Numbers and Counting: 100 and up

Les nombres et le calcul

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Learn the big French numbers: hundreds, thousands, millions, billions, and trillions.

100 to 999

100		cent
200		deux cents
300		trois cents
400		quatre cents
500		cinq cents
600		six cents
700		sept cents
800		huit cents
900		neuf cents

 French vs English

• There is no article or number in front of cent when it means one hundred – don’t say un cent.
• 200 and up require an s at the end of cent.

For "hundred and something" numbers, just say the number of hundreds and then state the rest of the number – there’s no "and" equivalent in the French number.

101		cent un
125		cent vingt-cinq
201		deux cent un
243		deux cent quarante-trois

 When cents is followed by another number, it loses the s: deux cents but deux cent un.

 Listening practice: 100-999

1,000 to 999,999

1,000		mille	1.000	1 000
2,000		deux mille	2.000	2 000
2,500		deux mille cinq cents	2.500	2 000
10,498		dix mille quatre cent quatre-vingt-dix-huit	10.498	10 498

 À noter

• Mille is invariable – it doesn’t become milles (but see approximate numbers)
• English uses a comma separator, while French uses a period or a space

 Listening practice

• Thousands
• Years
  

1,000,000 and up

1,000,000 (million)		un million	1.000.000	1 000 000
2,000,000 (two million)		deux millions	2.000.000	2 000 000
1,000,000,000 (billion)		un milliard	1.000.000.000	1 000 000 000
1,000,000,000,000 (trillion)		un billion	1.000.000.000.000	1 000 000 000 000
a million books		un million de livres
billions of stars		des milliards d’étoiles

 À noter

• Million, milliard, and billion take on an s when plural
• The preposition de is required between the number and any noun
• Watch out for the faux amis: a billion = un milliard, a trillion = un billion

  Proper pronunciation

Remember that the consonants at the end of cinq, six, huit, and dix are not pronounced when followed by a word that begins with a consonant, such as when saying cinq mille or dix millions. There’s more info about this in Numbers 0-59.

When reciting a long number, you can pause to take a breath at any separator (after mille, million, milliard, or billion)

 French lesson plan

• French numbers printable (Worksheet, 4th-12th grade)

 More French numbers

• 0 to 59 | 60 to 99
• Approximate numbers
• Fractions
• Ordinal numbers
• PwLF super list of number lessons
   
  Using numbers
• Dates
• Telling time