I don't know if that's what's bothering you, but for quatre-vingts, forget what the name means. Don't make 4 x 20 in your head, you'll mix everything up. Quatre-vingts is 80, that's all. Same for 70 and 90. For the rest... it just takes practice. Everybody struggles with numbers in foreign languages (I'm having a stroke each time I see something like neunhundertneunundneunzig) Edit : thank you for my first reddit award ! Answer from JensAypa on reddit.com
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The French Experiment
thefrenchexperiment.com › learn-french › numbers
Numbers in French - Free Online French Lessons
Just swap vingt for one of these numbers instead: ... Things get a little curlier when you reach 70, where instead of having a word for "70" in itself, you instead say "sixty-ten", as in "sixty plus ten". ... And then when you want to say "seventy one" you actually say "sixty eleven", and so on up to 79. ... A little bit strange, right? It gets even stranger. When you get to eighty, instead of having a word for eighty there's a further bit of math involved. French speakers will say quatre-vingts — "four twenties".
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Rosetta Stone
blog.rosettastone.com › home › french › learn french numbers 1-100 with french counting tips
Learn French Numbers 1-100 With French Counting Tips - Rosetta Stone
May 22, 2024 - In English, we have some fairly simple number naming conventions. For example, number names like seventeen and seventy, include the word seven as the base for the new number name. But in French, there’s more math and less adding to a base word. For example, how you’d say 70 in French is the word for sixty (soixante) plus the word for ten (dix) because 60+10=70, so 70 is soixante-dix.
Discussions

HOW TO MASTER FRENCH NUMBERS
I don't know if that's what's bothering you, but for quatre-vingts, forget what the name means. Don't make 4 x 20 in your head, you'll mix everything up. Quatre-vingts is 80, that's all. Same for 70 and 90. For the rest... it just takes practice. Everybody struggles with numbers in foreign languages (I'm having a stroke each time I see something like neunhundertneunundneunzig) Edit : thank you for my first reddit award ! More on reddit.com
🌐 r/French
42
57
December 14, 2022
Why french numbers are so weird
Québec counts the same as the French though. It’s supposedly an influence from Gaulish, a Celtic language once spoken in France before the arrival of the Romans introducing Latin. Celtic languages still count like that today. Sous l'influence des langues pré-indo-européennes, le français conserve des vestiges jusqu'à nos jours, dans les numéraux[4]. Au Moyen Âge, on trouve ainsi les formes vingt et dix (30), deux vingt (40), deux vingt et dix (50), trois vingt (60), etc.[5]. Une ancienne attestation, « VII vinz liverez et IIII », dans les Lois de Guillaume le Conquérant, au xie siècle, peut laisser penser à une origine normande, le système vicésimal se retrouvant aussi en danois. Les linguistes penchent cependant traditionnellement pour un héritage du gaulois, les langues celtiques modernes possédant ou ayant possédé une numération par vingt. Mais les dizaines supérieures à vingt sont en réalité inconnues en gaulois, à l'exception d'une forme, peut-être latinisée, pour « trente », or cette forme n'est pas vicésimale. L'hôpital des Quinze-Vingts, fondé à Paris en 1260, qui accueillait à l'origine trois cents aveugles, témoigne également de cet usage. Dès la fin du Moyen Âge, il est progressivement supplanté par le système décimal - trente, quarante, cinquante, soixante. Mais pour les trois dernières dizaines précédant cent, cette évolution ne s'est pas partout diffusée de la même façon dans la francophonie au cours de l'époque moderne. https://fr.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Système_vicésimal French did partially switch to decimal except for 70, 80, and 90, which didn’t fully become decimal throughout the French-speaking world for some reason. Hence why the Belgians and Swiss are particular like that. Edit: also this http://monsu.desiderio.free.fr/curiosites/septante.html More on reddit.com
🌐 r/linguistics
31
40
February 23, 2021
If you struggle with French numbers here’s a website where you can practice!
That's really helpful. Thanks. I think that understanding numbers quickly is something that can only be achieved with practice. More on reddit.com
🌐 r/French
13
67
June 10, 2021
[Survey] French/AZERTY Keyboard Layout: move numbers to the top?
Please respect the standard way with the main function at the bottom and the shift function at the top, for all keys, this is just confusing. Especially > and <. I personally don't care if it's darker, most of the day the LEDs are off to save power and at night, well, LEDs are bright enough. (Although if we are talking keyboards, I reiterate my suggestion of having different behaviour for tap-capslock and hold-capslock+key, as it would be very convenient on 14" laptops without changing the standard use of keyboard. I honestly think it would be giant leap.) More on reddit.com
🌐 r/XMG_gg
7
5
July 21, 2022
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Kwiziq French
french.kwiziq.com › grammar › a0 › list of numbers from 1 to 31 in french
List of numbers from 1 to 31 in French French grammar from Kwiziq French
A useful vocabulary list of numbers 1 to 31, to express dates and birthdays in French!. Brush up on List of numbers from 1 to 31 in French with Kwiziq
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Woodward French
woodwardfrench.com › home › numbers › numbers from 1 to 100 in french
Numbers from 1 to 100 in French | Woodward French
November 17, 2019 - The numbers from 1 to 100 in French including a summary chart. Les nombres de 1 à 100 en français.
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LanguageGuide
languageguide.org › french › vocabulary
French Numbers
LanguageGuide.org • French Visual Vocabulary · settings · Les nombres · (Numbers) Speaking Challenge Listening Challenge · Whoops, we thought your browser supported HTML5 audio and it doesn't. Click here to report the issue. 0 · 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 ·
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YouTube
youtube.com › playlist
Numbers in French - YouTube
Learn how to count from 1 to 100 in French.
Find elsewhere
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Busuu
busuu.com › en › french › numbers
French Numbers: How to Count From 1 to 100 - Busuu
The most unique feature of French counting for the next section is that, unlike English numbers and numbers in many other Romance languages, you add an et – French for ‘and’ – in every number ending in 1.
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BBC
bbc.co.uk › bitesize › articles › ztphhcw
Numbers and numeracy - 2nd level French - BBC Bitesize
July 8, 2024 - The names for numbers 70 - 99 are a little different to English. They are like maths calculations. They are at the end of this guide if you would like to learn them. 100 is centcloseSorry, something went wrongCheck your connection, refresh the page and try again. ... In English, you use the verb 'to be' to say how old you are but in French, you use the verb 'to have' -
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FrenchToday
frenchtoday.com › blog › french-vocabulary › how-to-best-learn-french-numbers-with-audio
French numbers... un, deux, trois... cents, millions, milliards!
October 3, 2024 - Answers to the French number audio drill 1, 6, 8, 3, 9, 17, 3, 19, 12, 3, 2, 1, 9, 10, 0, 14, 18, 3, 5, 7, 18, 13, 12, 18, 11, 10, 16, 13, 19, 3, 5, 15, 13, 17, 13, 12. Before starting this lesson, you may want to check your present understanding ...
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Yale University Library
web.library.yale.edu › cataloging › music › foreign
The names of numbers in French, German, Italian, and Spanish | Yale University Library
Some more Italian numbers: Italian 2000 = duemila 3000 = tremila 25th = venticinquesimo 26th = ventiseiesimo 27th = ventisettesimo 28th = ventiottesimo 29th = ventinovesimo 200th = duecentesimo 300th = trecentesimo 400th = quattrocentesimo 500th = cinquencentesimo 600th = seicentesimo 700th = settecentesimo 800th = ottocentesimo 900th = novecentesimo 1000th = millesimo · ‹ The names of instruments and voices in English, French, German, Italian, Russian, and Spanish up Local Yale music cataloging documentation ›
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Vidalingua
vidalingua.com › blog › french-numbers
French Numbers to Count from 1 to 100
Another key point you should keep in mind when writing French numbers is the place of dashes. Some say that there should be a dash between each number (123: cent-vingt-trois), others say there should not be any (123: cent vingt trois). Others suggest there should only be one for numbers below 100 (123: cent vingt-trois) like in English.
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Wikiversity
en.wikiversity.org › wiki › French › Numbers
French/Numbers - Wikiversity
November 4, 2025 - Retrieved from "https://en.wikiversity.org/w/index.php?title=French/Numbers&oldid=2766275" Categories: French · Numbers · Hidden category: Resources with related material at Wikibooks · Search · French/Numbers ·
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/linguistics › why french numbers are so weird
r/linguistics on Reddit: Why french numbers are so weird
February 23, 2021 -

I'm studying french and one think that i'm really curious is about numbers

In the french of France, unlinke the french from quebec, swintzerland or other romance languages, don't follow a logical parten for certains numbers. The most obvious is the numbers between 70 and 99, instaed of septante or huitante is soixante-dix (60+10) and quatre-vingt (4*20).

Any historycal explanation for this?

Top answer
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44
Québec counts the same as the French though. It’s supposedly an influence from Gaulish, a Celtic language once spoken in France before the arrival of the Romans introducing Latin. Celtic languages still count like that today. Sous l'influence des langues pré-indo-européennes, le français conserve des vestiges jusqu'à nos jours, dans les numéraux[4]. Au Moyen Âge, on trouve ainsi les formes vingt et dix (30), deux vingt (40), deux vingt et dix (50), trois vingt (60), etc.[5]. Une ancienne attestation, « VII vinz liverez et IIII », dans les Lois de Guillaume le Conquérant, au xie siècle, peut laisser penser à une origine normande, le système vicésimal se retrouvant aussi en danois. Les linguistes penchent cependant traditionnellement pour un héritage du gaulois, les langues celtiques modernes possédant ou ayant possédé une numération par vingt. Mais les dizaines supérieures à vingt sont en réalité inconnues en gaulois, à l'exception d'une forme, peut-être latinisée, pour « trente », or cette forme n'est pas vicésimale. L'hôpital des Quinze-Vingts, fondé à Paris en 1260, qui accueillait à l'origine trois cents aveugles, témoigne également de cet usage. Dès la fin du Moyen Âge, il est progressivement supplanté par le système décimal - trente, quarante, cinquante, soixante. Mais pour les trois dernières dizaines précédant cent, cette évolution ne s'est pas partout diffusée de la même façon dans la francophonie au cours de l'époque moderne. https://fr.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Système_vicésimal French did partially switch to decimal except for 70, 80, and 90, which didn’t fully become decimal throughout the French-speaking world for some reason. Hence why the Belgians and Swiss are particular like that. Edit: also this http://monsu.desiderio.free.fr/curiosites/septante.html
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It is a logical pattern even if you find it weird. Are you familiar with the Danish number system?
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Learn French With Alexa
learnfrenchwithalexa.com › welcome to learn french with alexa › blog index › why are french numbers so confusing?
Learn French With Alexa | Why are French numbers so confusing?
July 26, 2025 - But if we look at a number such as 'eighty-nine', we can see that, although the individual words are completely different in both languages (quatre-vingt-neuf in French, compared with pethrchwochon ná in Gaulish), the numerical logic is exactly the same: ‘four twenties nine’. Gaulish extends this logic towards everything below sixty, too, so that even numbers like 'thirty-three' or 'fifty-nine' are translated as gwochon tridech (twenty-thirteen) and dachwochon nádhech (forty-nineteen), respectively.
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/french › if you struggle with french numbers here’s a website where you can practice!
r/French on Reddit: If you struggle with French numbers here’s a website where you can practice!
June 10, 2021 -

I’m focusing on my Spanish listening comprehension and I realized that I can’t process large numbers when they are spoken quickly. I did some googling and discovered this practice site:

https://langpractice.com

It speaks the number out loud and you have to type it in. I’ve been doing it for just five minutes a day and it’s been really helpful. I can’t speak for how good all the language options are, but Spanish and English are done well.

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Lawless French
lawlessfrench.com › lawless french › vocabulary lists
French Numbers and Counting: 100 and up - Lawless French Vocabulary
January 1, 2025 - Learn the big French numbers: hundreds, thousands, millions, billions, and trillions. - Lawless French
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ICLS
icls.edu › blog › weird-numbers-in-french-and-other-languages-why
Weird numbers in French, German and Danish: Why?
June 14, 2025 - Let’s take a look at how different countries and cultures count, and why something as simple as a number can actually be pretty complex. Ask any French learner: things go fine until you hit 70.
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Sprachcaffe
sprachcaffe.com › magazine › article
French Numbers from 1 to 100 and Beyond | Sprachcaffe
October 16, 2025 - This is pronounced as it is written; the two numbers are simply said one after the other. For the tens 70, 80, and 90, you'll have to get used to special rules. The 70 is formed by 60 plus 10 (hence "soixante-dix"), the 80 is formed by four times 20 (hence "quatre-vingts"), while the 90 is formed by four times 20 plus 10 (hence "quatre-vingt-dix"). Before 1990, the use of hyphens in French numbers was somewhat inconsistent - while some numbers used them, others did not.
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French Numbers
frenchnumbers.org.uk
French Numbers - Learn How To Say And Spell - Quick And Easy
We have all the numbers listed below that you’ll need to learn. ... Hi, I'm Jeremie, the founder of FrenchNumbers.org.uk. Here I document all the most important French numbers, with spelling and pronunciation along the way. My goal is to help more people speak French fluently.