VOCABULAIRE 3 : LES NOMBRES (numbers)

English/French

[pronouniciation]

For the numbers in French, they follow the same rule as in English and Spanish. The first twenty numbers don't follow a rule, then from 20 to infinity, it follows a certain pattern. The pronunciation for the letter is quite different from the English one where e sounds like an «i» in French. The e sounds like when you don't know how to answer a question and you go like ehhh? eh? I didn't hear what you just said.  A bit like umh? there is a eh. So each to you see a eh tink of it as if you weren't sure of a word and said eh?Eh is not pronounced I like in English, the eh is softer and lower.

Zero/Zéro [zeh - ro]

One/Un [un]

Two/Deux [similar to the word dough (the x is silent)]

Three/Trois [like Troie horse (the s is silent)]

Four/Quatre [ka-tr-eh]

Five/Cinq [seink near to the word sink]

Six/Six [sis]

Seven/Sept [set]

Eight/Huit [oui-teh]

Nine/Neuf [neu-feh]

Ten/Dix [di-se]

Eleven/Onze [on-zeh]

Twelve/Douze [dou-zeh]

Thirteen/Treize [trein-zeh]

Fourteen/Quatorze [ka-tor-zeh]

Fifteen/Quinze [kin-zeh]

Sixteen/Seize [say-zeh]

Seventeen/Dix-sept (seen there is dix-sept means ten-seven) [di-set]

Eighteen/Dix-huit [di-oui-teh]

Nineteen/Dix-neuf [di-neu-feh]

Twenty/Vingt [ve-ein]

___

Ten/Dix [di-se] 

Twenty/ Vingt [ve-ein]

Thirty/Trente [tren-teh]

Forty/Quarante [ka-ren-teh]

Fifty/Cinquante [sein-kan-teh]

Sixty/Soixante [sou-ah-sante]

Seventy/Soixante-dix [sou-ah-sante-di-se]

Eighty/Quatre-vingt [ka-treh-ve-ein]

Ninety/Quatre vingt dix [ka-treh-ve-ein-di-se]

A hundred/ Cent [san]

A thousand/ Mille [mill]

Something different from English is seen with the number sixty, seventy, eighty and ninety. The numbers sixty and seventy go together and eighty and ninety also together.

The rational way to write seventy would be septance but this word never existed and French likes to make things difficult so they took soixante and added dix (sixty+ten).  60+10 does makes 70 so that makes a bit of sense. So basically in French you would have 60: soixante and 70: soixante-dix. The same thing happens with 80 and 90. 80 is quatre-vingt (literally means 4-20 and 4*20=80) and 90 is quatre vingt dix (4-20-10, 4*20=80+10=90).

While for normal number you mix the dozens and the simple numbers (1-9). With seventy and ninety, because there is a «dix» in the dozen you will have to add numbers from 11-19 instead of 1-9.

Here are some examples: 

Let's start easy:

-1: un (one)

-12: douze (twelve)

-19: dix-neuf (nineteen)

-26: vingt-six (twenty-six) You see I added 20 (vingt) and added 6 (six) which makes vingt-six

-32: trente deux (thirty two) 30 (trente) + 2 (deux)

-39: trente neuf (thirty neuf) 30 (trente) + 9 (neuf)

-55: cinquante cinq (fifty five) 50 (cinquante) + 5 (cinq)

- 66 : soixante six (sixty six) 60 (soixante) + 6 (six)

now for the hard ones 

- 71: soixante et onze. I'll explain it don't worry. Remember I told you to pay attention to 70 and 90. Well here we have and in French it would be soixante dix (60+10) but there is a one. You can't add «un» at the end and make soixante dix un. Because remember I told you that with 70 and 90 we have to use number 11-19 because the ten is already counted in those numbers. Let's start again we have 60 and have eleven left to reach 71. Eleven in French is onze and onze contains the 10. So the answer would be soixante et onze («et» means «and» so sixty and eleven=71).

-99: quatre vingt dix neuf. It is the same thing with 90s numbers. 90 is made up of quatre vingt (4*20=80) and dix (10). In English the translation of quatre vingt dix-neuf would be eighty (quatre vingt)-nineteen (dix-neuf). 

-95( a hard one): quatre vingt quinze. There isn't a «dix» in my answer and it's normal. With 90s numbers, you always have quatre vingt (80) and you can ask yourself which number do I need to be at 95 if I have 80. You would need 15. 15 in French is quinze hence my answer. 

-105: cent cinq. 100(hundred) is «cent» in French and you add 5 (cinq), which makes cent cinq. 

-200: deux cent. You've got a hundred twice so like in English with two hundred you've got deux cent.

-245: deux cent quarante cinq. 200 (two hundreds) deux cents + 40 (forty) quarante + 5 (five) cinq. 

- 1062: mille soixante deux. 1000 ( a thousand) mille + 60 (sixty) soixante + 2 (two) deux. 

Here are some other exercice that you can answer in the comments so you can practice

- 23

-129

-7

-70

-84

-104

-94

-200

-15

-20

-38

-79

I know these are hard, especially 70s and 90s, I had a hard time learning them myself in first grade. Until then...