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Vocabulary
Objective: Recognise, pronounce, and write French numbers from thirty-one to one hundred in everyday contexts.
| Number | French | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 31 | trente et un | et un rule |
| 40 | quarante | Regular tens |
| 50 | cinquante | Regular tens |
| 60 | soixante | Regular tens |
| 70 | soixante-dix | 60 + 10 |
| 71 | soixante et onze | et rule returns |
| 80 | quatre-vingts | -s when alone |
| 81 | quatre-vingt-un | No et, no -s |
| 90 | quatre-vingt-dix | 80 + 10 |
| 91 | quatre-vingt-onze | No et |
| 100 | cent | Final form |
The number 81 does not take et, unlike 21, 31, 41, 51, 61, and 71, so the compound uses a hyphen only.
The -s in quatre-vingts disappears whenever another number follows, so 81 is written without the s.
Trente-cinq joins the tens and the unit with a hyphen. The number is above the et un threshold.
The number 42 uses the standard hyphen pattern. Prices appear directly after coûter.
The number 51 uses et because it ends in un, following the same rule as 21, 31, 41, and 61.
Soixante-dix combines sixty and ten, following the standard French pattern for the seventies.
The number 71 uses et even though it does not end in un. This is the only exception in the number system.
5 exercises · about 8 minutes
Standard French uses soixante-douze rather than septante, which is standard in Belgian and Swiss French but not used in France.
The -s in cents disappears whenever another number follows, so 201 is written as deux cent un.
Quatre-vingts keeps the -s because it stands alone before the noun kilomètres.
The number 81 removes the -s and drops the et, following the rule that only 71 keeps it above seventy.
Quatre-vingt-quinze combines eighty and fifteen, following the same tens-plus-units structure.