Learning How To Count Doesn’t Have To Be Hard.
Well Equipped With Helpful Tips, It Only Takes A New Mindset, Open To Experiencing The French Way To Count LINK NEW EXPERIENCE Compter En Russe Est Plus Simple Qu’il N’y Paraît. A Partir Du Moment Où Vous Connaissez Quelques Trucs.
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First, think about this – when do you actually use numbers?
Learning how to say ‘four cows’ would be wasting your time and energy if you’ve never set a foot into the countryside.
However, being able to say ‘it’s 5.15pm’, ‘ten euros’, ‘twenty dollars’, ‘thirty pounds’, or ‘she’s 55 years old’, or even ‘500 grams of flour’ will prove much more useful.
How do you proceed then?
1. It’s not about the number you learn, it’s how you use it!
Whether in English or in French, numbers are not as common as you might think in spoken language.
Instead of ‘I bought three books at the fair’, people usually resort to a more vague word like ‘some’ :
‘I bought some books at the fair’.
Or they say ‘a couple of’ : ‘I bought a couple of books at the fair’.
That’s why you want to use your time and energy learning these words – they are just as important as learning French numbers, if not more.
BONUS: DL BOOK WITH Common expressions featuring numbers from 1 to 10
Think about it, does the number of books you got really matter? Chances are, what you’re trying to tell your conversation partner is that ‘you got books’, whatever the number is.
However, when:
– talking about the time
– dealing with money
– talking about someone’s age
– making recipes
– talking about a particular year
You can’t do without French numbers.
2. It’s not about learning a list of French numbers
Remember those catchy songs from your childhood that taught you English numbers?
They are very useful too in French.
At least… from 1 to 10.
Remembering the sounds that numbers make in a precious tool to improve your French pronunciation (LINK IMPROVE PRONUNCIATION).
As a child, you:
You learn that the letter ‘i’ sounds /ah-y/ because you heard ‘five’ and ‘nine’.
You learn that the letter ‘x’ is /k-ss/ because you heard ‘six’.
Then you make a connection: whenever you heard /ah-y/, it should be transcribed as ‘i’.
Same for /k-ss/, you’re guessing this has to be one letter (not two, or three) : ‘x’.
This becomes an unconscious process – and, with lightning speed, children pick up on sounds, letters, letter combination.
Soon they put words into sounds (speaking), then sounds into words (writing).
As a child, you were keen to extend that list forever, all throughout your primary school years and possibly be able to say ‘2 548 567’, and more… The possibilities were endless!
As an adult, chances are your are still curious about extending that list – but you can’t afford to give it as much time and energy as young children do. They’ve got plenty of time, and they need to get around the whole concept of numbers 🙂
That’s why lists are not as effective as you might think.
The reason is very simple: when you speak English and say ‘She’s 55 years old’, you’re not going through that song again: ‘1, 2, 3…’, leading up to ’53, 54, 55… Oh, there we are! 55. Fifty-five. She’s fifty-five years old.’
You’re simply picturing the number: ’55’, and have a sound ready to be pronounced: ‘fifty-five’.
This has become an unconscious process, and you want to do just the same with your French.
You want the process to become as unconscious as possible.
Learning numbers from 1 to 10 in a row, yes.
After that… It’s not so clear what the benefits really are.
Spend too much time on French numbers, and you’ll start telling yourself:
‘I’m not having a great experience learning French.’
You could even be frustrated to the point of giving up, thinking you don’t have the basics in place – nothing could be more wrong.
Well equipped, and with the right method, you won’t experience so much frustration with numbers.
This could even be a playful and fun experience – just like it was back in those primary school days 😉
BONUS: DL BOOK WITH Common expressions featuring numbers from 1 to 10
3. Making the most of the 1 to 10 numbers
Yes, you can’t do without them.
The great thing is, once you know them, you can make the most out of it.
English has ‘four’, then ‘fourteen’, then ‘forty’, then ‘forty-four’, then ‘four hundred’ and ‘four thousands’.
Knowing the ‘four’ part of the word means you can easily memorize the ‘forty’ part, even though the spelling has changed slightly: four-/for-.
French works the same way.
BONUS: DL BOOK WITH Common expressions featuring numbers from 1 to 10
Ready to go deeper? My mini-course ‘French Numbers Made Simple’ is available as part of my ‘Beginners French Made Simple’ course.
It features beginners as well as more advanced French: how to say things like dates (‘1968’) and saying things like ‘forty years ago’.
With the ‘Beginners French Made Simple’, you’ll also be able to say ‘two men’ or ‘two huge men’ – you’ll be using numbers (‘two’) in combination with one or two words. Click this link to find out more.
Leave a comment below if you find yourself struggling with French numbers – and say what’s the most frustrating thing about them!
Thanks!
BONUS: DL BOOK WITH Common expressions featuring numbers from 1 to 10