{"id":816,"date":"2025-07-03T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-03T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bunpo.app\/blog\/?p=816"},"modified":"2025-10-12T02:24:36","modified_gmt":"2025-10-12T02:24:36","slug":"why-are-french-numbers-so-complicatedlogic-history-and-a-bit-of-math-madness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bunpo.app\/blog\/french\/why-are-french-numbers-so-complicatedlogic-history-and-a-bit-of-math-madness\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Are French Numbers So Complicated?(Logic, History, and a Bit of Math Madness)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Let&#8217;s talk numbers. Not so much maths, but how different languages count\u2014because some counting systems are super straightforward, and others make you perform mental gymnastics. If you&#8217;ve ever learned French, you know exactly what I mean.<\/p>\n\n        <h3>The Basics: 1 to 69 Is Smooth Sailing<\/h3>\n\n        <p>French starts off simple enough. From 1 to 69, the counting system is logical:<\/p>\n\n        <ul>\n            <li>1 = <em>un<\/em><\/li>\n            <li>10 = <em>dix<\/em><\/li>\n            <li>20 = <em>vingt<\/em><\/li>\n            <li>30 = <em>trente<\/em><\/li>\n            <li>40 = <em>quarante<\/em><\/li>\n            <li>50 = <em>cinquante<\/em><\/li>\n            <li>60 = <em>soixante<\/em><\/li>\n        <\/ul>\n\n        <p>You form numbers by stacking them together. For example:<\/p>\n\n        <ul>\n            <li>21 = <em>vingt et un<\/em><\/li>\n            <li>35 = <em>trente-cinq<\/em><\/li>\n            <li>59 = <em>cinquante-neuf<\/em><\/li>\n        <\/ul>\n\n        <p>So far, so good.<\/p>\n\n        <h3>Things Get Strange from 70 Onwards<\/h3>\n\n        <p>Once you hit 70, French decides to ditch the neat pattern. Instead of creating a new word like <em>septante<\/em> (which is used in Belgium and Switzerland), France&#8217;s official French uses:<\/p>\n\n        <ul>\n            <li>70 = <em>soixante-dix<\/em> (literally &#8220;sixty-ten&#8221;)<\/li>\n            <li>71 = <em>soixante et onze<\/em> (&#8220;sixty and eleven&#8221;)<\/li>\n            <li>72 = <em>soixante-douze<\/em> (&#8220;sixty-twelve&#8221;)<\/li>\n            <li>\u2026all the way to 79 = <em>soixante-dix-neuf<\/em> (&#8220;sixty-nineteen&#8221;)<\/li>\n        <\/ul>\n\n        <p>It&#8217;s almost as if French said, &#8220;We&#8217;re done creating new numbers\u2014figure it out yourself.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n        <h3>And Then 80 Throws Logic Out the Window<\/h3>\n\n        <p>French takes it even further:<\/p>\n\n        <ul>\n            <li>80 = <em>quatre-vingts<\/em> (&#8220;four twenties&#8221;)<\/li>\n            <li>81 = <em>quatre-vingt-un<\/em><\/li>\n            <li>90 = <em>quatre-vingt-dix<\/em> (&#8220;four twenties and ten&#8221;)<\/li>\n            <li>99 = <em>quatre-vingt-dix-neuf<\/em> (&#8220;four twenties and nineteen&#8221;)<\/li>\n        <\/ul>\n\n        <p>Basically, French switches from base-10 logic to base-20 (or <em>vigesimal<\/em>), a relic of old counting systems used in parts of Europe centuries ago.<\/p>\n\n        <h3>Why So Complicated?<\/h3>\n\n        <p>French numbers reflect layers of linguistic and cultural history:<\/p>\n\n        <ul>\n            <li>The base-20 system likely originates from Celtic and Viking influences.<\/li>\n            <li>Latin had its own numeral quirks that mixed with Old French.<\/li>\n            <li>French-speaking countries like Belgium and Switzerland simplified things with <em>septante<\/em> (70), <em>huitante<\/em> (80), and <em>nonante<\/em> (90).<\/li>\n        <\/ul>\n\n        <p>France, however, stuck with tradition, forcing students everywhere to deal with the complexity.<\/p>\n\n        <h3>Is It Just French?<\/h3>\n\n        <p>Not at all. Other languages also use base-20:<\/p>\n\n        <ul>\n            <li>Danish uses a similar system for numbers like 50 and 60.<\/li>\n            <li>Some indigenous languages worldwide rely on body-based counting (20 for fingers and toes).<\/li>\n        <\/ul>\n\n        <p>French just happens to be one of the only major global languages where this old system remains standard.<\/p>\n\n        <h3>Final Thought<\/h3>\n\n        <p>French numbers mix math, history, and stubborn tradition. If you&#8217;ve ever caught yourself baffled while trying to count beyond 69, now you know why\u2014it\u2019s not your fault, it\u2019s French.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Let&#8217;s talk numbers. Not so much maths, but how different languages count\u2014because some counting systems are super straightforward, and others make you perform mental gymnastics. If you&#8217;ve ever learned French, you know exactly what I mean. The Basics: 1 to 69 Is Smooth Sailing French starts off simple enough. From 1 to 69, the counting [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":817,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-french"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bunpo.app\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bunpo.app\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bunpo.app\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bunpo.app\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bunpo.app\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=816"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bunpo.app\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/816\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":818,"href":"https:\/\/bunpo.app\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/816\/revisions\/818"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bunpo.app\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bunpo.app\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bunpo.app\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bunpo.app\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}