french

One of the most basic things to learn in any language is the numbers. Lets go from 1 to 100 in French looking at some of the subtleties and gotchas along the way.

Lets begin

Numbers 1-10 in French

1: un
2: deux
3: trois
4: quatre
5: cinq
6: six
7: sept
8: huit
9: neuf
10: dix

Numbers 10-20 in French

When counting in French between ten and 20, the French have a version of the English suffix “-teen.”

In English, this form will start at thirteen and go through nineteen, but it’ll just be seventeen to nineteen in French.

“Teen” is represented by the word dix, so seventeen is dix-sept, which is actually ten-seven. Not sept-dix which is what you may think it should be coming from English. Watch out for this

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

Numbers 20-29 in French

If you want to say 25, you’ll say the French word for twenty, vingt, and then the French word for 5, cinq, to get vingt-cinq.

When you have numbers with the number one in the last digit, like thirty-one, you say “and one,” instead of merely “one.”

For example, thirty-one would be trente et un, not trente-un.

20: vingt
21: vingt et un
22: vingt-deux
23: vingt-trois
24: vingt-quatre
25: vingt-cinq
26: vingt-six
27: vingt-sept
28: vingt-huit
29: vingt-neuf

Numbers 30-60 in French

The rules for numbers between 20-69 are all the same, so for these numbers, you can check back to the previous list explaining 20-29 to see how each number works.

30: trente
40: quarante
50: cinquante
60: soixante

Numbers 70-79 in French

In French, instead of having a different number for 70 like there is for 20, 30, 40, 50, and 60, you need to use “sixty-ten” instead.

70: soixante-dix
71: soixante et 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

Numbers 80-100 in French

In French, they say quatre-vingts or four-twenty for 80.

When you get to ninety, you then have to say four-twenty-ten or quatre-vingt-dix.

80: quatre-vingts
81: quatre-vingt-un (I know 21 is usually vingt-et-un, but here it’s just vingt-un)
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
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

100: cent