Negative numbers take the moins prefix. Zero has four forms in French: zero (the digit), nul (nil / void), aucun (none), and pas un (not a single one). Each has its own context.
Updated May 2026
Negative numbers
N
French
English
Note
Audio
-1
moins un
minus one
Moins is invariable; same form for masculine and feminine.
-5
moins cinq
minus five
-10
moins dix
minus ten
Common weather form: il fait moins dix.
-25
moins vingt-cinq
minus twenty-five
-100
moins cent
minus one hundred
The four words for zero
French
English
Context
Note
zero
zero
Mathematical zero
Read as the digit, the temperature, the score. Universal default.
nul
nil
Sports score, formal nil
Score nul, match nul (draw). Also formal for "void" (nul et non avenu).
aucun
no / none
Negative determiner (none)
Aucune personne / aucun livre = no one / no book. Used as a determiner not a number.
pas un
not a single one
Emphatic negation
Pas un mot, pas une seule fois. Stronger than aucun.
Prefix the number with moins. Moins un, moins cinq, moins dix. Moins is invariable and works for any negative integer or decimal: moins zero virgule cinq for -0.5. The English minus is borrowed in some technical contexts but moins is standard in French.
What is zero in French?
Zero. Plural zeros (the digit appearing multiple times). Pronounced /ze.ro/. The same word covers mathematical zero, the score zero, and the temperature zero. The CNRTL traces the word back to Italian zero, ultimately from Arabic sifr.
When do you use nul instead of zero?
Nul means nil or void. Match nul (drawn match), score nul (no goals scored), nul et non avenu (legally void). The word is also a quantifier (nulle part = nowhere, nul ne sait = no one knows). It is more formal than zero and carries a negative or absence connotation. Sports commentary almost always uses nul for a zero score in football: France un, Italie zero, score final un nul.
Is zero singular or plural in French?
Singular zero, plural zeros. With agreement on the noun it counts: zero degre (singular, because of zero), zero personne (singular). Some style guides prescribe zero personnes (plural) for grammatical absence of countable things; the Academie francaise lists both as acceptable. Larousse defaults to the singular agreement.
How do you say "below zero" in French?
En dessous de zero (literally below zero) or au-dessous de zero. The weather forecast form is moins X degres (minus X degrees). For temperatures the standard idiom is il fait moins dix (it is minus 10) rather than il fait dix en dessous de zero (it is ten below zero), which is verbose.