Les nombres et le calcul
Learn the big French numbers: hundreds, thousands, millions, billions, and trillions.
100 to 999
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.
When
cents is followed by another number, it loses the s:
deux cents but
deux cent un, including in
years.
Listening practice:
100-999
1,000 to 999,999
À noter
- Again, there’s no article or number in front of mille when it means one thousand – don’t say
un mille.
- 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
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
More French numbers
Shouldn’t “deux cent un” be “deux cents un” with an “s” on cent?
No, please see the comment right below those examples.