Multiplicative Numbers

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Numéraux multiplicatifs

Multiplicative numbers are, unsurprisingly, words used to multiply nouns. The numbers themselves can be adjectives or nouns – either way, their gender agrees with the nouns they modify / replace.

Par exemple…

J’ai mangé une double portion de frites.		I ate a double portion of fries.
Il gagne le triple de moi.		He earns three times more than I do.

Only the first few multiplicatives are typically used in either French or English; beyond that, it’s more common to just say (nombre) fois, (number) times, or (number)fold.

simple	x1	single
double	x2	double
triple	x3	triple
quadruple	x4	quadruple
quintuple	x5	quintuple, five times, fivefold
sextuple	x6	sextuple, six times, sixfold
septuple	x7	septuple, seven times, sevenfold
octuple	x8	octuple, eight times, eightfold
nonuple	x9	nonuple, nine times, ninefold
décuple	x10	decuple, ten times, tenfold
centuple	x100	a hundred times, a hundredfold

Multiplicative verbs

Multiplicatives have equivalent French verbs, but again, the higher numbers are rarely if ever used.

Adjective / Noun		French Verb
double		doubler
triple		tripler
quadruple		quadrupler
etc.

Multiple births

Most of the names for multiple babies are based on multiplicative numbers.

un/e singleton	1 of 1 baby	singleton
un jumeau une jumelle	1 of 2 babies	twin
un triplé une triplée	1 of 3 babies	triplet
un quadruplé une quadruplée	1 of 4 babies	quadruplet
un quintuplé une quintuplée	1 of 5 babies	quintuplet
un sextuplé une sextuplée	1 of 6 babies	sextuplet
un septuplé une septuplée	1 of 7 babies	septuplet
un octuplé une octuplée	1 of 8 babies	octuplet
un nonuplé une nonuplée	1 of 9 babies	nonuplet
un décuplé une décuplée	1 of 10 babies	decuplet

 Related lessons

• Ages, Birthdays, Anniversaries
• Family
• People

More French Numbers

• Approximate numbers
• Cardinal numbers
• Fractions
• Ordinal numbers
• Roman numerals

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