From 70 to 1000, and telling the time

Soixante-dix, quatre-vingts, cent, mille: from 70 to 1000

French has no separate words for seventy, eighty and ninety. Seventy is sixty plus ten: soixante-dix, and the count goes on through the teens – soixante et onze (71, with et like the other “ones”), soixante-douze (72), up to soixante-dix-neuf (79). Eighty is four twenties: quatre-vingts, with an -s, because there really are four of them. From 81 on, the -s disappears and there is no et: quatre-vingt-un, quatre-vingt-deux. Ninety is four twenties plus ten: quatre-vingt-dix, then quatre-vingt-onze (91), up to quatre-vingt-dix-neuf (99). In Belgium and Switzerland you will hear septante and nonante instead – simpler, but not what France says.

Madame Roux a quatre-vingt-deux ans et monsieur Roux a soixante-quinze ans.Mrs Roux is eighty-two and Mr Roux is seventy-five.

A hundred is cent, with no “one” in front: cent euros. The numbers after it simply follow, without et or hyphen: cent un (101), cent vingt (120), cent soixante-quinze (175). Two hundred is deux cents with an -s, three hundred trois cents – but the -s drops as soon as another number follows: deux cent cinquante (250), trois cent un (301). A thousand is mille, and it never changes: deux mille, dix mille, mille neuf cents. That is also how years are read: mille neuf cent quatre-vingt-dix (1990), deux mille vingt-six (2026).

Quelle heure est-il ? Telling the time

To ask the time: Quelle heure est-il ? – or, in relaxed speech, Il est quelle heure ?. The answer always starts with il est, then the number and heure(s): il est une heure, il est deux heures, il est huit heures. Minutes past the hour just follow: huit heures dix (8:10). Two special ones: et quart for a quarter past (8:15) and et demie for half past (8:30). After the half hour, French counts down to the next hour with moins: neuf heures moins dix (8:50), neuf heures moins le quart (8:45). Twelve o’clock has its own words, without heures: midi (noon) and minuit (midnight) – il est midi, il est minuit et demi.

– Quelle heure est-il, Karim ? – Il est six heures moins le quart.– What time is it, Karim? – It’s a quarter to six.

Du matin, de l’après-midi, du soir – and the 24-hour clock

In conversation the clock only goes to twelve, and the part of the day is added when it matters: sept heures du matin (7 a.m.), deux heures de l’après-midi (2 p.m.), huit heures du soir (8 p.m.). The three nouns are le matin (morning), l’après-midi (afternoon) and le soir (evening). Timetables, stations, television and appointments use the 24-hour clock instead, and then the minutes are read as plain numbers – no et quart, no et demie, no moins: quatorze heures (14:00), dix-neuf heures trente (19:30), vingt heures quarante-cinq (20:45). In writing you will see 19h30 or 19 h 30: the h stands for heures.

Le train pour Lyon est à dix-huit heures quarante, le film est à neuf heures du soir.The train to Lyon is at 18:40; the film is at nine in the evening.