In a recent post, we already talked about numbers ranging from 0 to 19. This post is just about the rest of them.
Same as in English we 'build' twenty from two - with a bit of distorsion - then thirty from three, for-ty, fif-ty and so on, we build our tens from our figures in French too. Well, almost. Let's dive in.
20 is vingt (2 is deux. Those two words have nothing in common, I am sorry)
30 is trente (3 is trois. Starting by 'tr' and ending by -ente, rather close)
40 is quarante (4 is quatre. Starting almost the same and following -ante, which is pronounced the same way as -ente. Quite logical no ?)
50 is cinquante (5 is cinq. Right in the logic)
60 is soixante (6 is six. Pretty logical too)
Then comes 70. This should be septante (from sept and -ante) and it is in belgian and swiss French. But French people can't stand following a rule more than 4 times in a row. So we broke the rule and created soixante-dix (60 + 10).
So what about 80 ? The logic would say huitante from huit (8) and -ante. This is only true in swiss French, as swiss people are genetically following the rules. But in France and Belgium, we say quatre-vingts (4 x 20). No logic but arithmetically correct !
And the apex of it, 90 ! The logic should make nonante (from neuf and -ante) which is what swiss and belgian people say. But to us, French, it is quatre-vingt-dix (4 x 20 + 10).
And what about the two sets of 71 to 79 and 91 to 99. They follow the broken rule of 60 + 10 or 80 + 10. So 71, is 60 + 11, so soixante-et-onze, then soixante-douze for 72, and so on up to soixante-dix-neuf for 79. And the same way, 91 is quatre-vingt-onze, and up to quatre-vingt-dix-neuf for 99.
Thanks God for learners the hundreds and thousands are easier.
100 is cent, 200 is deux cents and so on to 900, neuf cents. 1000 is mille, 2000 is deux mille, 3000 trois mille, and so on ...
To end this, here are a few samples of all these rules combined
321 trois cent vingt-et-un (between a ten and 1, we add an 'et' to link them)
1972 mille neuf cent soixante-douze
594 cinq cent quatre-vingt quatorze
Just ask as a comment, for instance, if you need to spell a number and miss one rule.
Same as in English we 'build' twenty from two - with a bit of distorsion - then thirty from three, for-ty, fif-ty and so on, we build our tens from our figures in French too. Well, almost. Let's dive in.
20 is vingt (2 is deux. Those two words have nothing in common, I am sorry)
30 is trente (3 is trois. Starting by 'tr' and ending by -ente, rather close)
40 is quarante (4 is quatre. Starting almost the same and following -ante, which is pronounced the same way as -ente. Quite logical no ?)
50 is cinquante (5 is cinq. Right in the logic)
60 is soixante (6 is six. Pretty logical too)
Then comes 70. This should be septante (from sept and -ante) and it is in belgian and swiss French. But French people can't stand following a rule more than 4 times in a row. So we broke the rule and created soixante-dix (60 + 10).
So what about 80 ? The logic would say huitante from huit (8) and -ante. This is only true in swiss French, as swiss people are genetically following the rules. But in France and Belgium, we say quatre-vingts (4 x 20). No logic but arithmetically correct !
And the apex of it, 90 ! The logic should make nonante (from neuf and -ante) which is what swiss and belgian people say. But to us, French, it is quatre-vingt-dix (4 x 20 + 10).
And what about the two sets of 71 to 79 and 91 to 99. They follow the broken rule of 60 + 10 or 80 + 10. So 71, is 60 + 11, so soixante-et-onze, then soixante-douze for 72, and so on up to soixante-dix-neuf for 79. And the same way, 91 is quatre-vingt-onze, and up to quatre-vingt-dix-neuf for 99.
Thanks God for learners the hundreds and thousands are easier.
100 is cent, 200 is deux cents and so on to 900, neuf cents. 1000 is mille, 2000 is deux mille, 3000 trois mille, and so on ...
To end this, here are a few samples of all these rules combined
321 trois cent vingt-et-un (between a ten and 1, we add an 'et' to link them)
1972 mille neuf cent soixante-douze
594 cinq cent quatre-vingt quatorze
Just ask as a comment, for instance, if you need to spell a number and miss one rule.
