How to Count in French: Your Complete Guide

Bienvenue! Apprenons le français ensemble.

If you're currently on a mini-quest to master French numbers then you've come to the right place. But before we start counting, we also recommend this comprehensive post with great tips on how to learn French from home.

In this post, we're going to help you take one of the first steps on your path toward learning French (and rocking it!). With a little assistance here and a little practice there, you'll know how to count in French in a heartbeat.

We'll provide you with sentence examples so you know how and when to use your French numbers as well as tips for how to memorize them and variations to look out for.

Get started with learning how to count in French! Oh, and while you're here, why not check out Lingopie for fun and engaging content to support you in learning a foreign language?

Let's start with the basics... The numbers from zero to ten will come up frequently in everyday life and you'll have to get them down before moving on to larger numbers.

Here's how you'd count in French:

Number one is the only gendered number in French. The feminine version of one is une and the masculine version is un.

If you're in for a challenge, then let's look at how French numbers evolve into the tens...

For the next multiples of ten, you'll need to count even harder because they don't follow the same rules as the ones before!

At this point it changes:

To get the numbers from 100 to 199, just use cent followed by the number to count from cent to cent-quatre-vingt-dix-neuf!

Très facile, isn't it?

The same patterns will apply to the following hundreds:

For the French numbers above one thousand, the same rule applies:

Now for the larger French numbers...

Be sure to remember that one billion and one trillion are not true cognates!

This means that even though billion is written exactly the same as billion in English, it actually means trillion. Oh, mon Dieu ! Just one of our many favorite French expressions.

If you want to sound like the French, you've got to learn how the French count... in practice!

Let's take a look at some more practical tips that you can use to learn the French numbers.

Now we're going to teach you how to get by in a few practical scenarios where you'll need to be able to count in French as well as understand (listening skills) how native French speakers will communicate the numbers in French to you.

In French, you'll need to use a comma instead of a decimal point, as in the example below:

It's €51,50 as opposed to €51.50 and you write it in the following way:

Cinquante-et-un euros et cinquante centimes.

One of the main uses of learning the French numbers will have to do with being able to navigate situations where you need to buy something or deal with anything that is money-related.

In any of these interactions, you'll need to know how to count in French.

The french word for cost is coûter. Let's go ahead and use it to ask about the price of an item in a store.

Shop assistant: Excusez-moi, combien coûte ce chapeau? Excuse me, how much does this hat cost?

Customer: Ce chapeau coûte quarante et un euros. It costs forty-one euros.

Exchanging phone numbers is another scenario where you'll need solid counting skills in French. It'll surely come in handy if you move to one of the many French-speaking countries!

Anne: Quel est votre numéro de téléphone?

Marie: Mon numéro de téléphone est 06 49 77 31 02.

The numbers would be pronounced in the following way:

Zéro six quarente-neuf soixante-dix-sept treinte et un zéro deux.

Especially if you're visiting France, you'll need to know how to interact while out shopping.

Here is an example that may be useful:

Customer: Je voudrais deux tablettes de chocolat, s'il vous plaît.

Shop assistant: Bien sûr, le total est €5,90 - cinq euros et quatre-vingt-dix centimes.

Il y a 99 (quatre-vingt-dix) raisons d'apprendre le français!

Learn French numbers and you can start counting the number of opportunities you'll be attracting your way with your newly acquired French skills.

By following our tips and mastering the French numbers, the counting system and the vocabulary of the different scenarios where you'll need to count, you'll be proud to say that you know the numbers in French.

Once you've mastered how to count in French, you're ready to take on other linguistic challenges and Lingopie is here to help you. Check out this list of 13 beginner friendly French movies to assist your studies.

When you're feeling comfortable enough, you can dive a little deeper into grammar points by going through our awesome guide to learning French conjugations.

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