Numbers in French

How numbers work in French

French has separate words for 0 to 16: zéro, un, deux … onze, douze, treize, quatorze, quinze, seize. From 17 the number is built from ten plus the unit: dix-sept, dix-huit, dix-neuf.

Up to 69 the system is regular: vingt, trente, quarante, cinquante, soixante. For 21, 31, 41, 51 and 61 you use et: vingt et un, trente et un. Otherwise a hyphen joins the parts: vingt-deux, quarante-cinq.

From 70 French counts in twenties: 70 is soixante-dix (60 + 10), 71 soixante et onze, 75 soixante-quinze. 80 is quatre-vingts (4 × 20), 81 quatre-vingt-un without et, 90 quatre-vingt-dix (4 × 20 + 10), 99 quatre-vingt-dix-neuf. In Belgium and Switzerland people say septante and nonante instead, and parts of Switzerland use huitante.

Quatre-vingts and hundreds like deux cents take an s only when nothing follows: quatre-vingt-trois, deux cent dix. Mille never changes: deux mille. The 1990 spelling reform allows hyphens between all parts (vingt-et-un); this page uses the traditional spelling.

Ordinals add -ième: deuxième, troisième, dixième. The exception is premier (feminine première). Cinq adds a u (cinquième) and neuf turns its f into v (neuvième).

Times start with il est, and the word heure(s) is nearly always said: il est trois heures. Up to half past you add the minutes (et quart, et demie, cinq); after that you subtract from the next hour with moins: neuf heures moins vingt is 8:40.

Et demie means half past, so trois heures et demie is 3:30. Noon is midi and midnight is minuit. In France the 24-hour clock is common even in conversation: quatorze heures vingt.