Listening activity: Identify numbers in French

Can you count in French? Are you able to identify the numbers in a normal French conversation?

Test your number listening ability with this simple listening activity.  Fais attention - you’ll meet some biggies! 

Today, you will see:

• If you understand the tens from 0 to 100 and some greater numbers ending in zero
• If you can understand the same numbers in quickly spoken sentences
• How you can learn your numbers more easily

Count from 0 to 100 in French

To start, you need the basic numbers from zero to twenty. Let’s divide it into 2 groups.

Let’s count up to 10:

0: zéro  >>>  (be sure to have a strong “z” sound)

1: un >>> (nasal sound here!)

2: deux >>> (ignore the last letter)

3: trois >>> (ignore the last letter and “oi” is “wa” sound)

4: quatre >>>  (ignore the last letter and “qu” is k. Squish the re sound into the the next word if possible)

5: cinq >>> (nasal sound and do pronounce the k at the end)

6: six >>> (the x sound is actually an s one like “sissss” unless before another word, then lose it! NOTE Six chats, don't say the SS but Six olives - DO make the liaison!)

7: sept >>> (ignore the “p”)

8: huit >>> (hui is “wui” with the French “u” and you do say the “t”)

9: neuf >>> (eu is an “e” sound and you do say the “f”)

10: dix >>> (just like “six”, the x sound is actually an s one like “dissss”)

At this point, you've got the basics. Bravo! Let’s continue with the numbers from 11 to 20.

11: onze >>> (nasal sound and strong “z” sound here!)

12: douze >>> (strong “z” sound and “ou” is uuuuuu)

13: treize >>> (strong “z” sound and “ei” is “ehhh”)

14: quatorze >>>  (strong “z” sound and “qu” is k)

15: quinze >>> (nasal sound, strong “z” sound and “qu” is )

16: seize >>> (it’s the biggest trap! Remember that dix and six can’t be together)

17: dix-sept >>> (ignore the “x” and “p”)

18: dix-huit >>> (the “x” becomes a “z” sound)

19: dix-neuf >>> (the “x” becomes a “z” sound)

20: vingt >>> (nasal sound and ignore the last 2 letters)

Félicitations! You are good to go for bigger numbers since they are combinations of what you have just seen.

Now, your job is to learn how to say 30, 40, 50…up to 100 like here: 

10: dix >>> (just like “six”, the x sound is actually an s one like “dissss”unless before another word, then lose it! NOTE Dix chiens, don't say the SS but Dix oignons - DO make the liaison!)

20: vingt >>> (nasal sound and ignore the last 2 letters)

30: trente >>> (nasal sound and ignore the “e”)

40: quarante >>> (“k” sound, nasal sound and ignore the “e”)

50: cinquante >>> (double nasal sound here!)

60: soixante >>> (“wa” sound, nasal sound and the “x” becomes “s”)

70: soixante-dix >>> (it’s a combination of 60 + 10; the “x” are “s” sounds)

80: quatre-vingts >>> (it’s a combination of 4 x 20;  and ignore the last 3 letters)

90: quatre-vingt dix >>> (it’s a combination of 4 x 20 + 10) 

100: cent >>> (nasal sound and ignore the last letter)

Finally, there’s only an extra step with number one. You have to add the “et” like this:

21: vingt-et-un (You'll hear the T of 20 in the liaison)

31: trente-et-un  (You'll hear the T of 30 in the liaison)

41: quarante-et-un   (You'll hear the T of 40 in the liaison)

51: cinquante-et-un  (You'll hear the T of 50 in the liaison)

61: soixante-et-un  (You'll hear the T of 60 in the liaison)

And for the 3 following ones, you need to pay attention to the exceptions

71: soixante et onze   (After 79 it's 70/10 70/11 etc)

81: quatre-vingt un    (no need for the 'et' here)

91: quatre-vingt et onze (After 89 it's 80/10 80/11 etc)

For the rest of the numbers, it's just 'normal': 

43: quarante-trois

28: vingt-huit

78: soixante-dix huit

56: cinquante-six….

How do you say one thousand in French?

Time to learn how to count with thousands…To start with, there’s no “one” thousand in French but only “thousand”: mille. Good news: it’s invariable!

1000: mille  (mil)

5000: cinq mille

10 000: dix mille  

Note that we use space and never a dot to separate numbers, unless on a cheque, and then it's a dot, not a comma, like for the English.

Let’s have examples of numbers:

2560: deux mille cinq cent soixante (NOTE, there is no S on Cent because it's dropped once you add another number - 500 = cinq cents. 550 = cinq cent cinquante)

13 789: treize mille sept cent quatre-vingt neuf

145 016: cent quarante-cinq mille seize

As you can see, it’s logical. Let’s add some larger numbers:

1 000 000: un million

10 000 000: dix millions

 100 000 000: cent millions

 1 000 000 000: un milliard

 15 000 000 000: quinze milliard

 1 000 000 000 000: un trillion

 Congratulations! You are able to count anything in French. However, some numbers may differ in some French-speaking countries as we are going to see in the next section…

French Numbers in Belgium and Switzerland

Unlike the French, the Belgians and Swiss make things easier. Indeed, they have simpler numbers like these ones:

70: septante

80: huitante or octante

90: nonante  Just choose the ones you prefer! 

How do you remember numbers?

As a start, you need to remember that numbers are everywhere. Therefore they are helpful, essential, and worth it to memorise them.

Here are some tips for you to learn them with fun:

• Put random numbers on notes everywhere
• Challenge yourself all the time and change the position of numbers.
• Listen to numbers for dictation exercises
• Work with a partner to help yourself react faster to the ones that don’t stick

So, have you had a listen to the video to check your listening comprehension of the French numbers?

What are your tips for learning them?

What are the most complicated ones for you to recall?

I'd love to hear from you, as always.