French Numbers from 20 to 69: A Practical Guide
Vocalyra teaching team · Last updated:
Once you can count to twenty in French, the next fifty numbers follow a surprisingly consistent pattern. Learn the tens, add the units, and pay attention to the special et un construction at twenty-one, thirty-one, forty-one, fifty-one and sixty-one. With these patterns you can give prices, ages, bus numbers and appointment dates without counting on your fingers.
First learn the French tens
The key tens are vingt (20), trente (30), quarante (40), cinquante (50) and soixante (60). For numbers from 22 to 29, put the unit after vingt: vingt-deux, vingt-trois, vingt-quatre and so on. The same construction works for trente-deux through trente-neuf, quarante-deux through quarante-neuf, cinquante-deux through cinquante-neuf, and soixante-deux through soixante-neuf. Learn each ten aloud before you build its family of numbers. If you can say 30, you can form most numbers in the 30s.
| Number | French | Build it from |
|---|---|---|
| 20 | vingt | the starting ten |
| 21 | vingt et un | 20 + and + 1 |
| 22 | vingt-deux | 20 + 2 |
| 29 | vingt-neuf | 20 + 9 |
| 30 | trente | the next ten |
| 31 | trente et un | 30 + and + 1 |
| 40 | quarante | another ten |
| 41 | quarante et un | 40 + and + 1 |
| 50 | cinquante | another ten |
| 51 | cinquante et un | 50 + and + 1 |
| 60 | soixante | the last regular ten |
| 61 | soixante et un | 60 + and + 1 |
| 69 | soixante-neuf | 60 + 9 |
When to use et un
In traditional spelling, twenty-one is vingt et un, not vingt-un. Likewise, use trente et un, quarante et un, cinquante et un and soixante et un. But the next number is vingt-deux, not vingt et deux, and thirty-two is trente-deux. The word et is used for the ones digit 1 in this range, not for 2 through 9. The reformed spelling introduced in 1990 also permits hyphens throughout compound numbers, such as vingt-et-un. Both traditional vingt et un and reformed vingt-et-un are accepted.
Hear the endings in real conversations
Vingt usually has a silent final t when followed directly by a consonant in a compound number such as vingt-deux. In vingt et un, the t can be heard, which is one reason to practise the whole phrase rather than memorizing vingt in isolation. The vowel in un is nasal in standard French; it is not the same as English one. For trente and quarante, avoid adding an extra English vowel at the end. Hearing correct recordings and repeating short number pairs will help more than trying to pronounce every written letter.
- Contrast vingt-deux and vingt et un; they do not have the same rhythm.
- Practise the pairs trente et un / trente-deux and cinquante et un / cinquante-deux.
- Say numbers in context, such as quarante-cinq euros or soixante-huit ans.
- For the next family, 70–99, French uses a different arithmetic pattern; use the linked companion lesson.
Use 20–69 for prices, ages and dates
A price of 24 euros is vingt-quatre euros. Someone who is 36 years old says J'ai trente-six ans, literally I have thirty-six years. A train leaving at 16 h 45 is announced as seize heures quarante-cinq, using the number 45 you already know. When filling out a form, a date such as le 28 juin is read le vingt-huit juin. Numbers become easier to remember when attached to phrases you genuinely say: Mon billet coûte cinquante-deux euros, J'ai quarante et un ans, and Le rendez-vous est le vingt-cinq mai.
A five-minute practice routine
Start with tens only: vingt, trente, quarante, cinquante, soixante. Then choose a unit from two to nine and add it to each ten: vingt-sept, trente-sept, quarante-sept, cinquante-sept, soixante-sept. Repeat with one, remembering et un. Finally, ask a friend to say a random number from twenty to sixty-nine and write the digits you hear. Reverse the exercise by reading digit strings aloud. If you hesitate, return to the nearest ten and build the number from it.
Quick self-check
Write 21 in standard traditional French spelling.
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vingt et un
Write 34 in French.
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trente-quatre
Translate: I am 41 years old.
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J'ai quarante et un ans.
Write 58 in French.
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cinquante-huit
Which is correct for 62: soixante et deux or soixante-deux?
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soixante-deux
Read 67 aloud in French.
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soixante-sept
Write 31 using the accepted 1990 hyphenated spelling.
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trente-et-un