{"id":24277,"date":"2016-08-15T20:12:16","date_gmt":"2016-08-15T18:12:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/?p=24277"},"modified":"2018-02-28T10:55:35","modified_gmt":"2018-02-28T09:55:35","slug":"large-and-extra-large-french-numbers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/large-and-extra-large-french-numbers\/","title":{"rendered":"Large–And Extra-Large–French Numbers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Some of the most popular posts on this site are those that involve French numbers. There is good reason for this–French numbers are known for being somewhat tricky. In what other language, for example, would you have to say “four twenties [and] ten” to mean ninety? (In French, ninety is\u00a0quatre-vingt-dix.)<\/em><\/p>\n

If you are interested in learning to count to 1,000 in French, check out this Transparent Language post here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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The word for one thousand in French is\u00a0mille.\u00a0<\/em>However, please note that, unlike in English, you would never say\u00a0un mille<\/em> (one thousand). Rather,\u00a0mille<\/em> means “one thousand” without the special designator of “one.” This is the same as one hundred, which is only\u00a0cent<\/em>–and never\u00a0un cent<\/em>. (After one hundred or one thousand, just add the regular number in front as normal:\u00a0deux cent\/mille, trois cent\/mille, quatre cent\/mille, etc.)\u00a0<\/em>Also, note that mille\u00a0<\/em>never<\/span> is written as a plural with an “s”–however, just to make French numbers a little more confusing,\u00a0cent\u00a0<\/em>is!<\/p>\n

Above thousands, we have:<\/p>\n

un million\u00a0<\/em>(one million)<\/p>\n

un milliard\u00a0<\/em>(one billion)<\/p>\n

un billion\u00a0<\/em>(one trillion)<\/p>\n

As you notice, these large numbers can be tricky because\u00a0un billion\u00a0<\/em>in French is a\u00a0faux ami<\/em>, meaning that it does not mean that it is one billion in English; rather it is equal to one trillion. Unlike\u00a0cent\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0mille<\/em>, these larger numbers also can use “un.”\u00a0<\/em>Also, you add a silent s to large numbers over one million. For example, you would say:\u00a0un million<\/em>, but\u00a0deux millions<\/em>, or\u00a0un milliard<\/em> but\u00a0cinq milliards<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Also, please note that the French do not use commas to separate decimals in large numbers–instead they use periods. Thus, 1,000,000 (un million<\/em>) would be written in French as 1.000.000. This can be very confusing for those who might read this as a much smaller number! (For small numbers, it’s the exact opposite: 3.25 in English would be 3,25 in French.)<\/p>\n

Finally, are you interested in learning about\u00a0really<\/em> large numbers?<\/p>\n

Un gogol\u00a0<\/em>in French is the equivalent of the English googol, which is 10 to the power of 100. While a\u00a0gogoplex\u00a0<\/em>is the equivalent of a\u00a0googleplex<\/em>, or \u00a010 to the power of a googol. These numbers are so large that they are impossible to imagine!<\/p>\n

Finally, un zillion<\/em> or\u00a0une foultitude\u00a0<\/em>can be used to describe a “crazy” high number.\u00a0Zillion<\/em>, of course, is imported into French from the English and is not an actual number but rather a very large number in the abstract.\u00a0While you may not often get the chance to use these extra large numbers in daily conversation, who knows, maybe these large sums will come up if you win the lottery one day! Here’s to hoping–et bonne chance!<\/em><\/p>\n

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Some of the most popular posts on this site are those that involve French numbers. There is good reason for this–French numbers are known for being somewhat tricky. In what other language, for example, would you have to say “four twenties [and] ten” to mean ninety? (In French, ninety is\u00a0quatre-vingt-dix.) If you are interested in…<\/p>\n

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