Cardinal Numbers in French

In Brief

French counting is regular from 0 to 69, then changes pattern: 70 is built as 60 + 10 (soixante-dix), 80 as 4 × 20 (quatre-vingts), and 90 as 80 + 10 (quatre-vingt-dix). Use un with a masculine noun and une with a feminine noun, but most other cardinal numbers do not change form.

Overview

Cardinal numbers express quantity: one person, two tickets, ninety euros. You also use them for ages, prices, phone numbers, addresses, transport routes, scores, years, and many dates. “Cardinal” simply means a counting number, unlike an ordinal number (a number that marks position, such as “first” or “second”). This is an essential A1 topic because even a short visit to a shop or café requires numbers.

English-speaking learners can build most French numbers by combining a relatively small set of words. From 17 onward, French often places the larger unit first: dix-sept is literally “ten-seven,” and trente-deux is “thirty-two.” The unfamiliar part comes at 70–99, where standard French in France uses addition and multiplication rather than separate basic words for every ten.

Learn the spoken forms and the written forms together. Final consonants are sometimes silent, and the same word may sound slightly different before another number or a noun. At first, focus on recognizing the pattern and saying the complete number smoothly; the finer spelling and pronunciation details can follow.

How It Works

The basic numbers: 0–16

These forms must largely be learned as individual words.

Number	French	Approximate cue for English speakers
0	zéro	final o is pronounced
1	un / une	form depends on the noun’s gender
2	deux	final x is normally silent
3	trois	final s is normally silent
4	quatre	final r is heard; final e is not
5	cinq	final consonant is often heard when counting alone
6	six	often sounds like sees when counting alone
7	sept	final t is heard
8	huit	final t is often heard alone
9	neuf	final f is heard
10	dix	often sounds like dees when counting alone
11	onze	begins with a vowel sound but normally blocks liaison
12	douze	—
13	treize	—
14	quatorze	—
15	quinze	—
16	seize	—

The difference between un and une is grammatical gender (the noun category called masculine or feminine), not the speaker’s gender. Say un café, un billet, and un homme, but une table, une voiture, and une femme. When the number stands alone, un is the normal counting form: zéro, un, deux, trois.

From 17 to 69

Numbers 17–19 combine ten with a unit:

• dix-sept — 17
• dix-huit — 18
• dix-neuf — 19

Then learn the tens vingt (20), trente (30), quarante (40), cinquante (50), and soixante (60). Add the unit after the ten: vingt-deux, trente-six, quarante-neuf, cinquante-trois, soixante-huit.

The main exception is a number ending in 1. In traditional spelling, 21, 31, 41, 51, and 61 insert et (“and”):

Number	Traditional spelling	Also accepted under 1990 spelling reforms
21	vingt et un	vingt-et-un
31	trente et un	trente-et-un
41	quarante et un	quarante-et-un
51	cinquante et un	cinquante-et-un
61	soixante et un	soixante-et-un

Both spelling systems are accepted. Modern reformed spelling hyphenates every part of a compound number; traditional spelling leaves spaces around et. Choose one convention and use it consistently.

The 70s: sixty plus ten

French as used in France builds 70–79 on soixante:

Number	French	Structure
70	soixante-dix	60 + 10
71	soixante et onze / soixante-et-onze	60 + 11
72	soixante-douze	60 + 12
75	soixante-quinze	60 + 15
79	soixante-dix-neuf	60 + 19

Notice that 71 uses et, but 81 and 91 do not. This is a pattern worth learning as a complete contrast: soixante et onze, quatre-vingt-un, quatre-vingt-onze.

The 80s and 90s: four twenties

Quatre-vingts means 4 × 20. It has a final -s only when it is exactly 80. When another number follows, remove that -s.

Number	French	Key point
80	quatre-vingts	final -s in the exact multiple
81	quatre-vingt-un	no et, no -s
82	quatre-vingt-deux	no -s
89	quatre-vingt-neuf	no -s
90	quatre-vingt-dix	80 + 10
91	quatre-vingt-onze	no et
95	quatre-vingt-quinze	80 + 15
99	quatre-vingt-dix-neuf	80 + 19
100	cent	a new base word

A quick mental strategy is to hear 70–79 as 60 + 10–19 and 90–99 as 80 + 10–19. For example, soixante-quinze is 60 + 15, while quatre-vingt-dix-neuf is 80 + 19.

Putting a number before a noun

A number normally comes directly before the noun: deux cafés, trente euros, quatre-vingts pages. The noun is singular after zero or one in ordinary usage, and plural after numbers greater than one: zéro euro, un euro, deux euros. In prices and measurements, written symbols may follow their own formatting conventions.

Apart from un/une, the numbers 0–100 do not change to match masculine and feminine nouns: deux garçons, deux filles. Do not add an article between a cardinal number and the noun: trois billets, not trois des billets, when you simply mean “three tickets.”

Examples in Context

French	English	Note
Un, deux, trois… partez !	One, two, three… go!	Standalone counting uses un.
Je voudrais une baguette et deux croissants.	I’d like one baguette and two croissants.	Une agrees with feminine baguette.
Nous sommes vingt et un dans la classe.	There are twenty-one of us in the class.	Traditional spelling with et.
Le billet coûte trente-quatre euros.	The ticket costs thirty-four euros.	Ten + unit.
Elle a cinquante et un ans.	She is fifty-one years old.	French uses avoir (“to have”) for age.
Le trajet dure soixante et une minutes.	The journey lasts sixty-one minutes.	Une appears because minute is feminine.
Il y a soixante-dix places.	There are seventy seats.	60 + 10.
Ma grand-mère a soixante-quinze ans.	My grandmother is seventy-five.	60 + 15.
Ce livre a quatre-vingts pages.	This book has eighty pages.	Exact 80 keeps the -s.
La chambre quatre-vingt-un est au premier étage.	Room 81 is on the first floor.	No et after quatre-vingt.
Ils ont quatre-vingt-deux invités.	They have eighty-two guests.	Vingt loses its -s before another number.
Le total est de quatre-vingt-dix-neuf euros.	The total is ninety-nine euros.	80 + 19.
Composez le zéro un, quarante-deux, dix-huit…	Dial zero one, forty-two, eighteen…	Phone numbers are often grouped in pairs in France.
Cent personnes attendent dehors.	One hundred people are waiting outside.	Cent means 100.

Common Mistakes

Treating 70, 80, and 90 like English tens

• Wrong: septante or huitante when following the standard taught for France without regional context
• Right: soixante-dix, quatre-vingts, quatre-vingt-dix
• Why: Standard usage in France uses the compound system. Septante, huitante, and nonante do exist regionally, but they are not interchangeable everywhere.

Adding et to every number ending in one

• Wrong: quatre-vingt et un, quatre-vingt-dix et un
• Right: quatre-vingt-un, quatre-vingt-onze
• Why: Et appears in 21, 31, 41, 51, 61, and 71, but not in 81 or 91.

Keeping the -s inside a longer number

• Wrong: quatre-vingts-deux
• Right: quatre-vingt-deux
• Why: Quatre-vingts keeps its plural -s only when nothing else follows within the number.

Using un before every noun

• Wrong: un voiture, vingt et un personnes
• Right: une voiture, vingt et une personnes
• Why: The final un becomes une before a feminine noun. The rest of the compound number stays unchanged.

Translating age word for word from English

• Wrong: Je suis vingt ans.
• Right: J’ai vingt ans.
• Why: French expresses age with avoir (“to have”), not être (“to be”).

Mixing spelling conventions within one number

• Awkward: trente-et un
• Right: trente et un or trente-et-un
• Why: Traditional and reformed spellings are both valid, but the spacing and hyphens should follow one system consistently.

Usage Notes

In everyday speech, numbers can be harder to recognize than they look on paper. Several final consonants change according to what follows. For example, six and dix have a final /s/ sound when said alone, but that consonant is usually silent before a consonant-starting noun: six personnes, dix minutes. Before a vowel sound, a linking consonant may be heard: dix ans. This linking of sounds across word boundaries is called liaison.

French telephone numbers are commonly read in two-digit groups in France: 06 12 34 56 78 may be read zéro six, douze, trente-quatre, cinquante-six, soixante-dix-huit. In addresses, bus routes, room numbers, and codes, the numeral identifies a label rather than a quantity, but the same cardinal forms are used.

The forms taught above match mainstream usage in France. Much of Belgium and French-speaking Switzerland commonly uses septante for 70 and nonante for 90. Huitante is used in parts of Switzerland for 80; octante is rare today. These are established regional standards, not mistakes. Learn the system used by the community you interact with, while recognizing the France-based forms because they are widely encountered.

Beyond the Basics / Advanced Use

You do not need to master larger numbers yet, but the agreement pattern continues beyond 100. Cent takes -s when multiplied and not followed by another number: deux cents (200), but deux cent trois (203). Similarly, vingt takes -s in an exact multiple such as quatre-vingts, but not when another numeral follows. Under the 1990 spelling recommendations, complete compound numbers can be fully hyphenated: deux-cent-trois.

Mille (1,000) is invariable: deux mille, never deux milles as a cardinal number. Million and milliard, however, are nouns, so they can be plural: deux millions, trois milliards. Because they are nouns, a following noun is introduced with de: deux millions de personnes.

Numbers also interact with articles in ways that depend on meaning. Les trois étudiants means “the three students,” referring to a known group; trois étudiants simply means “three students.” Approximate quantities use separate expressions such as une dizaine de (“about ten”) and une centaine de (“about a hundred”).

Finally, written numbers may describe dates and historical periods. Most years use cardinal numbers, but the first day of a month is commonly le premier, an ordinal: le premier mai. The other days use cardinals: le deux mai, le quinze août. This distinction leads naturally into ordinal numbers and time-and-date expressions.

Practice Tips

1. Build numbers instead of memorizing 101 separate items. Drill the bases 0–16 and the tens through 60, then generate random combinations. Give extra rounds to 70–99.
2. Practice in meaningful sets. Read prices from a menu, say ages, invent room numbers, and read a French-style phone number in pairs. This trains the situations in which numbers are actually heard.
3. Use a three-way contrast for the difficult ones. Say soixante et onze, quatre-vingt-un, and quatre-vingt-onze together. Then write 80, 81, and 82 to reinforce when quatre-vingts loses its -s.

Related Concepts

• Next step: Ordinal Numbers — learn how French marks order and rank, as in “first,” “second,” and “third.”
• Next step: Time & Dates — use cardinal numbers to tell the time, give dates, and discuss schedules.