As if learning the French language wasn’t perplexing enough, when you approach learning the numbering system, it can be way more baffling to learn than how to properly pronounce croissant.
So, it starts out easy enough, which gives you a false sense of hope. One, two, three: un,
21 =
21 = vingt-et-un (
But, hang in there, that’s nothing. Keep on until you get to 70, and things get just plain goofy. Instead of a word for seventy, it’s
And then there’s the periods and commas. I’m used to writing a number over 1000 with a comma: 1,000, and then using a period for the decimal, if needed: 1,000.00. In French, you use the periods and commas in reverse, so, 1,000.00 would be 1.000,00. Commas are never used to separate thousands from hundreds but sometimes spaces are used (ten thousand is written 10.000 or 10 000, never 10,000), but they are used as a mark of decimals. 1.5 in English would be written 1,5 in French. OK, I’m game. Now to get back to the rest of the numbers. See you later.