The numbers that run the day
🎯 Count, tell the time, give a phone number and understand a price.
🗣️ Say these out loud
- un, deux, trois, quatre, cinq 🔊 un, duh, trwah, KATR, sank 1 to 5 Say them as one chant, not as five separate words. That is how they stick.
- six, sept, huit, neuf, dix 🔊 sees, set, weet, nuhf, dees 6 to 10 Before a word starting with a consonant the x and t go quiet: dix livres is 'dee leevr'.
- Il est trois heures. 🔊 eel ay trwah ZUR It is three o'clock. Heure means 'hour'. Trois heures et demie is half past three.
- soixante-dix 🔊 swa-sont DEES seventy (literally sixty-ten) French counts in twenties above sixty. Quatre-vingts is eighty — 'four twenties'. It is strange, and everyone finds it strange.
- C'est trop cher. 🔊 say tro SHAIR That is too expensive. The polite escape from any shop.
- Quelle heure est-il ? 🔊 kell UR ay-TEEL What time is it? Ask a stranger this once and you will never forget it.
Read every line aloud twice before moving on. The mouth learns a language, not the eye.
🔍 Why a written letter suddenly speaks
A silent final consonant wakes up when the next word begins with a vowel. This is called liaison, and it is what makes French flow instead of clatter.
- deux (duh) but deux ans (duh-ZON)
- trois (trwah) but trois heures (trwah-ZUR)
- vous (voo) but vous avez (voo-za-VAY)
🌍 Among the people
France uses the 24-hour clock for anything official: a train at 18h30 is half past six in the evening. Learn to read it and no station will confuse you.
🔁 Practise today
- Chant one to ten every day for a week until it is faster than thinking.
- Say the time in French each time you look at a clock tomorrow.
- Read out your own phone number in French, two digits at a time, the way the French do.
