Numbers in Quebec French
France-Aligned, with Local Conventions

Quebec Uses France\'s Vigesimal Forms

Quebec French follows mainland France for the entire 1-99 range. Soixante-dix (70), soixante-et-onze (71), soixante-douze (72), through soixante-dix-neuf (79). Quatre-vingts (80) with the plural-s when standing alone, quatre-vingt-un (81) without the s and without “et”, through quatre-vingt-neuf (89). Quatre-vingt-dix (90), quatre-vingt-onze (91), quatre-vingt-douze (92), through quatre-vingt-dix-neuf (99). The vigesimal arithmetic is identical to France.

The historical reason is that Quebec was settled by colonists from France during the 17th and 18th centuries (1608 onwards), when the central-French vigesimal forms were already established as the dominant Parisian usage. The Belgian and Swiss alternative forms (septante, nonante, huitante) had also been heard at the time but were regional variants. The colonising population brought central-French usage, and Quebec French preserved that even after France itself further standardised in the 19th century.

The Banque de dépannage linguistique of the OQLF documents the Quebec French numerical norms and aligns explicitly with France for the 70-99 range. The Quebec educational curriculum teaches the vigesimal forms; Quebec children do not learn septante or nonante in school. They may encounter the Belgian / Swiss forms in international French content but recognise them as foreign-French forms, not as Quebec French.

Pricing: Excluding Taxes by Default

The single biggest everyday numerical difference between Quebec and France is how prices are displayed. Quebec follows the North American convention of pricing exclusive of sales taxes; the displayed price is what the merchant charges before government taxes are added. France follows the European convention of pricing inclusive of taxes (TTC, toutes taxes comprises); the displayed price is what the customer pays at the till.

In Quebec, a coffee on a menu marked $3.00 actually costs $3.45 once the GST (TPS, taxe sur les produits et services, 5%) and the QST (TVQ, taxe de vente du Québec, 9.975%) are added. The combined tax rate is roughly 14.975% on most goods and services. Some categories (basic groceries, rent, prescription drugs) are exempt or partially exempt from one or both taxes. The exact final price is computed at the till and printed on the receipt; the displayed price is the pre-tax base.

For visitors from France or other tax-inclusive-pricing countries, this is a reliable source of mild surprise at the till. The displayed numbers and the actually-paid numbers differ. Tipping (typically 15-20% of the pre-tax amount in restaurants) adds a further layer. A restaurant bill displayed as $30 might end up costing $42-45 once taxes and tip are factored in. The pricing convention is documented by Revenu Québec and is the legal default for retail in the province.

Measurements: Officially Metric, Imperial Coexists

Canada (and Quebec within it) officially adopted the metric system in 1970 with the Weights and Measures Act. Road signs, weather forecasts, scientific publications, packaged food labels, and government statistics use metric units. A Quebec road sign reads 100 km/h as the speed limit, not 60 mph. A Quebec weather forecast announces vingt-cinq degrés Celsius, not 77 Fahrenheit.

However, Imperial units coexist informally for several categories where the cultural inertia of pre-1970 usage persists. Body height and weight: Quebeckers in everyday speech often state height in feet and inches (cinq pieds dix, 5’10”, ~178 cm) and weight in pounds (cent quatre-vingts livres, 180 lbs, ~82 kg) rather than metric. Younger Quebeckers (under 30) increasingly default to metric, but the Imperial form remains widely used and understood.

Construction and home measurements: ceiling heights, room dimensions, lumber dimensions, and many construction-trade measurements are in feet and inches in Quebec. A real estate listing might describe a room as douze pieds par quatorze pieds (12’ x 14’) rather than 3.6 m x 4.3 m. Lumber is sold in dimensional-Imperial sizes (2x4, 2x6, etc.) directly inherited from US construction standards.

Cooking: Quebec recipes often mix metric (grammes, millilitres) and Imperial (cups, tablespoons, teaspoons). A standard kitchen in Quebec has measuring cups marked in both systems. Older cookbooks lean Imperial; modern professional ones (Ricardo, Stefano Faita, Josée di Stasio cookbooks) tend to be more metric. The Quebec educational system teaches metric exclusively, so children learn metric in school but encounter Imperial at home and in everyday adult contexts.

Phone Numbers and Postal Codes

Quebec phone numbers follow the North American Numbering Plan (NANP): 10 digits in the format (XXX) XXX-XXXX. The first three digits are the area code (indicatif régional): 514 for Montreal Island, 438 as the secondary Montreal code, 450 for the Montreal suburbs, 418 for Quebec City, 581 as the Quebec City secondary, 819 for Sherbrooke and Trois-Rivières, 873 as the central Quebec secondary. The next three digits are the central office code; the last four digits are the line number.

When read aloud, Quebec phone numbers split into 3-3-4 groups matching the NANP format: (514) 555-1234 = cinq cent quatorze, cinq cent cinquante-cinq, douze trente-quatre. The 4-digit final block is read as two two-digit numbers. This contrasts with the French convention of pair-of-digits reading for the entire 10-digit French number (see the phone numbers in French page for the French convention).

Canadian postal codes are six characters in the format A1A 1A1, alternating letters and digits. Montreal codes start with H (e.g. H2X 1Y4 for downtown Montreal); Quebec City codes start with G (e.g. G1R 5V7); Sherbrooke and Eastern Townships codes start with J. The first three characters identify the postal sector; the last three identify the delivery point. This is fundamentally different from French 5-digit numerical postal codes; the alphanumeric Canadian system carries more delivery-point detail per character.

Currency: Canadian Dollars

Quebec uses the Canadian dollar (CAD), divided into 100 cents. The official code is CAD; the symbol is $; in Quebec contexts where ambiguity with the US dollar is a concern, the symbol $CA or $CAN is used. Quebec follows international French conventions for written currency: 12,50 $ with the comma decimal and the symbol after the number. In informal Quebec English-French mixed usage, the form $12.50 with the symbol before and the period decimal is also seen, especially in retail price displays.

For amounts said aloud, Quebec follows the same implicit-cents pattern as France for the euro: douze dollars cinquante means $12.50 (with the second number understood as cents). For larger amounts: cent dollars ($100), mille dollars ($1,000), un million de dollars ($1,000,000, with the de-preposition because million is a noun). The de-preposition rule applies identically to euros in France and to dollars in Quebec.

One specific Quebec colloquialism: un sou for a one-cent coin (the penny), inherited from the pre-decimal French sou. Canada eliminated the penny from circulation in 2013, so the term is now historical, but it survives in idioms (économiser ses sous, save up; ça vaut pas un sou, not worth a penny). For larger denominations, Quebec uses standard French (une pièce de deux dollars, un billet de vingt dollars). The Canadian $1 and $2 coins are sometimes called un huard and un toonie respectively (English loanwords used in Quebec French).

Frequently Asked Questions