Counting French Numbers

From LoveToKnow French

Counting French numbers is not difficult, and is almost exactly like counting in English. There are only some slight variations in putting numbers together after ten.

French Counting Tips

Listen and practice the numbers to help you remember. A French counting audio file, like the Slow Travel France audio counting lesson can be downloaded so you can listen to the basic numbers while doing other tasks and help ingrain them for easier learning.

For children (or the young at heart!) consider fun ways to learn numbers in French. Flashcards, like these English/French number flashcards from Educational Learning Games make the numbers fun to learn and 'stick' better for students. Songs, fun repetition, French number picture dictionaries, and games all make it more fun to grasp how to count with French numerals.

As you become more familiar with counting in French, try using the French numbers for various daily activities, such as counting money and telling time to make a lasting foundation.

The Foundation: One Through Ten

As in any language, all counting depends on the first ten numbers. In French these are:

un uhn: one (1)
deux duhr: two (2)
trois twah: three (3)
quatre katr: four (4)
cinq sank: five (5)
six sees: six (6)
sept set: seven (7)
huit weet: eight (8)
neuf nurf: nine (9)
dix dees: ten (10)

Pronouncing these numbers is not difficult either once you understand the basics, always remembering to pronounce lightly and using the nasal inflection when necessary.

The Awkward Teens: Eleven Through Nineteen

In English, numbers start building upon each other after twelve by adding teen to a form of the number. This is not the case in French which has unique numbers all the way up to sixteen (seize) as follows:

onze onz: eleven (11)
douze dooz: twelve (12)
treize trez: thirteen (13)
quatorze katorz: fourteen (14)
quinze kanz: fifteen (15)
seize sez: sixteen (16)

For seventeen(17) through nineteen(19), ten(dix) forms a prefix or base number which is followed by whatever number makes the sum, as in:

dix-sept dees-set: seventeen (17)
dix-huit dees-weet: eighteen (18)
dix-neuf dees-nurf: nineteen (19)

Twenty and Beyond

After memorizing one through ten and then the teens, all that is left is to memorize the word at the top of the group of ten. Those words use the same add on formula used in dix-sept(17) through dix-neuf (19).

The base numbers are as follows:

Vingt van: twenty (20)
- Vingt-et-un vant-ay-uhn: twenty-one (21)
- Vingt-deux van-duhr: twenty-two (22)
- Vingt-trois van-twa: twenty-three (23)
- Vingt-quatre van-katr: twenty-four (24)
- Vingt-cinq van-sank: twenty-five (25)
- Vingt-six van-sees: twenty-six (26)
- Vingt-sept van-set: twenty-seven (27)
- Vingt-huit van-weet: twenty-eight (28)
- Vingt-neuf van-nurf: twenty-nine (29)

Trente tront: thirty (30)
Quarante kar-ont: forty (40)
Cinquante sank-ont: fifty (50)
Soixante swa-sont: sixty (60)
Quatre-Vingt katr-van: eighty (80)

Seventy and Ninety: A Different Kind of Counting

When counting french numbers, the cases of seventy (70) and ninety (90) divert from the norm. Instead of having their own distinct base numbers, eleven(11) through nineteen(19) are added to both sixty(60) and eighty(80). Thus, seventy(70) is soixante-dix and proceeds as follows:

soixante-dix swa-sont-dees: seventy (70)
- soixante-et-onze swa-sont-ay-onz: seventy-one (71)
- soixatnte-douze swa-sont-dooz: seventy-two (72)
- soixante-treize swa-sont-trez: seventy-three (73)
- soixante-quatorze swa-sont-katorz: seventy-four (74)
- soixante-quinze swa-sont-kanz: seventy-five (75)
- soixante-seize swa-sont-sez: seventy-six (76)
- soixante-dix-sept swa-sont-dees-set: seventy-seven (77)
- soixante-dix-huit swa-sont-dees-weet: seventy-eight (78)
- soixante-dix-neuf swa-sont-dees-nurf: seventy-nine (79)

This same system of counting applies to ninety(90) which is then quatre-vingt-dix (katr-vin-dees), ninety-one(91) being quatre-vingt-onze (katr-vin-onz) and so forth.

Counting French Numbers from One Hundred and Beyond

This system of counting continues by starting all over again. At one-hundred (100) another word cent is added, one-thousand (1,000), mille (1,000,000) and milliard for a billion (1,000,000,000). The Language Guide is a great site to see and hear french numbers counted.

As you can see counting french numbers is not difficult at all, and requires learning a few words and figuring out how to put them together.