Understanding French Cardinal Numbers
French cardinal numbers express quantity and count. They answer the question "combien?" (how many?) and are essential for daily communication.
French numbers have specific patterns and rules:
Agreement: Some numbers agree with gender
Pronunciation: Liaison and elision rules
Spelling: Hyphenation and compound forms
Special forms: Irregular patterns for certain numbers
Learning French numbers is fundamental for shopping, telling time, dates, and expressing quantities.
Examples
J'ai trois livres. (I have three books.)
Expressing quantity
Il y a vingt étudiants. (There are twenty students.)
Counting people
Ça coûte cent euros. (It costs one hundred euros.)
Expressing price
Numbers 0-19 (Basic Numbers)
The foundation numbers that must be memorized:
Numbers 0-19
| Pronoun | Conjugation | English |
|---|---|---|
| 0-4 | zéro, un, deux, trois, quatre | zero, one, two, three, four |
| 5-9 | cinq, six, sept, huit, neuf | five, six, seven, eight, nine |
| 10-14 | dix, onze, douze, treize, quatorze | ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen |
| 15-19 | quinze, seize, dix-sept, dix-huit, dix-neuf | fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen |
UN Agreement
Un changes to une with feminine nouns:
un livre (one book - masculine)
une table (one table - feminine)
vingt et un livres (twenty-one books)
vingt et une tables (twenty-one tables)
Pronunciation Notes
Important pronunciation patterns:
six: [sis] alone, [si] before consonant, [siz] before vowel
huit: [ɥit] - silent h, liaison with vowels
Numbers 20-69 (Tens)
Regular tens pattern with special rules:
Examples
vingt (20), trente (30), quarante (40)
cinquante (50), soixante (60)
Compound Numbers 21-69
How to form compound numbers:
Compound Numbers
| Pronoun | Conjugation | English |
|---|---|---|
| 21, 31, 41, 51, 61 | et un | vingt et un, trente et un, etc. |
| 22-29, 32-39, etc. | hyphen | vingt-deux, trente-trois, etc. |
| All others | hyphen | vingt-quatre, cinquante-sept |
ET UN Pattern
Special "et un" for x1 numbers:
vingt et un (21), trente et un (31)
quarante et un (41), cinquante et un (51)
BUT: quatre-vingt-un (81) - no "et"
Exception to the et un rule
Numbers 70-99 (Special System)
French uses a unique system for 70-99:
Examples
soixante-dix (70) = sixty-ten
quatre-vingts (80) = four-twenties
quatre-vingt-dix (90) = four-twenty-ten
Complex but logical system
70-79 (Soixante-dix)
Seventy system: 60 + 10-19
Numbers 70-79
| Pronoun | Conjugation | English |
|---|---|---|
| 70-74 | soixante-dix, -onze, -douze, -treize, -quatorze | seventy, seventy-one, etc. |
| 75-79 | soixante-quinze, -seize, -dix-sept, -dix-huit, -dix-neuf | seventy-five, etc. |
80-89 (Quatre-vingts)
Eighty system: 4 × 20
quatre-vingts (80) - with s
quatre-vingt-un (81) - no s when followed by number
quatre-vingt-deux (82), quatre-vingt-dix (90)
No s when compound
90-99 (Quatre-vingt-dix)
Ninety system: 4 × 20 + 10-19
quatre-vingt-dix (90)
quatre-vingt-dix-neuf (99)
Hundreds (Cent)
Cent (hundred) with agreement rules:
Examples
cent (100), deux cents (200)
trois cents (300), quatre cents (400)
CENT Agreement
When cent takes s:
cent (100) - no s when alone
deux cents (200) - s when multiplied
deux cent un (201) - no s when followed by number
trois cent cinquante (350) - no s when followed
Compound Hundreds
Numbers 101-999:
Hundreds Examples
| Pronoun | Conjugation | English |
|---|---|---|
| 101 | cent un | one hundred one |
| 150 | cent cinquante | one hundred fifty |
| 200 | deux cents | two hundred |
| 250 | deux cent cinquante | two hundred fifty |
Thousands (Mille)
Mille (thousand) - invariable form:
Examples
mille (1,000), deux mille (2,000)
trois mille (3,000), dix mille (10,000)
MILLE Rules
Mille never changes form:
mille (1,000) - never "un mille"
deux mille (2,000) - no s on mille
mille neuf cent quatre-vingt-dix-neuf (1999)
Complex but follows patterns
Compound Thousands
Numbers with thousands:
deux mille vingt-quatre (2024)
cinq mille trois cent cinquante (5350)
Large Numbers
Numbers beyond thousands:
MILLION and MILLIARD
Million and billion are nouns:
un million (1,000,000) - takes un
deux millions (2,000,000) - takes s
un milliard (1,000,000,000) - billion
trois milliards (3,000,000,000)
DE with Large Numbers
Use de after million/milliard:
un million de personnes (one million people)
deux millions d'euros (two million euros)
Number Usage and Context
How to use numbers in different contexts:
Examples
Il a vingt ans. (He is twenty years old.)
Age expression
Ça coûte quinze euros. (It costs fifteen euros.)
Price expression
Numbers with Nouns
How numbers interact with nouns:
deux livres (two books) - plural noun
un livre (one book) - singular noun
Approximate Numbers
Expressing approximate quantities:
une dizaine (about ten)
une vingtaine (about twenty)
une centaine (about a hundred)
des milliers (thousands)
Number Pronunciation and Liaison
Important pronunciation rules:
Liaison Rules
When numbers link to following words:
deux_amis [dø.za.mi] (two friends)
trois_enfants [trwa.zɑ̃.fɑ̃] (three children)
Final Consonants
When to pronounce final consonants:
Pronunciation Guide
| Pronoun | Conjugation | English |
|---|---|---|
| six, dix | [sis], [dis] alone | [si], [di] before consonant |
| huit | [ɥit] always | liaison [ɥi.t‿] before vowel |
| vingt | [vɛ̃] usually | [vɛ̃t] in compounds |
Common Number Mistakes
Here are frequent errors students make:
1. Quatre-vingts agreement: Forgetting to remove s in compounds
2. Et un pattern: Using et with 81, 91 instead of just 71, etc.
3. Cent agreement: Wrong s placement with hundreds
4. Million/milliard: Treating them as adjectives instead of nouns
Examples
❌ quatre-vingts-un → ✅ quatre-vingt-un
Wrong: no s when followed by another number
❌ quatre-vingt et un → ✅ quatre-vingt-un
Wrong: no et with 81, only with 21, 31, 41, 51, 61, 71
❌ trois cents cinquante → ✅ trois cent cinquante
Wrong: no s on cent when followed by another number
❌ deux millions personnes → ✅ deux millions de personnes
Wrong: must use de after million/milliard