French Numbers FAQ
14 Common Questions Answered
Updated 17 April 2026
Answers to the most frequently asked questions about French numbers, from the vigesimal mystery of quatre-vingts to Belgium's septante, date formats, phone pronunciation, and price conventions.
Why does French say "quatre-vingt" instead of a word for 80?
French uses a base-20 (vigesimal) counting system inherited from the Celtic Gauls who counted in groups of twenty. Quatre-vingt means "four-twenties" (4 x 20 = 80). Most of Europe adopted base-10 from Latin, but France kept the Celtic forms for 70-99. Belgium and Switzerland simplified these to septante, huitante, and nonante during the 19th century when France did not.
Full history of vigesimal counting →How do you say 70 in French?
In France, 70 is "soixante-dix" (literally sixty-ten, 60+10). In Belgium and parts of Switzerland, 70 is "septante" - a more logical base-10 form. Both are correct French but soixante-dix is standard in France and Quebec. The difference comes from 19th-century language standardisation that France adopted but Belgium and Switzerland did not.
Full 70-99 guide →How do you say 80 in French?
In France and Belgium, 80 is "quatre-vingts" (four-twenties, 4 x 20). Written with an s when it ends a number (quatre-vingts), but without s when another number follows (quatre-vingt-un for 81, quatre-vingt-deux for 82). Switzerland uses "huitante" in most cantons. This is one of the trickiest spelling rules in French numbers.
See 80 in the 70-99 table →How do you say 90 in French?
In France, 90 is "quatre-vingt-dix" (four-twenties-ten, 4 x 20 + 10). In Belgium and Switzerland, 90 is "nonante". Note there is no s on quatre-vingt here because dix follows. 91 is quatre-vingt-onze, 97 is quatre-vingt-dix-sept, 99 is quatre-vingt-dix-neuf.
90-99 in the drill page →Do Belgians and Swiss people say soixante-dix?
No. Belgian French uses septante (70), quatre-vingts (80, same as France), and nonante (90). Swiss French in Vaud, Valais, and Fribourg uses septante, huitante, and nonante. Other Swiss cantons (Geneva, Neuchatel) tend toward France forms. If you say soixante-dix in Brussels, people understand but know you learned French in France.
Full regional comparison →Is there a French number converter tool?
Yes - this site's homepage has a free converter that handles any integer from 0 to 999,999,999,999. It handles all special cases: 80 (quatre-vingts with s), 81 (quatre-vingt-un without s), 200 (deux cents with s), 201 (deux cent un without s). Toggle between France, Belgium, and Switzerland for regional variants. Audio plays via Web Speech API.
Open the converter →How do you count to 100 in French?
Start with 1-16, which are unique words you must memorise. Then 17-19 follow dix-sept, dix-huit, dix-neuf. Numbers 20-69 use tens plus units with a hyphen (vingt-deux, trente-cinq). Numbers 70-99 use the vigesimal system. The complete reference with audio is on the 1-to-100 page.
Full 1-100 reference with audio →How do you say numbers above 100 in French?
Cent (100), deux cents (200 - with s), deux cent vingt (220 - no s). Mille (1000 - never pluralises, no article). Un million (with article, pluralises: deux millions). Un milliard = 1,000,000,000 in French (what English calls a billion - important false friend).
Hundreds to millions guide →How do you write the date in French?
The format is day-of-week, date number, month, year. Example: lundi 17 avril 2026. Only the 1st of the month uses an ordinal: le premier mai. All other dates use cardinal numbers: le 2 juin. Months and days are always lowercase in French. Numeric format: DD/MM/YYYY, not MM/DD/YYYY.
Full dates guide with converter →How do French people say phone numbers?
In pairs of digits, not one by one. "06 12 34 56 78" is said as zero-six, douze, trente-quatre, cinquante-six, soixante-dix-huit. The first pair (06, 07 for mobiles; 01-05 for landlines) is always read as zero plus the single digit. This pairing convention is universal in France.
Phone number pronunciation guide →How do you say prices in French?
Douze euros (12 euros), douze euros cinquante (12.50, informal), douze euros et cinquante centimes (formal). French uses a decimal comma: €12,50 written, "douze virgule cinquante" in mathematical speech. Un million d'euros uses "de" before the noun. Deux mille euros (2000 euros, mille never takes s).
Prices and money guide →What are ordinal numbers in French?
Ordinals (first, second, third...) are formed by adding -ieme to the cardinal. Quatre becomes quatrieme (drop the e). Exceptions: cinq becomes cinquieme, neuf becomes neuvieme. Only premier/premiere (1st) is fully irregular. From deuxieme onwards, ordinals do not change for gender - much simpler than many European languages.
Full ordinals guide with converter →Why are French numbers harder than Spanish or Italian?
Because 70-99 in French uses a base-20 system requiring arithmetic. Spanish setenta (70), ochenta (80), noventa (90) are straightforward base-10 descendants of Latin. French kept the Celtic vigesimal forms at the insistence of the Academie francaise during 19th-century standardisation. Belgium and Switzerland avoided this by not participating in that standardisation.
Full history page →What is "soixante-dix" and why does it exist?
Soixante-dix literally means "sixty-ten" (60 + 10 = 70). It exists because the Gauls, Celtic tribes who inhabited France before Roman conquest, counted in base-20. When French evolved from Latin, the Latin base-10 words (septuaginta → septante for 70) were available but France ultimately standardised the Celtic vigesimal forms, giving us the arithmetic required to say any number 70-99.
Master the 70-99 range →