Numbers and Counting: 100 and up

Les nombres et le calcul

French numbers
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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, including in years.

 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

  • 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 plans French lesson plan

 More French numbers

Learn Spanish En español

Learn Italian In italiano

Counting in French

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2 Responses

  1. Charlie LeRoyer 15 November 2016 / 13:16

    Shouldn’t “deux cent un” be “deux cents un” with an “s” on cent?

    • lkl 15 November 2016 / 13:17

      No, please see the comment right below those examples.

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