Numbers in French from 1 to 100 (and beyond), with how to say them

This page gives the full table with a plain-English sound guide, then the rules for et, hyphens and the plural of vingt and cent, from Québec’s language office. For the sounds themselves, read French pronunciation practice. To keep the words in memory, see French flashcards, and to hear them in use, French listening practice.

Source: Office québécois de la langue française, Banque de dépannage linguistique, pages dated 2015 to 2022 (two pages show no date).

What are the French numbers 1 to 100?

Here are the French numbers 0 to 20, with a rough English sound guide. The guide is an approximation for beginners, not a phonetic standard. Capital letters mark the syllable to stress, and “n” in a vowel sound means a nasal vowel, said through the nose without a hard n.

The tens and the tricky numbers come next. Rows in bold are the ones that surprise English speakers.

The Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF) uses many of these forms in its own examples, among them quinze, onze, dix-huit, vingt-quatre, trente et un and soixante et onze [1][7].

How do you say one, two and four in French?

One is un, two is deux and four is quatre. The word for one changes with the noun: the OQLF says number words are invariable except un, which becomes une in the feminine, and vingt and cent [3]. So it is un livre but une table, and its example for 21 students in a feminine group is vingt et une [3]. Two (deux) and four (quatre) never change.

How do you say 15 and 16 in French?

Fifteen is quinze and sixteen is seize. The OQLF’s examples include Quinze mois ont passé (fifteen months have passed) [7].

Why is 70 “soixante-dix” and 80 “quatre-vingts”?

71 is soixante et onze (sixty and eleven) [1], and in quatre-vingt-trois (83), vingt is multiplied by four and followed by three [3].

Two small facts help with listening. The OQLF says there is no et in 81 and 91, so you say quatre-vingt-un, not “quatre-vingt-et-un” [2]. And et appears in 71 and in most numbers under 100 that end in un [2].

Do Belgians and Swiss say septante and nonante?

Yes: Larousse defines septante as soixante-dix “en Belgique et en Suisse” [5], and nonante as quatre-vingt-dix “en Suisse romande et en Belgique” [6]. These are regional words for 70 and 90. This page does not cover how common they are today. The forms taught here are soixante-dix and quatre-vingt-dix.

When do you use “et” and hyphens in French numbers?

The OQLF says et appears in 71 and in most numbers under 100 that end in un [2]. The other parts below 100 are joined with hyphens [1]. The OQLF says traditional spelling hyphenates only between numbers that are both under 100 and not already linked by et [1]. Its examples are trente-cinq mille, cent trente-cinq, deux mille huit cent vingt-quatre and cent trente et un [1].

After cent and mille you do not add et: 101 is cent un and 1001 is mille un [2]. The exception is mille et un and the rarer cent et un, which mean “a great many” and not the exact number [2].

The 1990 spelling rectifications allow hyphens between every element, such as cent-trente-cinq or soixante-et-onze [1][2]. The OQLF treats both spellings as acceptable, so either one is fine on a page you write.

Do vingt and cent take an “s”?

Vingt and cent take an s only when they are multiplied and not immediately followed by another number [3]. So 80 is quatre-vingts and 600 is six cents [3]. But 83 is quatre-vingt-trois and 120 is cent vingt, with no s [3]. When they are not multiplied, as in tous les vingt ans (every twenty years), they stay unchanged [3]. The OQLF also says mille never takes an s: ten thousand is dix mille [3].

How do you say numbers above 100 in French?

The OQLF’s examples include cent quatre-vingts (180), deux cent quatre-vingts (280) and six cents with an s when nothing follows (600) [3]. Decimals have their own reading rules: a radio frequency such as 104,2 FM is read cent quatre virgule deux [4].

Try five numbers from this page before you move on.

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Common mistakes

• Writing quatre-vingt-trois with an s. The s drops when another number follows [3].
• Saying “et” in 81 and 91. There is no et in either number [2].
• Adding et after cent or mille. 101 is cent un [2].
• Forgetting that un becomes une. The feminine form is une, as in vingt et une [3].
• Mixing septante and nonante into soixante-dix and quatre-vingt-dix. Larousse labels the first two as Belgian and Swiss words [5][6].
• Relying on a number list from a blog, including this one. The language office updates its pages. Compare the page’s own date with the date at the top of this one.

See also: days of the week in French and months in French.

See also: telling time in French.

Sources