In French, as in English, cardinal numbers are the numbers we use for counting such as un meaning one, dix meaning ten, or cent meaning one hundred, while ordinal numbers are to order or rank people or things, for example, premier meaning first or quarantième meaning fortieth.
The numerals used to write numbers look exactly the same in French and in English, so you might think you wouldn’t have any problem with French numbers, right? But can you read them out loud and write them in letters? Would you be able to give your phone number the French way? Do you know why, in French, 70 is “sixty-ten,” 80 is “four-twenties,” and 90 is “four-twenty-ten”? Find the answers to these questions and many more in this post!
What is the difference between cardinal and ordinal numbers in French?
Cardinal numbers express an exact quantity such as un meaning one, treize meaning thirteen, or cent-cinquante-deux meaning one hundred and fifty-two. They are the numbers we use the most in our daily lives for counting, telling the time, reading prices, giving a house number, dialing a phone number, measuring weights, j’en passe et des meilleurs meaning and so on and so forth. On the other hand, ordinal numbers are for ordering, giving the position of one thing in a list relative to another: premier meaning first, sixième meaning sixth, and they are often used preceded by a definite article: le deuxième meaning the second one.
Let's start focusing on the formation and uses of the cardinal numbers.
What are the cardinal numbers in French?
In this section, I’m going to give you some tips about using cardinal numbers in French. We’ll cover how to form cardinal numbers, including how to pronounce them and spell them, and then we’ll cover how to use cardinal numbers in French.
How to form cardinal numbers in French?
To form cardinal numbers in French, you’ll have to learn the words for some basic numbers, and then you’ll create other numbers out of those words by combining them according to certain rules. Let’s start with numbers under 100.
How to say the French numbers 0 to 99?
Let’s begin with the basic numbers in French, those from 0 to 16. Keep an eye out for the tricky /pronunciations/ and the special pronunciation rules for 5, 6, 8, and 10!
0 zéro
1 un
2 deux transcribed /deuh/
3 trois transcribed trwa
4 quatre
5 cinq transcribed /su(n)k/
6 six transcribed sees
7 sept transcribed seht
8 huit transcribed weet
9 neuf
10 dix transcribed dees
11 onze
12 douze
13 treize
14 quatorze
15 quinze
16 seize
To form 17-19, just combine, dix (ten) and the number in the ones place:
17 dix-sept transcribed dee-seht
18 dix-huit transcribed deez-weet
19 dix-neuf transcribed deez-neuhf
If I tell you that twenty is vingt transcribed vu(n), can you work out twenty-one?
Did you say vingt-un? You’re not far off! You just need to add the conjunction et meaning and → vingt-et-un transcribed vu(n)t-ay-u(n).
Now let’s get back to numbers 0 to 99 in French. Because they do not involve et-un, the numbers 22 to 29 are pretty straightforward! Twenty-two is vingt-deux, 23 is vingt-trois, etc. Check out the list of all French numbers from 0 to 100 for your reference.
Now, we follow the same pattern to count from thirty to sixty, knowing that:
thirty is meaning trente
forty is quarante
fifty is cinquante
sixty is soixante
And don’t forget to use the et before one in 31, 41, 51, and 61! Here are a few examples:
34 trente-quatre
42 quarante-deux
51 cinquante-et-un
66 soixante-six
Now, accrochez-vous meaning brace yourselves ! From seventy it gets really curious! Indeed, seventy in French is literally “sixty ten,” eighty is literally “four twenty,” and ninety is literally “four twenty ten”!
I know! Where did that come from!? Actually, it makes a lot of sense!
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
80 quatre-vingts
81 quatre-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
Let’s move on to bigger numbers!
How to say the French numbers 100 to 999?
“Hundred” is cent in French, and with that, you can work out all numbers to 999! But, beware! One hundred is not ❌ un cent, just ✅ cent!
For numbers higher than one hundred, it's the same pattern as English: two hundred is deux-cents, three hundred is trois-cents, and so on. To those basic units you’ll add the numbers in the tens, without “and”:
Here are a few examples:
100 cent
101 cent-un
125 cent-vingt-cinq
160 cent-soixante
200 deux-cents
201 deux-cent-un
352 trois-cent-cinquante-deux
671 six-cent-soixante-et-onze
897 huit-cent-quatre-vingt-dix-sept
906 neuf-cent-six
And by the way, If you are wondering why 200 is written deux-cents with an “s” at cent, head to the section on the plural of vingt, cent, mille…
How to say the French numbers from 1000 and beyond?
From mille meaning thousand, you can follow the same logic. Note that mille is invariable, which means that it never changes and therefore will never take an “s” in the plural form.
Note that English and French have a slight difference in how they write the numerals for numbers in the thousands and above! Check these out:
| English | French |
|---|---|
1,001 | 1 001 mille-un |
1 620 | 1 620 mille-six-cent-vingt |
1,865 | 1 865 mille-huit-cent-soixante-cinq |
2,000 | 2 000 deux-mille |
2,957 | 2 957 deux-mille-neuf-cent-cinquante-sept |
3,000 | 3 000 trois-mille |
| English | French |
|---|---|
10,000 | 10 000 dix-mille |
35 925 | 35 925 trente-cinq-mille-neuf-cent-vingt-cinq |
90,560 | 90 560 quatre-vingt-dix-mille-cinq-cent-soixante |
100,000 | 100 000 cent-mille |
647,364 | 647 364 six-cent-quarante-sept-mille-trois-cent-soixante-quatre |
Confused about why the thousands are separated by a space in French and not a comma? Head to the French number spelling rules!
Ready to go higher? Although one thousand is mille (not ❌ un mille), one million is un million transcribed meelyo(n). One billion is un milliard transcribed meelyar. One trillion is un billion transcribed beelyo(n). And finally one quadrillion is un billiard transcribed beelyar
Million, milliard, billion, and billiard are followed by de meaning of + noun, which doesn’t happen in English.
Here is a fun fact: 111 111 111 x 111 111 111 = 12 345 678 987 654 321 which is spelled…
That's a mouthful! 😅
These numbers are all very precise. But how can you say a dozen eggs? Time to find out about approximate numbers.
How to use approximate numbers in French?
According to my experience, French people use more approximate numbers than English speakers. So you should find this section useful. Especially the use of huitaine and quinzaine for “one week” and “two weeks,” respectively.
Approximate numbers in French are always feminine singular and are followed by de meaning of + noun. The noun must take the plural form with “s.”
To form French approximate numbers, you usually remove the final "e" of the cardinal number and add -aine: quinze → quinzaine.
| French approximate number | French Example |
|---|---|
une huitaine Translation: eight; a week | Le procès a été renvoyé sous huitaine. Translation: The trial was adjourned for a week. |
une dizaine Translation: ten; about ten | Une dizaine de maisons ont été évacuées. Translation: About ten houses were evacuated. |
une douzaine Translation: twelve; about twelve | Il a acheté une douzaine d’œufs. Translation: He bought a dozen eggs. |
une quinzaine Translation: about fifteen; two weeks | Nous partons au Pérou pour une quinzaine de jours. Translation: We are going to Peru for a fortnight. |
une vingtaine Translation: about twenty | Ils ont découvert une vingtaine de statues. Translation: They discovered about twenty statues. |
une trentaine Translation: about thirty | Il a une trentaine d'années. Translation: He is about thirty. |
une quarantaine Translation: about forty | Il y avait une quarantaine de spectateurs. Translation: There were about forty spectators. |
une cinquantaine Translation: about fifty | Ici, on peut découvrir les œuvres d’une cinquantaine d’artistes. Translation: Here you can discover the works of about fifty artists. |
une soixantaine Translation: about sixty | ls sont propriétaires d’une soixantaine de chevaux. Translation: They own about sixty horses. |
une centaine Translation: about a hundred | Une centaine d’emplois seront créés. Translation: Around 100 jobs will be created. |
un millier Translation: about a thousand | Il y avait des milliers de manifestants. Translation: There were thousands of demonstrators. |
You should now be able to tackle all numbers from small to large. Head to our fun French number exercises for some practice, or keep reading for pronunciation tips and important spelling rules.
How to pronounce French numbers?
As we have already seen, some of the French numbers have some trickier pronunciations than others. However, if you know your French pronunciation rules, it will make pronouncing the numbers a lot easier!
Cinq, six, huit, and dix
The last consonant of the French words for “five,” “six,” “eight,” and “ten” are pronounced when they are final in a number word: cinq transcribed su(n)k , six transcribed sees , huit transcribed weet , dix transcribed dees:
J’en prend cinq !Transcription: j’a(n) pra(n) su(n)kTranslation: I’m taking five of them!In front of a vowel or silent h, for 6 and 10, the liaison has a (z) sound:
Il est dix heures.Transcription: eel ay deez euhrTranslation: It is 10am.However, the final consonant of these digits is not pronounced in front of a word starting with a consonant:
Number Example 5
cinqTranscription: su(n)kTu as cinq minutes ?Transcription: tu a su(n) minutTranslation: Do you have five minutes?6
sixTranscription: seesJ’ai plus de six-cents followers !Transcription: j’ay plu deuh see sa(n) followeuhrsTranslation: I have more than 600 followers!8
huitTranscription: weetPrends-moi huit paires de chaussettes.Transcription: pra(n) mwa wee payr deuh shosehtTranslation: Get me eight pairs of socks.10
dixTranscription: disJ’ai dix cousins.Transcription: j’ay dee koozu(n)Translation: I have ten cousins.Vingt
Vingt meaning twenty is an odd one. I come from the east of France and I say the final “t” /vu(n)t/ when I use the number on its own. This is typical of the north and east of France. Other French speakers choose to not pronounce the final “t” when using vingt on its own.
However, one thing all French people agree on is that you should pronounce the “t” in vingt when the next word starts with a vowel but not when the next word starts with a consonant.
Elle a vingt ans.Transcription: …vu(n)t...Translation: She’s twenty.Ils ont envoyé ving(t) conteneurs de marchandises de jouets vers l’Europe.Translation: They sent twenty containers of toys to Europe.How to say phone numbers, page numbers, and years in French?
📱 Phone numbers are written and read in pairs: 04 38 64 49 24 would be zéro quatre… trente-huit ... soixante-quatre... quarante-neuf... vingt-quatre.
📖 Page numbers are read in full. Whereas page 155 might be read “one fifty-five” in English, my history teacher would say page cent-cinquante-cinq.
📆 Years don’t get shortcuts in French either: 2020 can’t be
vingt-vingt, you have to say the full number deux-mille-vingt. (See more about how to express the date in French in our other post!)
Enough with the pronunciation, what about spelling?
What are the spelling rules for French numbers ?
There are a few rules to follow to write all your numbers in letters correctly, such as the use of a hyphen, punctuation rules, and pluralization. Let’s take a look.
How to use hyphens with French numbers?
In 1990, the Académie française reformed the spelling of numbers and the rule is to add a hyphen between all the written digits that form the number. However, as this wasn’t always the case and, as some people still follow the old rule to only put a hyphen for numbers below one hundred, you can see different spellings. For instance, 199 might be:
cent quatre-vingt-dix-neuf (pre 1990 rule)
cent-quatre-vingt-dix-neuf (pre 1990 rule)
As you can see, it isn’t a huge difference and it doesn’t affect pronunciation!
How to write large numbers in French?
Large numbers are split in groups of three digits with spaces between them. So where we use a comma in the US, there will be a space in French:
How to write decimal numbers in French?
To show decimals, French uses a comma instead of a decimal point:
What are the spelling rules for the plurals of ‘vingt’ / ‘cent’ / ‘mille’ / ‘million’ / ‘milliard’?
The plural forms of numbers in French are not always the same. Some numbers take an s and some are invariable. Pay attention here — this is very different from the English spelling!
Vingt and cent meaning hundred take an “s” if they are multiplied or if they are the last words of the number, but not if they are followed by another number.
Il y a deux-cents invités.Translation: There are two hundred guests.Il y a quatre-cent-cinquante places.Translation: There are four hundred and fifty seats.Mille meaning thousand never takes an “s”
Tu as gagné dix-mille euros ?Translation: You won ten thousand euros ?Million meaning million, milliard meaning billion, and the bigger numbers like billion meaning trillion, and billiard meaning quadrillion all take “s” whenever they are used in the plural.
Les plus vieilles empreintes de pas ont six-millions d’années.Translation: The oldest footprints are six million years old.Confused about writing 7 000 000 or sept-millions? I’ve got you covered below!
When to write French numbers in letters and when to use digits?
In French, we typically use digits to write the date, to do math, to give percentages, to give a house number or a postcode, and for phone numbers. It is also common to use digits in front million, milliard, etc. as this is easier to read than a long list of digits.
Measures such as time, weight, and distance use either digits or letters. If you write the unit of measurement in full, for instance kilomètre meaning kilometer, then you should write the number in letters. However, if you use an abbreviation like ml meaning milliliter, use digits.
Numbers from one to 16 or 20 (different people follow different rules) are usually written in words.
But if you also have a number higher than 20 in the same sentence, simply write all the numbers in digits!
Finally, if a single number is used at the start of a sentence with no other numbers used in the same sentence, it should be written in letters.
You’re all set to use cardinal numbers. Let’s move on to ordinal numbers.
How to use ordinal numbers in French?
Ordinal numbers are used to rank things in space or time, and to describe the arrondissements meaning districts in large cities. They are formed by dropping the final "e" of the cardinal number, and adding -ième. When writing French ordinal numbers using digits, add -e, which is the equivalent of -st or -th in English.
How to say first and second in French?
The words for “first” and “second” in French are premier and second. Here are some other tips for using these words.
Premier and second are the only ordinal numbers that change form for gender: le premier meaning the first, la première meaning the first, le second transcribed seuhgo(n)meaning the second, la seconde transcribed seugo(n)d)meaning the second.
Agathe est arrivée première !Translation: Agathe arrive first!Premier meaning first is the only ordinal number used for giving dates in French:
Nous sommes le premier marsTranslation: It is March the firstNous sommes le deux mars.Translation: It is March secondLiterally: the two of MarchThere are two ways to say “second”.
Deuxième is invariable and is only used when we are ranking a list of more than two items. Second(e), transcribed seuhgo(n) or transcribed seuhgo(n)d, which takes an -e in its feminine form, is used when only two items are ranked.Il y avait dix chevaux en course. Chardon bleu est arrivé deuxième.Translation: There were ten horses in the race. Chardon Bleu came second.J’ai fait une course avec Éric. Il est arrivé premier, et moi seconde.Translation: I did a race with Eric. He came first and I came second.You are now officially a master of French numbers! 📜 Time to recap.
In a nutshell
When using cardinal and ordinal numbers in French, keep the following tips in mind:
Learn the basic numbers one to 19, the words for each multiple of tens, and the big numbers like cent meaning hundred and mille meaning thousand.
Keep in mind that 70 is “sixty-ten,” eighty is “four twenty,” and 90 is “four-twenty-ten.”
Use et meaning and only for 21, 31, 41, 51, 61, and 71.
When writing numbers in letters, keep a hyphen between each word.
Approximate numbers are formed by removing the final -e in and adding -aine, followed by de + noun. They are frequently used in France.
Cent and vingt only takes an “s” when no other numbers follow, but mille never takes an “s.”
Use ordinal numbers to rank and order items. They are formed by adding -ième to the numbers.
Now it’s time to practice all your new skills with our French numbers activities! Happy learning!
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