Numbers 11–100
संख्याएँ ११–१००
French numbers stay logically composed from 17 all the way to 69 — and then 70, 80, and 90 do something genuinely strange that catches almost every learner off guard. Hindi speakers already carry a different kind of challenge here: unlike French (or English), Hindi doesn't build 11–99 out of clean 'tens + units' pieces at all — ग्यारह (11), बाईस (22), पैंतालीस (45), अठहत्तर (78) are all their own memorized words with no shortcuts. So where French's 70/80/90 oddity is a one-time surprise to absorb, Hindi's oddity is spread across the entire range — keep that in mind as reassurance that French, on the whole, is the more learnable system here.
Grammar Comparison
व्याकरण तुलना
70, 80, 90: built out of 60 and 20, not 'seven-ten' etc.
soixante-dix (70 = 'sixty-ten'), quatre-vingts (80 = 'four-twenties'), quatre-vingt-dix (90 = 'four-twenty-ten')
70, 80, 90 हिंदी की तरह अलग-अलग स्वतंत्र शब्द नहीं — बल्कि 60 और 20 से गणित करके बनाए जाते हैं
Standard French has no standalone words for seventy, eighty, or ninety. Instead it does arithmetic out loud: soixante-dix is literally '60 + 10', quatre-vingts is '4 × 20' (a leftover from an old base-20 counting system), and quatre-vingt-dix is '4 × 20 + 10'. This genuinely surprises most learners. Hindi offers no equivalent trick to lean on — सत्तर, अस्सी, and नब्बे are simply three more entries in Hindi's long list of individually memorized numbers — so treat this French quirk as something to consciously calculate in your head until it becomes automatic. (Belgian and Swiss French use septante/octante/nonante instead — tidier, but not standard in France.)
et un vs. hyphen: 21, 31... vs. 22, 23...
vingt et un (21), trente et un (31)... but vingt-deux (22), vingt-trois (23)
21, 31, 41, 51, 61, 71 में ही 'et' आता है; बाकी सब में hyphen लगता है
Numbers ending in 1 (21, 31, 41, 51, 61, 71) insert the word et ('and') instead of a hyphen: vingt et un, not vingt-un. Every other combination simply hyphenates: vingt-deux, vingt-trois. Hindi has nothing directly comparable, since इक्कीस (21) and बाईस (22) are each just whole, unbroken words with no internal 'and' or hyphen logic — but the exception is worth remembering anyway: quatre-vingt-un (81) and quatre-vingt-onze (91) break this et-pattern and use a hyphen instead, because they're already built from quatre-vingt(s).
quatre-vingts loses its -s before another number
quatre-vingts (80, with -s) but quatre-vingt-un (81, no -s)
quatre-vingts का 's' किसी और अंक के पहले आने पर गायब हो जाता है
quatre-vingts takes a plural -s when it stands alone as exactly 80, but drops that -s the moment another number follows it (quatre-vingt-un, quatre-vingt-deux...). Hindi spelling has no analogous rule, since अस्सी (80) never changes form regardless of what follows it — so just treat this as a French-specific spelling detail worth knowing for writing correctly, even though it doesn't affect pronunciation.
Vocabulary
शब्दावली
| French | Pronunciation | Hindi | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| onze | ohnz | ग्यारहgyārah | eleven |
| douze | dooz | बारहbārah | twelve |
| treize | trez | तेरहterah | thirteen |
| seize | sez | सोलहsolah | sixteen |
| dix-sept | dee-SET | सत्रहsatrah | seventeen |
| vingt | van | बीसbīs | twenty |
| vingt et un | van-tay-UHN | इक्कीसikkīs | twenty-one |
| trente | trahnt | तीसtīs | thirty |
| quarante | kah-RAHNT | चालीसcālīs | forty |
| cinquante | san-KAHNT | पचासpacās | fifty |
| soixante | swah-SAHNT | साठsāṭh | sixty |
| soixante-dix | swah-sahnt-DEES | सत्तरsattar | seventy (lit. '60+10') |
| quatre-vingts | kah-truh-VAN | अस्सीassī | eighty (lit. '4×20') |
| quatre-vingt-dix | kah-truh-van-DEES | नब्बेnabbe | ninety (lit. '4×20+10') |
| cent | sahn | सौsau | one hundred |