Checkpoint: numbers, time and dates

From zéro to mille: the rules of French numbers

Three lessons in, the whole system fits in a few rules. One to sixteen are words to learn; seventeen to nineteen are dix- plus the unit. The tens vingt, trente, quarante, cinquante, soixante take the unit with a hyphen, except the one, which comes with et: vingt-deux but vingt et un. Seventy, eighty and ninety are built on twenties: soixante-dix, quatre-vingts, quatre-vingt-dix – with soixante et onze keeping its et and quatre-vingt-un losing both the et and the -s. Cent and mille follow with no et: cent un, deux cent trente, mille neuf cent. Only two words ever take a plural -s: cents and vingts, and only when nothing follows them.

Le sac, c’est quatre-vingt-quinze euros et le livre, c’est dix-sept euros.The bag is ninety-five euros and the book is seventeen euros.

The time: the everyday clock and the timetable clock

Every time starts with il est. In conversation the clock stops at twelve and the minutes have names: et quart, et demie, then moins vingt, moins le quart, moins cinq counted down from the next hour; midi and minuit replace douze heures, and du matin / de l’après-midi / du soir say which half of the day. Timetables run to twenty-four and read the minutes as plain numbers: treize heures quinze, dix-neuf heures trente. Remember the gender: une heure et demie but midi et demi. To ask: Quelle heure est-il ?; to place an event in time: à + time: Le film est à huit heures.

– Il est quelle heure ? – Il est trois heures et demie de l’après-midi.– What time is it? – It’s half past three in the afternoon.

The date: le, en, and no de

Days and months are masculine and lower-case: de lundi à dimanche, de janvier à décembre. A day alone means that day (lundi), with the article every such day (le lundi). A date is le + number + month – le douze octobre – with le premier as the one ordinal; the month or the year alone takes en: en mai, en deux mille vingt-six. Ask the day with Quel jour sommes-nous ? and the date with Quelle est la date ?; answer with nous sommes or c’est. Aujourd’hui, demain and hier place the day, and la semaine, le mois, l’année (or l’an for counting) are the units.

Aujourd’hui, nous sommes le jeudi trente octobre ; demain, c’est vendredi.Today is Thursday the thirtieth of October; tomorrow is Friday.