French Vocabulary: Numbers 30-60

Posted by LEAF Architect on Friday, November 2, 2012 · Leave a Comment

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French Vocabulary: Numbers 30-60
le vocabulaire français: les nombres 30-60

Learning numbers 30-60 (les nombres trente – soixante) 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 30-60 (les nombres trente – soixante) 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? : how much? / how many?

Combien d’étudiants est-ce qu’il y a?
How many students are there?

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 – 30 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 21-30 also contain numbers 1-9 in them! So, if you learn numbers 1-9 very well, learning numbers 21-30 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

The next step is to learn to count by 10′s up to 60. You’ll notice that most sets of 10 look very similar to numbers 1-10! So, if you learn numbers 1-9 very well, learning numbers 30-60 can be even easier! Don’t forget that spelling counts, and pay attention to hyphens!

dix : ten : 10
vingt : twenty : 20
trente : thirty : 30
quarante : forty : 40
cinquante : fifty : 50
soixante : sixty : 60

30-60 is easy because all you need to do is fill in the correct single-digit with each set of ten. There are no more tricky spelling changes to worry about!

trente et un : thirty-one : 31
trente-deux : thirty-two : 32
trente-trois : thirty-three : 33
trente-quatre : thirty-four : 34
trente-cinq : thirty-five : 35
trente-six : thirty-six : 36
trente-sept : thirty-seven : 37
trente-huit : thirty-eight : 38
trente-neuf : thirty-nine : 39
quarante : forty : 40
cinquante : fifty : 50
soixante : sixty : 60

This pattern of matching numbers for each set of ten continues all the way up to number sixty-nine (69).

quarante et un : forty-one : 41
quarante-sept : forty-seven : 47
cinquante-trois : fifty-three : 53
cinquante-six : fifty-six : 56
soixante-deux : sixty-two : 62
soixante-cinq : sixty-five : 65