Numbers in Swiss French
Septante, Huitante, Nonante by Canton
Updated May 2026
Swiss French (the French spoken in Suisse romande, the French-speaking western cantons of Switzerland) preserves three simpler number forms that mainland France abandoned: septante for 70, huitante for 80, nonante for 90. Switzerland is uniquely the only French-speaking country where all three Latin-derived forms survive. Belgium uses septante and nonante but not huitante. France abandoned all three. Switzerland alone preserves the complete logical decimal sequence.
The catch is that Swiss French is not uniform across cantons on the form for 80. Vaud, Valais, and Fribourg use huitante. Geneva and Neuchâtel typically use quatre-vingts (the same as France). This cantonal split reflects 19th-century educational autonomy across the Swiss confederation: each canton set its own school curriculum, and each canton chose how to standardise. Septante and nonante are universal in Swiss Romandie; huitante is cantonal. This page covers the system, the cantonal map, the historical reason for the divergence, and the everyday Swiss usage you would hear in Lausanne, Geneva, or Sion.
The Cantonal Map
Suisse romande comprises six French-speaking cantons (with their main cities in parentheses): Vaud (Lausanne), Genève (Geneva), Neuchâtel (Neuchâtel), Fribourg (Fribourg, partially French-speaking), Valais (Sion, partially French-speaking), and Jura (Delémont). The French-speaking minority is also present in the cantons of Berne (around Biel/Bienne) and small Romansh-influenced areas in Graubünden / Grisons.
For 70 and 90, all six cantons use septante and nonante uniformly. There is no Swiss canton where soixante-dix or quatre-vingt-dix would be preferred over the Latin-derived forms. Septante and nonante are the universal Swiss French forms.
For 80, the cantonal split: huitante is used in Vaud, Valais, and Fribourg. Quatre-vingts is used in Geneva and Neuchâtel. The Jura and the French-speaking parts of Berne tend to follow the local-tradition form: in Jura, both forms are heard depending on the speaker; in Bernese French (around Biel/Bienne), quatre-vingts tends to dominate. The split is not arbitrary; it reflects the 19th-century cantonal school authorities' choice of standard form. Vaud was particularly active in standardising on huitante in the late 1800s; Geneva, with its closer cultural ties to France, retained quatre-vingts.
Reference Table: France vs Belgium vs Swiss-Vaud vs Swiss-Geneva
| n | France | Belgium | CH (Vaud) | CH (Geneva) | Audio (Vaud) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 70 | soixante-dix | septante | septante | septante | |
| 71 | soixante et onze | septante et un | septante et un | septante et un | |
| 75 | soixante-quinze | septante-cinq | septante-cinq | septante-cinq | |
| 79 | soixante-dix-neuf | septante-neuf | septante-neuf | septante-neuf | |
| 80 | quatre-vingts | quatre-vingts | huitante | quatre-vingts | |
| 81 | quatre-vingt-un | quatre-vingt-un | huitante et un | quatre-vingt-un | |
| 85 | quatre-vingt-cinq | quatre-vingt-cinq | huitante-cinq | quatre-vingt-cinq | |
| 89 | quatre-vingt-neuf | quatre-vingt-neuf | huitante-neuf | quatre-vingt-neuf | |
| 90 | quatre-vingt-dix | nonante | nonante | nonante | |
| 91 | quatre-vingt-onze | nonante et un | nonante et un | nonante et un | |
| 95 | quatre-vingt-quinze | nonante-cinq | nonante-cinq | nonante-cinq | |
| 99 | quatre-vingt-dix-neuf | nonante-neuf | nonante-neuf | nonante-neuf |
Why Did Swiss French Preserve Huitante?
The form octante for 80 (and its variant huitante) appeared in medieval and early-modern French alongside quatre-vingts. The two coexisted for centuries, with regional preferences. In the southwestern French-speaking world (parts of Switzerland, the Béarn, parts of Languedoc), huitante remained common into the 19th century. In Paris and the Île-de-France, quatre-vingts dominated.
The 19th-century French language standardisation that locked in quatre-vingts for France did not affect Switzerland because Switzerland was a separate sovereign state with its own educational system. Each Swiss canton set its own school curriculum independently. Vaud (with its capital Lausanne) chose to teach septante, huitante, and nonante as the standard cantonal forms, on the educational reasoning that the decimal Latin-derived forms are simpler and more arithmetically transparent for primary-school children. The huitante form was thus actively standardised by Vaudois educational policy and survived as the cantonal norm.
Geneva, by contrast, has historically had stronger cultural and educational ties to France (Calvinist Geneva and the historical position of the city as a Francophone Protestant centre, with many French Huguenot exiles settling there in the 17th and 18th centuries, kept Geneva oriented toward French linguistic norms). Geneva chose to retain quatre-vingts in line with French standard usage. Neuchâtel followed Geneva. Fribourg and Valais, with stronger local traditions and less French cultural orientation, followed Vaud and adopted huitante.
The result: huitante is unique to part of Switzerland. Belgium did not preserve it (Belgian French education chose quatre-vingts like Geneva, while keeping septante and nonante for 70 and 90). Quebec did not preserve it (Quebec French follows mainland France for 70-99). Africa Francophone did not preserve it. Switzerland alone, and only in specific cantons, kept huitante alive into the 21st century.
Swiss French in Everyday Use
In Lausanne, Sion, or Fribourg, you would hear and use huitante in everyday speech: ma grand-mère a huitante-cinq ans (my grandmother is 85), ce livre coûte huitante francs (this book costs 80 CHF). In Geneva, the same sentence would be quatre-vingt-cinq ans and quatre-vingts francs. Both forms are accepted as standard Swiss French; the choice depends on which canton you are in.
Swiss broadcast media is interesting. RTS (Radio Télévision Suisse, the public broadcaster) uses septante and nonante universally. For 80, RTS programmes broadcast nationally tend to use quatre-vingts (to avoid favouring one cantonal usage), while regional Vaudois programming may use huitante. The 19h30 evening news on RTS typically uses quatre-vingts; local Vaudois current-affairs shows may use huitante.
Swiss official documents (federal-level) tend toward quatre-vingts for national consistency, though huitante is also accepted in cantonal documents from Vaud, Valais, and Fribourg. Swiss railways (CFF/SBB) use the time-of-day form (train de huit heures vingt for 8:20), where the regional split does not arise; only when discrete numbers like quatre-vingts kilomètres appear does the cantonal preference matter.
The Swiss franc currency form huitante francs is heard in Vaud and Valais; quatre-vingts francs in Geneva. Both are equally valid. The 1990 rectifications recommended dropping the s on cent before million / milliard, but did not address the regional 70-99 forms; the regional split remains as it has been for generations.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you say 80 in Swiss French?
In Vaud, Valais, and Fribourg cantons: huitante. In Geneva and Neuchâtel: typically quatre-vingts (the same as France). Switzerland is the only French-speaking country where the form for 80 is genuinely cantonal-dependent. Both forms are accepted as standard Swiss French depending on the canton you are in.
Do all Swiss French speakers use septante and nonante?
Yes, septante (70) and nonante (90) are universal across Swiss Romandie (the French-speaking part of Switzerland). The variation is only in the form for 80 (huitante vs quatre-vingts). Septante and nonante are universal in Swiss broadcast media (RTS), Swiss official publications, Swiss railway timetables (CFF/SBB), and Swiss schools.
Why does only Switzerland use huitante?
Because the canton of Vaud actively standardised on the Latin-derived octogonal form octante / huitante for educational and official use in the late 19th and 20th centuries, when the Vaudois cantonal authorities reformed their school curriculum. The form survived in Vaud, Valais, and Fribourg as part of the regional French identity. Other Swiss cantons (Geneva, Neuchâtel, Jura) followed Belgium's pattern of preserving septante and nonante but using France's quatre-vingts. The difference reflects 19th-century cantonal autonomy in education policy.
How is 95 said in Swiss French?
Nonante-cinq, throughout Romandie. The Swiss form for 95 is the same as the Belgian form: nonante-cinq. The form for 85 differs by canton: huitante-cinq in Vaud / Valais / Fribourg, quatre-vingt-cinq in Geneva / Neuchâtel.
What is the form for 81 in Swiss French?
In Vaud / Valais / Fribourg: huitante et un. The "et un" connector appears just like in vingt et un, trente et un. In Geneva / Neuchâtel: quatre-vingt-un (same as France, no et). The huitante form is morphologically simpler and treats the et-connector position as regular; the quatre-vingts form follows the France convention of dropping et at the 81 position.
Is huitante the same as octante?
Historically related, but huitante is the form actually used in modern Swiss French. Octante was a medieval and early-modern French form for 80 that fell out of widespread use. Huitante is the form documented in Swiss French dictionaries and used in practice. Some older Swiss texts use octante; modern Swiss usage is huitante. The Académie française dictionary lists both as historic forms but flags huitante as the current Swiss-cantonal usage.
Are Swiss French numbers taught in Swiss schools?
Yes. Swiss French primary education teaches the Swiss forms (septante, nonante, and huitante in the relevant cantons). Swiss textbooks list the Swiss forms as the standard for Swiss educational use. Children also learn the French alternative forms (soixante-dix, quatre-vingt-dix) so they can read mainland French texts, but their everyday productive form is the Swiss one. The CIIP (Conférence intercantonale de l'instruction publique) coordinates the educational curriculum across French-speaking Swiss cantons.