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Learning to count in French!

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BBC - Schools - Primary Languages - French - Numbers: How to count from 1 to 100 - Numbers 1-10

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KS2 primary French resources for children learning to speak basic French: numbers 1 to 100 in French.

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How to best learn French numbers with audio

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How to best learn French numbers with audio

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http://audio.frenchtoday.com/blog/numbers/Numbers_intro.mp3

You Must Change the Way you Learn French Numbers

Learning the number itself, not putting it together is the key to understanding numbers fast.

This is even more true in French where numbers can get really silly. 99 is "quatre-vingt dix-neuf". In other words "four twenty ten nine"... If you think like this when you hear/think of "99", you will never get numbers fast enough! You should think of it as "katrevindizneuf".

The only way to get French numbers fast is to train with audio and do lots of repetition. Hopefully, my free audio lessons about numbers will help - follow the links below.

If you like it, share it with your friends!

Speed and Mastering French Numbers

Speed is also a big reason why students don't understand French numbers - when numbers are all glided and meshed together, you have less time to think and break them apart, and it can get challenging.

This is why, just like in my French audiobooks, I recorded these lessons at different speeds.

I promise you that once you've trained with my lesson, speed is not going to be a problem anymore.

Start with the beginning - conquering the smaller digits will unlock large numbers for you.

How My French Number Lessons Go

We will start by studying the numbers and I'll point out some spelling or pronunciation things.

Then I'll read random lists of numbers at different speeds.It is essential to train with lists out of order, otherwise your brain will memorize the order as well.

In this lesson more than in any other, repetition is the key. So repeat, repeat, and repeat again! Bookmark this page and revisit often.

How To Work With Audio of the French Numbers in Order.

1. First, play the recording in order. Repeat WITHOUT READING so the letters do not fool you into a wrong pronunciation.

2. Repeat until the numbers don't feel foreign to you. Then repeat again as you read and memorize the spelling.

3. Use the same recording but instead of repeating, say the number and then use the recording to check your pronunciation.

4. Finally, use the recording as a dictation to write the numbers in letters, and check your spelling.

How To Work With the Exercises - Recordings of Random French Numbers.

1. Start with exercise one - the slower one.
Use the recording as a dictation: write down the number in digit. Then listen to the audio again to check your list. If you have a doubt, check with the transcript.

2. You may also use the slower recording to write the numbers in letters and then check your spelling with the transcript.

3. Then, check your pronunciation: play the audio again but this time look at the transcript and read the number before I say it. Compare your pronunciation to mine.

4. Stay at the speed you feel comfortable in. There is no use in rushing things, you must first truly feel comfortable in one speed before moving to the next one.

5. Remember, repetition is the key!

Links to My Unique Audio lessons about French numbers

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How To Best Learn French Numbers (with Audio Exercises) * French Today

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http://audio.frenchtoday.com/blog/numbers/Numbers_intro.mp3 Learning the number itself, not putting it together is the key to understanding numbers fast. This is even more true in French where numbers can get really silly. 99 is "quatre-vingt dix-neuf". In other words "four twenty ten nine"... If you think like this when you hear/think of "99", you will never get numbers fast enough!

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Interesting article on French numbers

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French numbers can be tricky. Photo by Rob Garratt

Dear the people of France,

I'd like to begin by saying I'm a big fan of your country - your people, your films, your food, and your language.

I like your language so much, in fact, I'm actually trying to learn in. And I have just one small niggle - what on earth is going on with your numbers?

It all makes sense up until about 69 (from un to soixante-neuf). And then all logic goes flying straight out the window.

Or, as my teacher so delicately put it, "the person who came up with this, I think he was [intoxicated]."

Whoever this guy was, he kept a hold on things at first. Un, deux, trois - sure (1, 2, 3).

Onze, douze, treize - gotcha (11, 12, 13).

Vingt, trente, quarante, cinquante and soixante, (30, 40, 50 and 60) all present and accounted for.

But then at 70, this guy (or femme?) ran out of steam. Why think up a new word? We'll just do some sums... 60 + 10 = 70.... so let's call it it "sixty-ten" - soixante-dix.

Okay. But what next? 71? "I've got it!," he slurred "sixty-and-eleven". Soixante-et-onze. Then soixante-douze soixante-treize, et cetra...

Unconventional, but it kind of works.

But then he got to 80. The muddied mind really starts to settle here. Soixante-vingt, ("sixty-twenty") perhaps?

No. Because that would be far to simple. To make sure only university educated foreigners can avoid being swindled at the local supermarché, let's shake things up here, and move from basic addition to the realms of multiplication.

Let's call 80 quatre-vingt - "four-twenty" - because 4 x 20 = 80.

Hmmmm. Couldn't he have just come up with a new word?

From here, things get increasingly oblique. 81? Qautre-vingt-une, "four-twenty-one". (Surely that should that be 84? Nevermind. Got it. I think).

And 90? "Four-twenty-ten" he slurred. Quatre-vingt-dix. Then quatre-vingt-onze, quatre-vongt-douze... ("four-twenty-eleven, four-twenty-twelve").

By 97 the sums get absurd - quatre-vingt-dix-sept. Mathematically, by this stage you actually need brackets to make these sums make any sense - (4 x 20) + 10 + 7 = 97.

And just to make things even more confusing, the rule where you say "somethhing-and-one" (but only for one, mind, so it's vingt-et-un, but vingt-deux, with no et). Well let's stop that at 80. So it's soixante-et-un but quatre-vingt-un (pas et). Why? Because we just feel like.

It's a relief when we reach cent (100). And then it all starts again.

And don't even get me started on big numbers. In English, the year of my birth is a breeze at five-syllables - nine-teen-eigh-ty-five.

In french? Eight. Un-mille-neuf-cent-qua-tre-vingt-cinq.

Of course, it doesn't have to be this hard. Really.

French-speaking Belgians were smart enough to realise this, coining really-very-much-simpler terms for 70 (septante) and 90 (nonante). You folk just don't appear to use them.

So, people of France, I ask you kindly once more, why do your numbers have to be so hard?

Your sincerely,

A struggling student

Rob Garratt is studying beginner's French at Alliance Française Dubai, a non-profit language and cultural institution established in 1982 which teaches French to more than 2,500 students every year. Find out more at www.afdubai.org.

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French 102: Why do your numbers have to be so complicated? - an open letter to the people of France

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Dear the people of France, I'd like to begin by saying I'm a big fan of your country - your people, your films, your food, and your language. I like your language so much, in fact, I'm actually trying to learn in.

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Students say they really struggle with big numbers (70 - 99) in French, it's all about following the same formula and finding fun ways of learning.

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Students say they really struggle with big numbers (70 - 99) in French, it's all about following the same formula and finding fun ways of learning.

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Games to learn French numbers