40 to 50 in French

Quarante through quarante-neuf, then cinquante. Same et-un and hyphen pattern. The neuf-to-neuv shift before vowels still applies in compounds.

Updated May 2026

Adjacent deciles

How do you say 40 in French?

Quarante. Pronounced /kaʁɑ̃t/. The qua- gives a /k/ sound and the rest carries the same nasal-vowel-t pattern as trente, cinquante, soixante.

How do you say 45 in French?

Quarante-cinq. Hyphenated, no et connector because the unit is 5 (et is only used on the unit 1).

Is quarante or quatre the word for 40?

Quarante is 40. Quatre is 4. They share the same Latin root (quattuor) but quatre is the unit and quarante is the multiple of ten.

Does quarante-neuf have any sound shifts?

Within the compound, no. /kaʁɑ̃t.noef/. Before ans or heures, neuf shifts to /noev/: quarante-neuf ans = /kaʁɑ̃t.noev‿ɑ̃/.

Sources: Larousse, CNRTL.