Numbers and Quantities
Numbers in French
- In French, numbers 1 through 16 have unique words - un, deux, trois, quatre, cinq, six, sept, huit, neuf, dix, onze, douze, treize, quatorze, quinze, seize. Remember these as they form the base for deriving other numbers.
- Numbers 17 to 19 are formed by adding dix before 7, 8, 9 respectively - dix-sept, dix-huit, dix-neuf.
- Multiples of ten (vingt, trente, quarante, cinquante, soixante) followed by one through nine use a hybrid form - for example, 21 is vingt et un (20 and 1), 33 is trente-trois (30-3).
- Seventy and ninety in French uses the base of sixty - soixante-dix (60+10), quatre-vingts (4x20), and quatre-vingt-dix (4x20+10).
- For numbers above 100, know cent (100), mille (1000), million (1,000,000), and milliard (1,000,000,000). These are concatenated with lower numbers without a connecting word, e.g., 202 is deux cent deux.
Quantities in French
- Single quantity is represented by un for masculine and une for feminine. For example, a book is un livre and a pen is une plume.
- For referring to multiple quantities, French numbers from two (deux) through to infinity are used. For example, two books is deux livres.
- For expressing many or several, beaucoup de or plusieurs is used. For example, several books is plusieurs livres.
- Expressions that refer to a certain quantity, like un peu de (a little), assez de (enough), trop de (too much) and a lot of, are important to know.
- When describing how much or how many, use combien de.
Speaking Tips
- Practise saying large numbers out loud. They can be quite a mouthful even for French speakers.
- For understanding numbers in spoken language, remember that French people often break larger numbers into smaller parts. For example, 952 could be read as nine hundred (neuf cents), fifty (cinquante), two (deux) (neuf cents cinquante-deux) or as nine hundred (neuf cents), five, twenty, two (cinq, vingt, deux).