Numbers, dates and the time
Cardinal numbers through 100, the date with le, and the clock with il est. Age stays with avoir.
Examples
- Il a vingt et un ans.He is twenty-one.
- Il est deux heures et demie.It's half past two.
How it works
How to say how many, which day, and what time it is. Age is still J'ai vingt ans — that is the avoir lesson, not this one.
Cardinals
et and the hyphen
21 vingt et un, 31 trente et un, and the same et at 41, 51, 61.
22 vingt-deux, with a hyphen. The 1990 hyphen (vingt-et-un) is also accepted; the school form keeps et.
71 soixante et onze. 80 quatre-vingts (the -s drops in 81 quatre-vingt-un). 100 cent.
Ordinals and the date
premier is irregular. The others add -ième: deux → deuxième, trois → troisième.
A date is le + a cardinal + the month: le trois mars. Only the 1st uses the ordinal: le premier mars.
Not trois mars, and not le un mars.
The clock
il est
Il est trois heures. Il est deux heures et demie. Il est quatre heures moins le quart.
Midi and minuit have no heure. Not c'est cinq heures.
Common mistakes
vingt-unvingt et un
le un marsle premier mars
Trois marsLe trois mars
C'est cinq heuresIl est cinq heures
What you'll practise
1. Cardinals through 100
et in 21, 31, 41, 51, 61 and 71. Hyphen in vingt-deux. quatre-vingts, quatre-vingt-un, cent.
- soixante et onzeseventy-one
2. The date
le plus a cardinal plus the month. The 1st is le premier. Not le un, and not the day without le.
- Nous sommes le trois mars.It's the third of March.
3. The clock
il est plus the hour, et demie, moins le quart. Not c'est.
- Il est midi.It's noon.
Practise it until it sticks
Short drills built on these 3 skills, with instant feedback on every answer. Free to start.