French Numbers in Words
Write any whole number from 0 to 999,999 in French words.
71 written out in French.
French builds 70, 80, and 90 by arithmetic: soixante-dix (60+10), quatre-vingts (4×20), and quatre-vingt-dix (80+10). So 71 is soixante-et-onze, 80 is quatre-vingts, 91 is quatre-vingt-onze, and 99 is quatre-vingt-dix-neuf. Hyphens join the parts, “et” links only the 1s and 11s from 21 to 71, and quatre-vingts drops its s before another number.
How French numbers are built
Below 17, French has unique words (un, deux … seize); 17 to 19 are compounds (dix-sept, dix-huit, dix-neuf). The tens run vingt, trente, quarante, cinquante, soixante — then stop. There is no separate word for seventy, eighty, or ninety. Instead, standard French counts 70 as soixante-dix (sixty-ten), 80 as quatre-vingts (four-twenties), and 90 as quatre-vingt-dix (four-twenties-ten). Everything else slots units and hundreds around these.
The three joining rules
“et” for 1 and 11. The little word et (and) appears in vingt-et-un (21), trente-et-un (31), on up to soixante-et-un (61), plus the one-off soixante-et-onze (71). It never appears in the 80s or 90s: 81 is quatre-vingt-un and 91 is quatre-vingt-onze, both without et.
Hyphens elsewhere. Every other compound below 100 is hyphenated: vingt-deux (22), quarante-cinq (45), quatre-vingt-dix-neuf (99). Hundred and thousand groups are separated by spaces instead: deux cent trente-quatre.
The plural s. Quatre-vingts and cents take an s only when they are multiplied and end the number: quatre-vingts (80), deux cents (200). Add anything after them and the s vanishes: quatre-vingt-un (81), deux cent un (201), quatre-vingt mille (80,000). Mille is invariable and never takes an s.
- 1 Split into groups. Separate thousands from the last three digits: 1234 → 1 (thousand) and 234.
- 2 Write the thousands. One thousand is just mille (never un mille); higher multiples prefix it: deux mille, trois mille.
- 3 Write the hundreds. 234 starts with deux cent (no s here, because digits follow it).
- 4 Handle the tens with the 70/80/90 rule. 34 is a plain thirty-four → trente-quatre. For 70s, 80s, 90s, build on soixante or quatre-vingt.
- 5 Join and check. Hyphens within a group, spaces between groups: mille deux cent trente-quatre. Add et only for 21–71.
The forms that trip people up
Standard (France) French. Note where et appears, where it does not, and where the s is kept.
| Number | French | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 70 | soixante-dix | sixty + ten; no separate word for seventy |
| 71 | soixante-et-onze | sixty + et + eleven (keeps the “et”) |
| 80 | quatre-vingts | four × twenty; s because it ends the number |
| 81 | quatre-vingt-un | no s, and no “et” |
| 90 | quatre-vingt-dix | four-twenties + ten |
| 91 | quatre-vingt-onze | four-twenties + eleven; no “et” |
| 99 | quatre-vingt-dix-neuf | four-twenties + nineteen |
| 200 | deux cents | s because it ends the number |
| 201 | deux cent un | s dropped once a digit follows |
Regional variants and common slips
The soixante-dix / quatre-vingts / quatre-vingt-dix system is standard in France and Québec. Belgian and Swiss French simplify it: they use septante for 70 and nonante for 90, and Swiss (and some Belgian) speakers add huitante (or octante) for 80. So 71 becomes septante et un and 91 becomes nonante et un — this tool outputs the standard forms.
The usual mistakes are grammar, not vocabulary: adding et where it does not belong (81 and 91 take none), forgetting that quatre-vingts and cents lose their s the moment another number follows, and writing un mille for 1000 — it is simply mille.