French Vocabulary: Numbers 100-1000+
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French Vocabulary: Numbers 100-1000+
le vocabulaire français: les nombres 100-1000+
Learning numbers 100-1000 (les nombres cent – mille) and beyond is very important in every major aspect of Francophone culture. You can tell time, buy and sell things, and count anything you want! Knowing numbers is a basic element of communication in any culture!
Study:
Learning numbers 100-1000 (les nombres cent – mille) and beyond is very important in every major aspect of Francophone culture. You can tell time, buy and sell things, and count anything you want! Knowing numbers is a basic element of communication in any culture!
Here is a useful word to start off with:
Combien (de / d’) ? : how much? / how many?
Il y a combien d’étudiants?
How many students are there? (Literally: There are how many students?)
Some of these numbers might look familiar. Many numbers are similar in English, French, Italian, Latin, and even Greek!
First, let’s review numbers 0 – 60 to see what they look like.
un : one : 1
deux : two : 2
trois : three : 3
quatre : four : 4
cinq : five : 5
six : six : 6
sept : seven : 7
huit : eight : 8
neuf : nine : 9
dix : ten : 10
The numbers 11 – 20 look similar to the French numbers 1-9. So, if you learn numbers 1-9 very well, learning numbers 11-20 can be even easier! Don’t forget that spelling counts, and pay attention to hyphens!
onze : eleven : 11
douze : twelve : 12
treize : thirteen : 13
quatorze : fourteen : 14
quinze : fifteen : 15
seize : sixteen : 16
dix-sept : seventeen : 17
dix-huit : eighteen : 18
dix-neuf : nineteen : 19
vingt : twenty : 20
Numbers 21-60 also contain numbers 1-9 in them! So, if you learn numbers 1-9 very well, learning numbers 21-60 can be even easier! Don’t forget that spelling counts, and pay attention to hyphens!
NOTE #1 : We use the word et in between the tens spot and the un in 21, 31, 41, 51, and 61. Otherwise, the et is replaced by a hyphen.
NOTE #2 : un changes to une when used with a feminine noun. This change from un to une must also be made with higher numbers that end with a number one (21, 31, 41, etc).
vingt et un : twenty-one : 21
vingt-deux : twenty-two : 22
vingt-trois : twenty-three : 23
vingt-quatre : twenty-four : 24
vingt-cinq : twenty-five : 25
vingt-six : twenty-six : 26
vingt-sept : twenty-seven : 27
vingt-huit : twenty-eight : 28
vingt-neuf : twenty-nine : 29
trente : thirty : 30
trente et un : thirty-one : 31
trente-deux : thirty-two : 32
trente-trois : thirty-three : 33, etc.
quarante : forty : 40
quarante et un : forty-one : 41
quarante-deux : forty-two : 42
quarante-trois : forty-three : 43, etc.
cinquante : fifty : 50
cinquante et un : fifty-one : 51
cinquante-deux : fifty-two : 52
cinquante-trois : fifty-three : 53, etc.
From 60-79, French counts by twenties. So, if you learn numbers 1-19 very well, learning numbers 60-79 can be even easier! Remember that the French word for sixty (60) is soixante. The first part of the numbers from 70-79 start with soixante (60) followed by dix, onze, douze, treize, etc. Don’t forget that spelling counts, and pay attention to hyphens!
NOTE #1 : We use the word et in between the tens spot and the ones spot in 21, 31, 41, 51, 61, and 71. Otherwise, the et is replaced by a hyphen.
NOTE #2 : un changes to une when used with a feminine noun. This change from un to une must also be made with higher numbers that end with a number one (21, 31, 41, etc).
soixante : sixty : 60
soixante et un : sixty-one : 61
soixante-deux : sixty-two : 62
soixante-trois : sixty-three : 63
soixante-quatre : sixty-four : 64
soixante-cinq : sixty-five : 65
soixante-six : sixty-six : 66
soixante-sept : sixty-seven : 67
soixante-huit : sixty-eight : 68
soixante-neuf : sixty-nine : 69
soixante-dix : seventy : 70
soixante et onze : seventy-one : 71
soixante-douze : seventy-two : 72
soixante-treize : seventy-three : 73
soixante-quatorze : seventy-four : 74
soixante-quinze : seventy-five : 75
soixante-seize : seventy-six : 76
soixante-dix-sept : seventy-seven : 77
soixante-dix-huit : seventy-eight : 78
soixante-dix-neuf : seventy-nine : 79
From 80-99, French also counts by twenties. So, if you learn numbers 1-19 very well, learning numbers 80-99 can be even easier! The French word for eighty (80) is quatre-vingts. The first part of the numbers from 90-99 start with quatre-vingts (80) followed by dix, onze, douze, treize, etc. Don’t forget that spelling counts, and pay attention to hyphens!
NOTE #1 : Quatre-vingts drops its final –s when followed by another number.
NOTE #2 : The word et is not used for the number quatre-vingt-un (81)
NOTE #3 : un changes to une when used with a feminine noun. This change from un to une must also be made with higher numbers that end with a number one (… 41, 51, 61, 81).
quatre-vingts : eighty : 80
quatre-vingt-un : eighty-one : 81
quatre-vingt-deux : eighty-two : 82
quatre-vingt-trois : eighty-three : 83
quatre-vingt-quatre : eighty-four : 84
quatre-vingt-cinq : eighty-five : 85
quatre-vingt-six : eighty-six : 86
quatre-vingt-sept : eighty-seven : 87
quatre-vingt-huit : eighty-eight : 88
quatre-vingt-neuf : eighty-nine : 89
quatre-vingt-dix : ninety : 90
quatre-vingt-onze : ninety-one : 91
quatre-vingt-douze : ninety-two : 92
quatre-vingt-treize : ninety-three : 93
quatre-vingt-quatorze : ninety-four : 94
quatre-vingt-quinze : ninety-five : 95
quatre-vingt-seize : ninety-six : 96
quatre-vingt-dix-sept : ninety-seven : 97
quatre-vingt-dix-huit : ninety-eight : 98
quatre-vingt-dix-neuf : ninety-nine : 99
The French word for 100 is cent. Cent (100) is never preceded by the word un.
cent : one hundred : 100
To work with numbers over 100, all of the rules you have learned so far continue to apply. All you need to do now is learn to count by 100s all the way to 1000 and beyond, and that is quite easy:
cent : one hundred : 100
deux cents : two hundred : 200
trois cents : three hundred : 300
quatre cents : four hundred : 400
cinq cents : five hundred : 500
six cents : six hundred : 600
sept cents : seven hundred : 700
huit cents : eight hundred : 800
neuf cents : nine hundred : 900
mille : one thousand : 1.000
deux mille : two thousand : 2.000
dix mille : ten thousand : 10.000
cent mille : one hundred thousand : 100.000
deux cent mille : two hundred thousand : 200.000
un million : one million : 1.000.000
deux millions : two million : 2.000.000
un milliard : one billion 1.000.000.000
deux milliards : two billion : 2.000.000.000
un billion : one trillion : 1.000.000.000.000
Remember from the lesson on numbers 0-100 that for all numbers ending with un, that un becomes une before a feminine noun.
trois cent cinquante et un livres
three hundred fifty-one books : 351 books
trois cent cinquante et une chaises
three hundred fifty-one chairs : 351 chairs
quatre cents hommes
four hundred men : 400 men
quatre cent une femmes
four hundred one women : 401 women
Note that the word ‘un’ is never used before cent or mille. Note also that round multiples of cent are spelled with a final ‘s’. That final ‘s’ must be dropped before another number, but not right before a noun. Mille never has an ‘s’ at the end.
Here are some more examples of French numbers from 100-1000 and beyond!
cent trente-trois
one hundred thirty-three : 133
deux cent quarante-cinq
two hundred forty-five : 245
trois cent cinquante-huit
three hundred fifty-eight : 358
quatre cent vingt-sept
four hundred twenty-seven : 427
cinq cent soixante et un
five hundred sixty-one : 561
six cent soixante-douze
six hundred seventy-two : 672
sept cent quatre-vingt-six
seven hundred eighty-six : 786
huit cent quatre-vingt-quatorze
eight hundred ninety-four : 894
neuf cent soixante-neuf
nine hundred sixty-nine : 969
mille cent / onze cents
one thousand one hundred / eleven hundred : 1.100
mille deux cents / douze cents
one thousand two hundred / twelve hundred : 1.200
trois mille quarante-deux
three thousand forty-two : 3.042
quatre mille huit cent quatre-vingt-dix-sept / quarante-huit cent quatre-vingt-dix-sept
four thousand eight hundred ninety-seven / forty-eight hundred ninety-seven : 4.897
dix mille cinq cent trente-six
ten thousand five hundred thirty-six : 10.536
sept cent douze mille neuf cent seize
seven hundred twelve thousand nine hundred sixteen : 712.916
Note that mille often changes to mil with dates:
mil quatre cent quatre-vingt-douze / quatorze cent quatre-vingt-douze
fourteen ninety-two : 1492
deux mil douze
two thousand twelve : 2012
Note that million, milliard, and billiard are followed by de before a noun:
un million de personnes
one million people : 1.000.000 people
deux milliards de dollars
two billion dollars : 2.000.000.000
sept billions d’étoiles
seven trillion stars : 7.000.000.000.000 stars
In French, either a space or a period (.) is used to indicate thousands / millions / billions / trillions, while a comma is used as a decimal point. (The word for ‘period’ in French is point. The word for ‘comma’ is virgule.)
English : 1,543.67
French : 1.543,67 OR 1 543,67
These are the opposite markings that exist in the United States, so don’t get confused when you purchase items!
Here are some examples of how to read decimals and prices in French:
English : point zero six : 0.06
French : zéro virgule zéro six : 0,06
English : ten dollars and ninety-nine cents : $10.99
French : dix dollars quatre-vingt-dix neuf : $10,99
Finally, here are the expressions used in French arithmetic problems:
et : plus
moins : minus
fois : times / multiplied by
divisé par : divided by
font : equals
Adapt:
Combien coûte un nouvel ordinateur?
How much does a new computer cost?
Un nouvel ordinateur coûte neuf cents dollars.
A new computer costs nine hundred dollars.
Combien de livres y a-t-il dans la bibliothèque?
How many books are there in the library?
Dans la bibliothèque il y a plus de mille livres!
In the library there are more than a thousand books!
Il y a combien d’étudiants dans l’école?
How many students are there in the school?
Il y a quarante mille étudiants dans l’école.
There are forty thousand students in the school.
Combien de jours est-ce qu’il y a dans une année?
How many days are there in a year?
Il y a trois cent soixante-cinq jours dans une année, plus ou moins.
There are three hundred and sixty five days in a year, give or take.
Quand est-ce que Rome est tombée?
When did Rome fall?
Rome est tombée en quatre cents soixante-seize de notre ère.
Rome fell in four hundred seventy-six C.E. (476 C.E.).
Quand a commençé la Révolution française?
When did the French Revolution begin?
La Révolution française a commencé en mil sept cents quatre-vingt-neuf.
The French Revolution began in seventeen eighty-nine (1789).
Explore:
- YouTube / YouLearnFrench: Numbers from 100-1000
- YouTube / YouLearnFrench: Numbers after 1000
- languageguide.org: les nombres
- YouTube / Numberphile: Problems with French Numbers
The LEAF Project
www.leaflanguages.org
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