French uses the same numbers as English, but the spellings and pronunciations are quite different. There are no simple memory tricks for remembering French numbers, so they just have to be memorized.
Zero through 19
| French | Pronunciation | Number |
| zéro | zay-ro | 0 |
| un(e) | uhn/oon | 1 |
| deux | duh | 2 |
| trois | twah | 3 |
| quatre | kah-tr | 4 |
| cinq | sank | 5 |
| six | sees | 6 |
| sept | set | 7 |
| huit | wheet | 8 |
| neuf | nuf | 9 |
| dix | dees | 10 |
| onze | ohnz | 11 |
| douze | dooze | 12 |
| treize | trayze | 13 |
| quatorze | ka-torze | 14 |
| quinze | kaynz | 15 |
| seize | sayze | 16 |
| dix-sept | dees-set | 17 |
| dix-huit | deez-wheat | 18 |
| dix-neuf | dees-nuf | 19 |
20 through 69
The French 20 through 69 follow a pattern that is very similar to the English pattern. First, there are the multiples of tens—just like twenty, thirty, forty, and so on—and then the numbers one through nine are added. Two through nine are added with a hyphen, and one is added with et un, without a hyphen. To illustrate, here’s 20 through 29:
| vingt | vehn | 20 |
| vingt et un | vehn-tay-uhn | 21 |
| vingt-deux | vehn-doo | 22 |
| vingt-trois | vehn-twah | 23 |
| vingt-quatre | vehn-kah-tr | 24 |
| vingt-cinq | vehn-sank | 25 |
| vingt-six | vehn-sees | 26 |
| vingt-sept | vehn-set | 27 |
| vingt-huit | vehn-wheat | 28 |
| vingt-neuf | vehn-noof | 29 |
30 through 69 follow the same pattern. Here are the multiples of ten:
| trente | trahnt | 30 |
| quarante | karant | 40 |
| cinquante | sank-ahnt | 50 |
| soixante | swahz-ahnt | 60 |
70 through 99
With 70 through 99, things get a little tricky. Rather than using direct French equivalents of seventy, eighty, and ninety, we use the equivalent of sixty-ten for seventy, four-twenty for eighty, and four-twenty-ten for ninety. Here’s how it works:
| soixante-dix | swahz-ahnt-dees | 70 |
| soixante et onze | swahz-ahnt-ay-ohnze | 71 |
| soixante-dooz | swahz-ahnt-dooz | 72 |
| soixante-treize | swahz-ahnt-trayze | 73 |
The pattern continues through seventy-nine. Here’s how the eighties and nineties work:
| quatre-vingt | katr-vehn | 80 |
| quatre-vingt-un | katr-vehn-un | 81 |
| quatre-vingt-deux | katr-vehn-doo | 82 |
| quatre-vingt-dix | katr-vehn-dees | 90 |
| quatre-vingt-onze | katr-vehn-ohnz | 91 |
| quatre-vingt-douze | katr-vehn-dooz | 92 |
100 through 999
If you’ve memorized everything above, the hundreds are easy. The word for hundred is cent, and all you do is follow cent with a space and the number:
| cent | sahn | 100 |
| cent un | sahn-un | 101 |
| cent deux | sahn-doo | 102 |
This continues to 199. For 200 and above, add the number before cent. With multiples of 100, cent becomes the plural cents. For all other numbers, cent stays singular—for example:
| deux cents | doo-sahn | 200 |
| deux cent deux | doo-sahn-doo | 202 |
| quatre cents | kah-tr-sahn | 400 |
| neuf cents | nuf-sahn | 900 |
| neuf cents cinquante-cinq | nuf-sahn sank-ahnt-sank | 955 |
1,000 and above
For 1,000 and above, use these examples as a guide:
| mille | meel | 1,000 |
| deux mille dix | doo mee-yh dees | 2,010 |
| deux mille neuf cents cinquante-cinq | doo mee-yh nuf-sahn sank-ahnt-sank | 2,955 |
| trente mille | trahnt meel | 30,000 |
| un million | uhn mee-yohn | 1,000,000 |
| deux million cent mille | doo mee-yohn sahn meel | 2,100,000 |
Comments are closed.