🇫🇷 French for beginners (A1) · Chapter 5

Numbers, dates and telling the time

In France, 80 is said as 'four twenties' and 97 as 'four-twenty-ten-seven'. It sounds absurd until you notice Hindi numbers are just as irregular — and you learned those.

Study this lesson free in the app →

The basics

Numbers, dates and time are the vocabulary you use every hour: prices, phone numbers, train times, your age, your birthday.

The problem it solves: a waiter says quatre-vingt-dix euros and you need to know that's ₹ 8,000-something, not €4.20. A train leaves at dix-sept heures quarante and you need to be on the platform at 17:40. Numbers have to be instant, not worked out.

The mental model: 0–16 are unique words. 17–69 are regular (dix-sept = ten-seven, vingt-deux = twenty-two). From 70 France counts in twenties: 70 = soixante-dix (sixty-ten), 80 = quatre-vingts (four twenties), 90 = quatre-vingt-dix (four-twenty-ten). Belgium and Switzerland use the simpler septante (70) and nonante (90).

Dates use the Indian order — day, then month: le 15 août = 15 August. Official times use the 24-hour clock: 18 h 30.

Explained

97 in French: quatre-vingt-dix-sept — literally four-twenty-ten-seven.

Ridiculous? Hindi has sattanave for 97, which you didn't learn by logic either. You memorised it.

French numbers are the same deal: a few odd patterns, then they're automatic. This lesson gives you the patterns, then dates and clock times built on them.

0 to 69

| | | | | |---|---|---|---| | 0 zéro (zay-ROH) | 1 un (an) | 2 deux (duh) | 3 trois (trwa) | | 4 quatre (KATR) | 5 cinq (sank) | 6 six (sees) | 7 sept (set) | | 8 huit (weet) | 9 neuf (nuhf) | 10 dix (dees) | 11 onze (ohnz) | | 12 douze (dooz) | 13 treize (trez) | 14 quatorze (ka-TORZ) | 15 quinze (kanz) | | 16 seize (sez) | 17 dix-sept | 18 dix-huit | 19 dix-neuf |

Tens: 20 vingt (van) · 30 trente (trahnt) · 40 quarante (ka-RAHNT) · 50 cinquante (san-KAHNT) · 60 soixante (swa-SAHNT)

Pattern: tens + hyphen + unit — trente-quatre (34), cinquante-huit (58). Only the 1s take et: vingt et un (21), quarante et un (41).

70 to 100 — counting in twenties

70  soixante-dix         = 60 + 10
71  soixante et onze     = 60 + 11   (et!)
75  soixante-quinze      = 60 + 15
79  soixante-dix-neuf    = 60 + 19

80  quatre-vingts        = 4 × 20    (s!)
81  quatre-vingt-un      = 4 × 20 + 1   (no s, no et)
85  quatre-vingt-cinq

90  quatre-vingt-dix     = 4 × 20 + 10
91  quatre-vingt-onze    = 4 × 20 + 11
99  quatre-vingt-dix-neuf

100 cent    200 deux cents    250 deux cent cinquante
1000 mille  2026 deux mille vingt-six

Belgium & Switzerland: 70 septante, 90 nonante (Swiss French also says 80 huitante).

Dates and days

Days (all masculine, lowercase): lundi, mardi, mercredi, jeudi, vendredi, samedi, dimanche — the week starts on Monday.

Months (lowercase): janvier, février, mars, avril, mai, juin, juillet, août (oot), septembre, octobre, novembre, décembre.

Saying a date: le + number + month. Day first, as in India.

• le 26 janvier — Republic Day
• le 15 août (luh kanz OOT) — Independence Day
• le 1er mai = le premier mai — only the 1st uses an ordinal

Asking: On est le combien ? or Quelle est la date aujourd'hui ? → On est le 12 novembre. Birthday: Mon anniversaire, c'est le 3 mars. On Monday: lundi (this Monday) vs le lundi (every Monday).

Telling the time

Question: Quelle heure est-il ? (kel uhr eh-TEEL) — or casually Il est quelle heure ?

Answer: Il est + number + heure(s).

• 1:00 → Il est une heure (heure is feminine, so une, not un)
• 3:00 → Il est trois heures (trwa-ZUHR)
• 3:15 → trois heures et quart
• 3:30 → trois heures et demie
• 3:45 → quatre heures moins le quart (four minus the quarter)
• 3:50 → quatre heures moins dix
• 12:00 → midi (noon) · minuit (midnight)

24-hour clock — trains, flights, offices, cinema: just read the numbers. 18 h 40 = dix-huit heures quarante. No et quart / moins le quart with the 24-hour clock.

Written: 14 h 30 or 14h30 — never 2:30 PM.

Booking a train at Gare de Lyon

Ishaan wants to go from Paris to Lyon.

Ishaan : Bonjour Madame. Un billet pour Lyon, s'il vous plaît.

Agent : Pour quel jour ?

Ishaan : Pour samedi, le 14 novembre.

Agent : Il y a un train à huit heures douze et un à dix heures quarante-six.

Ishaan : Dix heures quarante-six, s'il vous plaît. C'est combien ?

Agent : Soixante-dix-neuf euros.

Ishaan : (thinks: 60 + 19 = 79) D'accord, merci.

Agent : Voiture 7, place 82. Bon voyage !

At 79 euros (around ₹ 7,500), soixante-dix-neuf is the number you hear as sixty-nineteen and must convert instantly.

From 70, France counts in twenties: 60+10, 4×20, 4×20+10.

Et only for the ones before 80: 21, 31, 41, 51, 61, 71. Quatre-vingts keeps its s only when nothing follows it.

Une heure — the hour is feminine. Day before month, like your Aadhaar date of birth.

Classic mistakes Indian learners make

• Saying septante / nonante in France — those are Belgian and Swiss; France understands them but never uses them. In France: soixante-dix, quatre-vingts.
• *Hearing quatre-vingt-dix as 4, 20, 10* — it's one number, 90. Wait for the whole thing before writing.
• Il est un heure → Il est une heure.
• Capital letters on days and months — Lundi, Janvier ✗ → lundi, janvier ✓ (unless starting a sentence).
• le un janvier → le premier janvier.
• Pronouncing every final consonant — six alone is sees, but six livres is see LEEVR and six ans is see-ZAHN. Dix behaves the same way.
• Using AM/PM — French uses the 24-hour clock or du matin / de l'après-midi / du soir.

Words to know

In two minutes

• Learn 0–16 by heart; 17–19 are dix-sept, dix-huit, dix-neuf; then twenties to sixties are regular.
• Add et for 21, 31, 41, 51, 61 and 71 (vingt et un, soixante et onze) — but not 81 or 91.
• 70 = soixante-dix, 80 = quatre-vingts, 90 = quatre-vingt-dix; Belgium and Switzerland say septante and nonante.
• Dates go day-month like in India: le 26 janvier; the 1st is le premier, every other date is a plain number.
• Days and months are lowercase and masculine: le lundi, en août.
• Ask the time with Quelle heure est-il ? or Il est quelle heure ? — answer Il est trois heures.
• Timetables and offices use the 24-hour clock (14 h 30 = quatorze heures trente); speech also uses et quart, et demie, moins le quart.

Test yourself

There are 9 questions, 3 puzzles and 4 recall cards for this lesson in the app — the recall cards come back on later days, just before you would forget.