All the basics
Numbers and time, read 7 of 15, 3 min
Numbers 21 and up
Les grands nombres
Up to 69, it's easy. Then French does some arithmetic: 70 is sixty-ten, and 80 is four-twenties.
The tens, up to 69
Say the ten, then the unit, joined with a hyphen. The 1s are different: you say « et un », with no hyphen.
- vingt20
- vingt et un21
- vingt-deux22
- trente30
- quarante40
- cinquante50
- soixanteswa-sant, the x sounds like s60
70 to 99: the arithmetic
70 to 79 is sixty plus 10 to 19. 80 is four twenties. 90 to 99 is four twenties plus 10 to 19. Belgium and Switzerland often say septante (70) and nonante (90), and you'll hear them there, but France doesn't use them.
- soixante-dix60 + 1070
- soixante et onze60 + 1171
- soixante-dix-huit60 + 1878
- quatre-vingts4 × 2080
- quatre-vingt-un4 × 20 + 181
- quatre-vingt-dix4 × 20 + 1090
- quatre-vingt-dix-neuf4 × 20 + 1999
Hundreds and thousands
Never say « un cent » or « un mille ». Just say cent or mille. Written numbers use a space where English uses a comma, and a comma where English uses a point: 2 500 and 3,50.
- cent100
- deux cents200
- deux cent cinquante250
- mille1,000
- deux mille vingt-six2026
- un million1,000,000
The English sound guides are only rough. When they disagree with the voice, go with the voice.