Language/French/Grammar/Cardinal-numbers

Cardinal numbers in French

Numbers like un, deux, trois, etc., are called cardinal numbers:

Table: How to write and use cardinal numbers in French. From 0 to 1 billion

Number	Number in French	Comment
0	zéro
1	un	un (masculine) is used in contexts like the following: il porte le numéro 'un', 'He is wearing the number "one"'; à la page un, 'on page one'; la partie un, 'part one'. It is also used as a masculine pronoun: As-tu un stylo? Pierre en a un 'Have you got a pen? Pierre has one'. une (feminine) is used as a feminine pronoun: Il ne m'en reste qu'une (carte postale), 'I've only got one left (postcard)'. NB: à la une 'on the front page'.
2	deux
3	trois
4	quatre	quatre is invariable and never takes a plural -s: les quatre chats 'the four cats'.
5	cinq	The final q of cinq is always pronounced [k], except when it precedes cent, where it is not pronounced: cinq cents.
6	six	six is pronounced with a final [s] when it is at the end of a phrase: j'en ai vu six 'I saw six'; it is pronounced with a final [z] when it precedes a noun beginning with a vowel: six hommes 'six men'. When it precedes a noun beginning with a consonant the x is not pronounced: six joueurs 'six players'.
7	sept
8	huit	huit is pronounced with a final [t] when it is at the end of a phrase: j'en ai vu huit 'I saw eight', and when it precedes a noun beginning with a vowel: huit entreprises ont fermé 'eight firms have closed'. When it precedes a noun beginning with a consonant the t is not pronounced: huit semaines plus tard 'eight weeks later'.
9	neuf	The final f of neuf is always pronounced [f], except in neuf ans 'nine years' and neuf hemes 'nine hours, nine o'clock' where it is pronounced [v].
10	dix	The pronunciation of dix is the same as for six.
11	onze
12	douze	douze is invariable, and never takes a plural -s: douze hommes 'twelve men'.
13	treize
14	quatorze
15	quinze
16	seize
17	dix-sept
18	dix-huit	The pronunciation of dix-huit is the same as for huit.
19	dix-neuf	The pronunciation of dix-neuf is the same as for neuf.
20	vingt	vingt is pronounced like vin, with the following exceptions: it is pronounced with a final [t] when it precedes a noun beginning with a vowel: vingt exercices 'twenty exercises', and also in the numbers 22-29 inclusive.
21	vingt et un	vingt et une, trente et une, quarante et une, etc. are used under the same conditions described for une.
22	vingt-deux
23	vingt-trois
29	vingt-neuf
30	trente
31	trente et un
32	trente-deux
39	trente-neuf
40	quarante
41	quarante et un
42	quarante-deux
49	quarante-neuf
50	cinquante
51	cinquante et un
52	cinquante-deux
59	cinquante-neuf
60	soixante
61	soixante et un
62	soixante deux
69	soixante-neuf
70	soixante-dix	In Belgian and Swiss French the word septante is used instead of soixante-dix: septante et un, septantedeux, etc.
71	soixante et onze
72	soixante-douze
73	soixante-treize
79	soixante-dix-neuf
80	quatre-vingts
81	quatre-vingt-un
82	quatre-vingt-deux
89	quatre-vingt-neuf
90	quatre-vingt-dix	In Belgian and Swiss French the word nonante is used instead of quatre-vingt-dix: nonante-un, nonante-deux, etc.
91	quatre-vingt-onze
92	quatre-vingt-douze
93	quatre-vingt-treize
99	quatre-vingt-dix-neuf
101	cent un	cent une réponses 'a hundred and one answers'
100	cent	'one hundred, a hundred' is simply cent: 'a hundred times' cent fois
102	cent deux
111	cent onze	The [t] of cent is NOT pronounced in cent un, cent huit, cent onze, but it is pronounced when followed by a non-numeral noun beginning with a vowel: cent ans 'a hundred years'.
200	deux cents
201	deux cent un
202	deux cent deux
1000	mille	'one thousand, a thousand' is simply mille: 'a thousand times' mille fois
1001	mille un
1100	mille cent or onze cents	There are two ways of describing numbers between 1100 and 1999: onze cents or mille cent (1100); dix-huit cent soixante or mille huit cent soixante (1860); dix-neuf cent quatrevingt-dix-neuf or mille neuf cent quatre-vingt-dix-neuf (1999), etc.
1101	onze cent un OR mille cent un
1200	douze cents OR mille deux cents
1201	douze cent un OR mille deux cent un
1500	quinze cents OR mille cinq cents
2000	deux mille
2001	deux mille un
2101	deux mille cent un
1000000	un million
1201101	un million deux cent mille cent un
1000000000	un milliard

Other Chapters

Table of Contents

Nouns

• Types
• Gender
• Plural

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Determiners

• Articles
• Typical use of the definite article
• Typical use of the indefinite article
• The partitive article: du, de l', de la, des
• Use of indefinite and partitive articles after the negative forms ne... pas, ne... jamais, ne... plus, ne... guère
• Omission of the article
• Demonstrative determiners
• Possessive determiners

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Personal and impersonal pronouns

• Subject pronouns
• Object pronouns
• Stressed pronouns
• Demonstrative pronouns
• Possessive pronouns

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Adjectives

• Adjectives modifying the noun
• Adjectives which follow verbs or verbal expressions
• Adjectives with complements
• Indefinite and negative noun phrases with adjective complements
• Adjectives used as nouns
• Adjectives used as adverbs
• Masculine and feminine forms of adjectives
• Plural forms of adjectives
• Adjective agreement with nouns
• Invariable adjectives
• Compound adjectives
• Comparative and superlative forms of adjectives
• Subjunctive versus indicative in clauses dependent on a superlative adjective
• Absolute use of the superlative

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Adverbs

• Function of adverbs
• Formation of adverbs with the ending -ment
• Adjectives used as adverbs without addition of -ment
• Phrases used as adverbs
• English and French adverb formation
• Types of adverbs
• Location of adverbs

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Numbers, measurements, time and quantifiers

• Cardinal numbers
• Ordinal numbers
• Fractions
• Some differences in the use of cardinal and ordinal numbers in French and English
• Measurements and comparisons
• Dates, days, years
• Clock time
• Money
• Quantifiers

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Verb forms

• Conjugations
• Easy ways of generating some parts of the paradigms
• Changes in the stem form of some -er conjugation verbs
• Verbs whose stems end in c- or g-
• Verb paradigms

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Verb constructions

• Relations between verbs and their complements
• Intransitive constructions
• Directly transitive verbs
• Indirectly transitive verbs
• Ditransitive verbs
• The passive
• Pronominal verbs
• Impersonal verbs
• Verbs which take noun + adjective or noun + noun complements

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Verb and participle agreement

• Subject-verb agreement
• Agreement of the past participle with the subject of être
• Agreement of the past participle of verbs conjugated with avoir with a preceding direct object
• Agreement of the past participle of pronominal verbs in compound tenses

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Tense

• The present
• The past
• The future
• Other tenses indicating the time at which events occur relative to other events
• Combining tenses
• Tenses in direct and reported descriptions of events
• Tenses with si

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The subjunctive, modal verbs, exclamatives and imperatives

• The attitude of the subject to events: the subjunctive
• The use of devoir, pouvoir, savoir, falloir
• The French equivalents of the English modal verbs: 'would', 'should', 'could', 'may', 'might', 'ought to', and 'must'
• Exclamatives
• Imperatives

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The infinitive

• Introduction: what are infinitives?
• Infinitives as complements to other verbs
• Verbs which take infinitive complements without a linking preposition
• Verbs which take infinitive complements preceded by the preposition à
• Verbs which take an infinitive complement preceded by de
• Omission of objects before infinitives
• Infinitives as complements to adjectives
• Infinitives as complements to nouns
• Infinitives in subordinate clauses
• Infinitives as polite commands
• Quick-reference index to verbs taking infinitive complements

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Prepositions

• Introduction
• Prepositions listed alphabetically from à to vers
• French translations for common English prepositions

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Question formation

• Introduction
• Yes/no questions
• Information questions
• Order of object pronouns in questions involving inversion
• Order of negative particles in questions involving inversion
• Use of question words and phrases: qui?, que?, quoi?, quel?, de qui?, avec combien de? etc.
• Indirect questions

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Relative clauses

• Introduction
• Use of relative qui
• Use of relative que
• Preposition plus qui
• Use of lequel in relative clauses
• Use of dont, de qui, duquel/de laquelle/desquels/desquelles
• The use of où as a relative pronoun
• Use of relative quoi
• Free relative clauses and the use of ce qui, ce que, ce dont, ce à quoi, ce sur quoi, etc.
• Translating 'whoever', 'whatever', 'wherever', 'whenever', 'however'
• Indicative and subjunctive in relative clauses

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Negation

• Introduction
• Location of sentence negators
• Order of negators in multiple negation
• Omission of ne in sentence negation
• Order of negative elements in questions and imperatives
• ne... pas
• ne... que
• ne... aucun(e), ne... nul(le)
• ne... jamais
• ne... plus
• ne... guère
• ne... rien
• ne... personne
• ne... ni... ni
• sans used with other negators
• ne used alone

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Conjunctions and other linking constructions

• Introduction
• Coordinating conjunctions
• Subordinating conjunctions
• Conjunctions sometimes confused by English speakers
• Repeated subordinating conjunctions
• Subordinating conjunctions used with infinitive clauses
• après avoir/ être + past participle linking an infinitive clause to a main clause
• Past participle phrases used as linkers
• Present participles and gerunds

Other Lessons

• "de" when an adjective precedes the noun
• Pronominal verbs without a reflexive interpretation
• Easy way of generating the present subjunctive
• Position of object pronouns with imperatives
• The partitive article "du", "de l'", "de la" and "des"
• Comparative and superlative forms of adverbs
• How to write and read numbers
• Intransitive verbs and auxiliary « avoir »
• Use of the definite article with quantities
• Position of object pronouns with devoir, pouvoir + infinitives
• Past Participle
• Transitive and Intransitive Verbs
• Easy future
• Meaning of tout à l'heure
• Plurals in cardinal numbers