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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
More French Numbers
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