French number translation – don’t let those numbers flummox you when you have to spell them, for instance writing a cheque in France or filling in forms.
The table below that gives you the numbers in English, French and advises how to pronounce them.
KEY POINTS
Numbers 20-69
Tens and units are joined with a hyphen. So, 22 = vingt-deux, 45 = quarante-cinq etc. If the unit is a 1, then the word et is inserted between tens and units: 21 = vingt et un, 31 = trente et un etc.
Numbers 70-79
Number 70 is basically 60+10 = soixante-dix, 71 = soixante et onze, 72 = soixante-douze, 73 = soixante-treize etc. Notice the et in 71 which mirrors the behaviour of 21, 31 etc.
Numbers 80-99
Number eighty is four twenties = quatre-vingts. Numbers 81-99 consist of quatre-vingt- (minus the -s) plus a number 1-19: 81 = quatre-vingt-un, 82 = quatre-vingt-deux,
Number 90 is basically four twenties and ten = quatre-vingt-dix, 91 = quatre-vingt-onze etc.
Hundreds
The French for ‘(a) hundred’ is cent. Multiples of a hundred are deux cents, trois cents etc with an -s on cents.
If the number is not an exact multiple of 100, then the number representing the last two digits follows cent, which loses its -s: 101 = cent un, 201 = deux cent un, 202 = deux cent deux etc. Notice that in French there is no word for ‘and’ between the hundreds and the tens/units, unlike in English, and that “a hundred” is just cent, not un cent.
Thousands
The French for ‘(a) thousand’ is mille. This word never adds an -s, and there is never a word for ‘and’ between the thousands and the hundreds/tens/units. So: 1000 = mille, 2000 = deux mille, 2001 = deux mille un, 3079 = trois mille soixante-dix-neuf.
Millions, billions etc
The French for ‘million’ is million; ‘a million’ translates literally as un million. After the million comes the remainder of the number without any intervening word for ‘and’: 1000650 = un million six cent cinquante, 4008000 = quatre millions huit mille. Note that millions does take an ‘s’ in the plural. When followed by a noun, numbers like million must be used with the preposition de. So the French for ‘a million people’ is un million de personnes; the French for ‘three and a half million animals’ is trois millions cinq cent mille d’animaux.
Billion and trillion behave the same way to million: they behave more like nouns, in that they are preceded by un or take a plural ‘s’, and are followed by de … when used with a following noun.
Billion in French is milliard
Trillion in French is billion
Useful vocabulary – French numbers in words
Number | French Spelling | Pronunciation |
0 | zéro | zay-roh |
1 | un | ahn |
2 | deux | duhr |
3 | trois | twah |
4 | quatre | katr |
5 | cinq | sank |
6 | six | seese |
7 | sept | set |
8 | huit | wheet |
9 | neuf | nurf |
10 | dix | deese |
11 | Onze | onz |
12 | douze | dooz |
13 | treize | trez |
14 | quatorze | kah-tohrz |
15 | quinze | cans |
16 | seize | sez |
17 | dix-sept | deese-set |
18 | dix-huit | dees-wheet |
19 | dix-neuf | dees-nurf |
20 | vingt | vahn |
21 | vingt et un | vahn-tay-ahn |
30 | trente | trawnt |
31 | trente et un | trawnt-tay-ahn |
40 | quarante | kuh-rawnt |
41 | quarante et un | kuh-rawnt-tay-ahn |
50 | cinquante | sank-awnt |
51 | cinquante et un | sank-awnt-tay-ahn |
60 | soixante | swah-sawnt |
61 | soixante et un | swah-sawnt-tay-ahn |
70 | soixante-dix | swah-sawnt-deese |
71 | soixante et onze | swah-sawnt-tay-uhn |
80 | quatre-vingts | ka-truh-vahn |
81 | quatre-vinght-un | ka-truh-vahn-tay-ahn |
90 | quatre-vingt-dix | ka-truh-vahn-deese |
91 | quatre-vingt-onze | ka-truh-vahn-onz |
100 | cent | sawnt |
101 | cent un | |
110 | cent dix | |
111 | cent onze | |
175 | cent soixante quinze | |
200 | deux cents | |
225 | deux cents vingt-cinq | |
1,000 | mille | |
10,000 | dix mille | |
100,000 | cent mille | |
1,000,000 | un million |