessons

Laura K. Lawless
French Language Guide