Learn French Numbers
If you want to order 10 croissants in French, or tell a French person that it’s 10 past the hour, then you’ll need to know your numbers in French. Once you know how to count and how to tell time in French, this will open up many new opportunities for communication!
Part One: Learn French Numbers
Let’s start with the first 10 digits: 0 – 9. These 10 digits form the basis for French number combinations higher up, so it’s important to get those 10 digits down pat. Here we go:
0 – zéro
1 – un, une
2 – deux
3 – trois
4 – quatre
5 – cinq
6 – six
7 – sept
8 – huit
9 – neuf
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Now we enter the double digits:
10 – dix
11 – onze
12 – douze
13 – treize
14 – quatorze
15 – quinze
16 – seize
For some reason, 17, 18 and 19 are a bit different from the previous “teens”. These numbers are created by putting the 10 first, followed by the last digit.
17 – dix-sept
18 – dix-huit
19 – dix-neuf
And now here come the twenties:
20 – vingt
21 – vingt et un
22 – vingt-deux
23 – vingt-trois
etc…
Now, let’s take a closer look at the difference between 21 and 22-29.
French for “21” is literally translated as “twenty and one”. The numbers 31, 41, 51, and so forth all follow this pattern. Thus, “31” is “thirty and one” – “trente et un”, etc.
The numbers 22-29 do not follow the same pattern as the number 21. Instead of “twenty and two”, the number 22 in French is simply “vingt-deux”, which is “twenty-two”. The same goes for 23, 24, etc.
All of the numbers from 20-59 follow this pattern.
30 – trente
40 – quarante
50 – cinquante
60 – soixante
Once you hit 70, the rules for the numbers change a bit, because there are no words for “seventy”, “eighty”, or “ninety”. This can get confusing, so we’ll provide the literal translation for these numbers also, to help you get a mental grasp of what’s going on.
Let’s start by looking at the 70s:
70 – soixante-dix (literally, “60-10”)
71 – soixante et onze (literally, “60 and 11”)
72 – soixante-douze (literally, “60-12”)
73 – soixante-treize (literally, “60-13”)
etc…
The 80s are a bit different as well:
80 – quatre-vingts (literally, “4-20s”)
81 – quatre-vingt-un (literally, “4-20-1”)
82 – quatre-vingt-deux (literally, “4-20-2”)
83 – quatre-vingt-trois (literally, “4-20-3”)
etc…
The 90s continue this pattern.
90 – quatre-vingt-dix (literally, “4-20-10”)
91 – quatre-vingt-onze (literally, “4-20-11”)
92 – quatre-vingt-douze (literally, “4-20-12”)
93 – quatre-vingt-treize (literally, “4-20-13”)
Now that you’ve made it this far, here is a number that is a bit more simple and easy to remember:
100 – cent
Part Two: Learn How to Tell Time in French
Now that you know how to count in French, let’s learn how to tell time!
When someone asks you, “Quelle heure est-il?” they are asking you, “What time is it?”
You look at your watch and you notice that it is three o’clock. How do you say this in French?
You say: “Il est trois heures.”
Let’s break that sentence down:
“Il est” = It is
Followed by the number of the hour = trois
Followed by “heures”, which literally means “hours”, and in this format it is the French equivalent of “o’clock”.
A few minutes later, someone else asks you what time it is. Now it’s 3:08.
So you say: “Il est trois heures huit.” Whenever the time is 1-29 minutes after the hour, you say it in this form.
If it is a quarter past three, you can also say, “Il est trois heures et quart.” instead of “Il est trois heures quinze”. Both are acceptable.
If it is half past three, you can say, “Il est trois heures et demie.” You can also say, “trois heures trente” instead of “et demie” – it’s up to you.
If the minute is between 31 and 59, instead of saying the current hour, you have another interesting option. Instead of saying, “Il est trois heures quarante” you can say the upcoming hour, minus the number of minutes until that hour. So 3:40 can be said as “Il est quatre heures moins vingt”, which means “It is 20 minutes before 4.”
As you can see, there are a few different ways that you can say the time. For instance, when 3:45 rolls around, you say any of the following:
“Il est trois heures quarante-cinq.”
“Il est quatre heures moins le quart.”
“Il est quatre heure moins quinze.”
Any one of them is correct!
If it happens to be noon or midnight, you’re lucky because all you have to say is:
“Il est midi” = It is noon.
“Il est minuit” = It is midnight.
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