5 Ways France & the U.S. use numbers differently (bet you don't know all 5!)

[@IRSA1]

I have gone to uni in Geneva where I have heard both huitante and octante being used and the latter is also heard in Belgium. So much simpler than the other convoluted expressions !

[@marcmonnerat4850]

Nobody says _huitante_ in Geneva, save a few _Vaudois_ And these days, even _septante_ and _nonante_ are less and less common, due to the vast number of French working in the city.

[@IRSA1]

@ Listen to RTS.

[@phonogramme9921]

Yes we should stop using quatre-vingt etc... in french

[@mrnuage]

Octante doesn't exist anywhere in Europe, don't believe the French people telling you they "heard an uncle who once lived somewhere in Switzerland and heard it once" nobody says that. The truth is: -In France is soixante-dix, quatre-vingts and quatre-vingts-dix. -In Belgium it's septante, quatre-vingts and nonante. -In Switzerland it's septante and nonante like in Belgium but if you're in Fribourg, Vaud or Valais it will be the more logical "huitante" for 80 while the rest of french speaking switzerland is "quatre-vingts" like France and Belgium.

[@IRSA1]

@ Better pay a visit to Switzerland and listen or failing that , watch some RTS documentaries, widely available here.

[@KSweeney36]

The floors are the same in the UK. The ground is the ground and first is the one above it

[@davenwin1973]

@KSweeney36 it's the same in Spain, and nearly all countries in Latin America. I learned this, while I was taking my first year of Spanish class.

[@KSweeney36]

@ Maybe, like many things, it’s just a US thing and more have the other way. (eg metric).

[@solaccursio]

same here in Italy

[@jean-michelvanpruyssen936]

​@@KSweeney36I don't think it has anything to do with metric. To me it goes back to the times where the notion of zero did not exist.

[@Clery75019]

In French, "un étage" is necessarily elevated, it can't be at ground floor. When we say "une maison avec étage", that means "a house with an elevated floor". As such "étage" isn't exactly a synonym of "floor" which would rather be "sol" in French. British English "storey" is more of an accurate synonym to French "étage".

[@amyspeers8012]

My husband and I are studying French together every evening. He’s a tech guy, so he found an app for numbers in French. As far as 24 time, I used it when I was a hospital nurse, so that came easy to me. However, hearing the time on the phone is difficult to get correct!

[@emmanuellevillacroux2769]

Another difference is the use of commas vs periods for long numbers and decimals. In English, one thousand is 1,000 but in French it's 1.000. Conversely, decimals are separated with a comma in French and period in English (1,75 vs 1.75).

[@OuiInFrance]

Yes, another great one to point out!

[@marcmonnerat4850]

No, one thousand is _1 000_ with an _espace insécable_ in _hexagonal French_ (i.e. French from France)

[@EpicierVeneneux0]

@@marcmonnerat4850 thank you!

[@matthewjay660]

Yeah, I had to learn this when I lived and worked in France. The French write "one million and eighty-ninths" like this: 1.000.000,89 . 🇺🇸👏🏻🇫🇷

[@Leebpascal1]

No ! As said above, France does NOT use the point as a thousand separator.

[@mishmashmixofstuff]

For the second point, some buildings will use the same system as France and some will label the ground floor as the first floor.

[@davidchilton4301]

Always enjoyable. The hand counting and floors of buildings are common across Europe, I believe (they certainly were in Germany when we lived there and I've seen them elsewhere). The 70-80-90, though - that's pure France.

[@babsr8479]

When I was going to Paris for first time I taught myself to count to 100 for monetary purposes but I never really thought about what you pointed out for the higher numbers. This was an interesting video. Thanks 😊

[@OuiInFrance]

Glad you enjoyed it! Thx for watching

[@backtotheblak]

Hello! The use of the nouns "soixante-dix", " quatre-vingts" and " quatre-vingt-dix" in France, instead of "septante", "huitante" and "nonante" in other French-speaking countries, originating from an ancient Gallic influence with a base 20 (vigesimal) numbering system. This system is preserved in France, even if regions such as Belgium, Switzerland and parts of Canada have adopted decimal forms under the influence of Latin and local languages. The Académie française then ratified these usages specific to French in France, so that the other forms remain correct and common in other French regions.

[@niconemo3929]

I do agree that quatre-vingt-dix is an absurdity. In some french schools (at least it was the case when I was a child) we learn to count with "septante", "octante" and "nonante" and only after, when we are OK with that, we learn the medieval tricky way ! When you are a grown up you don't even think about it, it becomes natural but why not just accept both : the simpliest will in the end. That is the swiss/belgic way of course !

[@leaedt7614]

Sometimes, for example in emails, people will write AM when they mean to say "après-midi" (so PM)...

[@davidpaterson2309]

“Three score years and ten” (King James Bible) “Four score years and seven” (Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address), though the latter was probably a deliberate rhetorical flourish, echoing the former. The English language did once use “base 20” (the “score”) counting which I think was a vestige of the counting systems used by Celtic peoples in Europe.

[@lasserrefrancoise7093]

Indeed. And in Paris there the Hôpital des Quinze-Vingts founded by Louis IX with a capacity of 300 wounded knights (15*20)

[@davidpaterson2309]

@ It occurred to me after I’d written the post that there used to be another even more obvious example. In the U.K. our pre-decimal currency (surprisingly recent - 1971) had a “base 20” element to it. A £ had 20 shillings (written 20/-) and each shilling had 12 pennies (written 12d). A £ was therefore 240 pennies - 12 score. The abbreviation for the currency was “£.s.d.” which was derived from “Livri, sistercii, denarii”.

[@angelhelp]

We who are pianists and organists have always counted the thumb as the first finger, the index finger as the second finger, and so on. String players begin with the index finger, calling it the first finger.

[@matthewjay660]

Sorry for my 2nd post, Diane. I taught 3 different ways to tell French time to my American students. 1. Traditional Time: Il est 5 heures moins the quart de l'après-midi. (It is 4:45 P.M.) 2. Military Time: Il est seize heurs et quinze minutes. (It's 1645 Hours.) 3. Modern Time: Il est 4 heures quarante-cinq de l'après-midi. (It's 4:45 in the afternoon.) Oh how my students fussed! P.S. The Swiss say "huitante" for "80." 🇨🇭

[@Xerxes2005]

It would be "seize heures quarante-cinq", not "quinze", for 16:45. In the traditional way, people will round the time to the closest 5 minutes. So, if it's 2h33, people will say it's "trois heures moins vingt-cinq. (2:35). People will never say "il est trois heures moins 27 minutes". If they want to be precise, they will use the two other methods. Between 0:00 and 0:30, "et" is always used: et cinq (0:05), et dix (0:10) et quart (0:15), et vingt (0:20), et demi (0:30). After 0:30, "moins" will be used: moins 20 (0:40), moins quart (0:45), etc.

[@syntheretique385]

3:00 there's no AM or PM, true. But we're able to disambiguate 12 hours time nonetheless. We can say "cinq heure du matin" or "cinq heure du soir". I would even add that when we mean 5 AM we very often specify "cinq heure du matin (cinq heure du mat')" because it's less frequent to talk about something happening early in the morning, and we'd rather make sure there's no ambiguity with "dix-sept heure".

[@LivinCindysLife]

French numbers above 60 are the bane of my existence.🤦‍♀ Though I pretty much suck at numbers below 60, too, when it comes to spouting them off without hesitation. A couple of weeks ago, in the french-speaking group I've joined, I said that I had learned French "il y a quatorze ans, and j'ai oublié beaucoup." What I meant to say was, "J'ai appris le français il y a QUARANTE ans." Forty years vs. 14 years would explain a lot about why I've forgotten so much of it. And don't get me started on trying to say a year, like 2024, without stumbling through it! I do love the 24-hour clock though. Great video, as always!

[@paoladelijster7060]

@@LivinCindysLife j’ai appris dernièrement qu’après 60 et « cette façon » d’écrire ces chiffres viendrait des celtes ( gaulois) qui comptait de 20 en 20 ou 10 pareil que les peuples Welch. A vérifier

[@TheRealRedAce]

I thought that French counting had reformed and there was no more Quatre-vingts-dix-neuf sort of thing any more?

[@paoladelijster7060]

@@TheRealRedAce no , why we do such think. French is very complicated but we love as he has. Vocabulary, grammar, conjugaison are difficult, they are « règle » but you know the most way to learn is that to read ever and ever. Everyday you learn a new « mot » . On apprend l’écriture pendant 3 ans, conjugaison orthographe vocabulaire prend 6 ans et cela reste la base

[@TheRealRedAce]

@@paoladelijster7060 I've learned a few languages wholly or in part. I didn't find French to be complicated. I'm English and THAT is difficult to learn fluently. It is basically simple with few rules, but has a HUGE number of exceptions due to being a mix of many other languages. For example English can have three words with totally different meanings and pronounced differently but spelled the same!

[@paoladelijster7060]

@@TheRealRedAce because we are common french and « soutenu » french with rules, for exemple My father is dutch, he comes to France at 13, he spoke french with My mother’ s lesson but he don’t know the rules and don’t know how to write. For exemple :

[@quoniam426]

The 24 h clock started with digital clocks and seems much more used nowadays from when I was born, 40 years ago. We then used to say Huit heures du Soir for 8pm. Same, we used to say Quatre heures moins le quart de l'après midi for 3,45 pm (4 o'clock minus a quarter).

[@scottscottsdale7868]

Just to compare, in Germany counting and floors is the same. But telling time seems slightly different. They use military time exclusively. Formal informal written or spoken. They say 22 hours for 10pm.

[@gchecosse]

The floors and 24 hour clock are common across Europe I think, though in the UK you'd write 14.00 but you'd never say "14 o'clock".

[@Clery75019]

24-hour clock is more concise as it prevents using two extra characters to differentiate "am" and "pm". Not to say that one minute after "11:59 pm" is "12:00 am" on another day feels so weird. When most clocks were analog it could still makes sense but now that they are all digital it really feels outdated.

[@ishmaelhouston-jones8692]

Bonjour Diane: Je suis né et maintenant j'habite à New York et ... I count "1" with my pointer finger; "2" with the "V- sign;" but "3" I''ve always used the pinky, ring-finger, and middle finger.

[@scottscottsdale7868]

Another difference is prices include tax unless stated otherwise. I guess that is numbers.

[@MrsBarnabas]

Hi, Diane. I knew all of those, but what confounds me is "How far is a block"???? When I'm reading books by US authors, and they say, "It's a couple of blocks away." it means absolutely nothing to me! I have googled it but it seems that it varies from city to city, and a block only means a distance of eg two apartment blocks - but their width varies in size.... and how does it work in a street of houses? 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔

[@CityLights-v6u]

Thought I'd also discuss the UK, and hope people do the same for other countries! :D In the UK, I learned the American way but have also seen pinkie-ring-middle-index-thumb and thumb-index-middle-ring-pinkie probably even more than the way I've been taught. Being native British, I've always found this interesting. Also, the floor system is the same as in France --- which could be seen as confusing, but in most cases it actually makes sense because (our) floor 1 is the start of the main part of the building (e.g. where the rooms of a hotel might start). The lobby is typically the floor people go into to sign in or whatever then be able to access the main/"actual" building. As for time, we write in both 12- and 24-hour, but usually 24-hour in formal schedules. However, we only typically speak in 12-hour. So we're taught from an early age how to convert between both methods of time.

[@abnsqd7622]

4 out of five from watching your videos! Thank you for sharing your experiences with us.

[@OuiInFrance]

My pleasure!

[@Bloobz]

5:04 Well in fact, in france you can do that for most of the multiple of 10. 20 - Vingtaine 30 - Trentaine 40 - Quarantaine 50 - Cinquantaine 60 - Soixantaine 70 - Soixantaine-dizaine 80 - Quatre-vingtaine (Warning: some people may pronounce it "Quatre-vinZaine") 90 - Quarte-vingt-dizaine

[@winterknight4176]

I would argue that the 24 hour clock and military time are not the same, unless you are in the UK, and a few other places in the same time zone, during winter. You can have a 24 hour clock for each time zone, but Military time is Zulu time, which is GMT or UTC. So that all participants, the grunts on the ground, the B2's from Whiteman and the ships in the ocean all use the same time to start the attack.

[@cadileigh9948]

and let us not forget that a 'clock' is in fact a bell not a device for measuring time which somehow stole the name but merely one to mark it's passing

[@averyeymard2637]

I had to take French in high school, community college, and as part of my BA and I can still only count up to thirty in French (Trente). It was very difficult for me to learn 😅

[@lebaguetteTH]

We have dizaone and even centaine because our system is based on the metric system so we need this word to explain how it works to kids and also need this in our daily life For the 1st floor being Rez de chausse it s because in many cities you have res de chauss (street level) and have a Rez de Jardin too Wich is not the same level (garden level can be floor +1 or -1) that s why we number floor in a different way

[@Jimfrenchde]

Bonjour. A long time ago my special needs brother who can't read or write, said the date nineteen sixty ten. I was learning French in high school and I said, that is the way the French say it. This was one coincidence. I don't think he knew how to say seventy. I found this interesting.

[@axxa2821]

well it is and it is not at the same time. In french we will say 1970: "dix-neuf-cent-soixante-dix" that you can translate in "ten-nine-hundred-sixty-ten" Or you can say: "mille-neuf-cent-soixante-dix" => "thousand-nine-hundred-sixty-ten" The two way to say it is correct but one is juste older than the other. In french you will have: 1 un 6 six 11 onze 16 seize 2 deux 7 sept 12 douze 17 dix-sept (ten-seven) 3 trois 8 huit 13 treize 18 dix-huit (ten-eight) 4 quatre 9 neuf 14 quatorze 19 dix-neuf (ten-nine) 5 cinq 10 dix 15 quinze 20 vingt 30 trente 40 quarante 50 cinquante 60 soixante 80 quatre-vingt 100 cent PS: than it's just addition and the add of a little "et" (and) between the ten factor and the number 1 or 11 PPS: the rule doesn't apply for 80 With this you can say any number between 1 and 100 exemple: 21 vingt-et-un 46 quarante-six 61 soixante-et-un 71 soixante-et-onze 74 soixante-quatorze 91 quatre-vingt-onze 98 quatre-vingt-dix-huit

[@lorettaknoelk3475]

I love the picture on this one!!

[@pumbaa667]

Bro, french is my mothertongue and I spent 40 years not realizing we pronounce the hard 'P' in "SePtante" and not in "Sept" ! Same in "SePtuagénaire" (someone of 70+ years old)

[@iparipaitegianiparipaitegi4643]

The numbers 70,80,90 in french are the rest of the vigesimal system (the base being 20 instead of 10). But in french speaking Belgium and Switzerland they say septante (70), octante (80), and nonante (90), which is easier and shorter.

[@Warcraft_Traveler]

None of them use Octante actually. As stated in the video, Belgium uses Quatre-vingt like the French and Switzerland says Huitante which is ... meh ?

[@TheEstampe]

@@Warcraft_Traveler Indeed, octante actually exists but is no longer in use and any French-speaking Swiss will tell you they say huitante instead (or sometimes quatre-vingt in the Geneva area since it's close to France). And we do pronounce the "p" in septante even though we don't in "sept".

[@Michaelgoestofrance]

Probably worth mentioning that, for the most part, phone numbers are separated into pairs of digits so, to use a British example, 0345 would be zero-three-four-five (or, more usually the letter 'O' for the zero), in French it would be 'zero-three, forty-five'. This, as you say, can get very confusing when someone's number contains seventies, eighties and nineties.

[@OuiInFrance]

Yes, phone numbers are rough! I did a blog post about them here that you might find helpful ;-) www.ouiinfrance.com/understanding-french-phone-numbers/

[@Xerxes2005]

I don't know, as a French speaker, there is a difference between the way we say 80-14 and 94. There's an inflection and a short pause between the numbers in the first case (quatre-vingts, quatorze), whereas there is none in the second (quatre-vingt-quatorze)

[@CROM-on1bz]

Yes it seems a bit strange indeed these seventy and ninety but in the end it comes to us from our ancestors the Gauls or Celts who did not count like the Mediterraneans in base ten but in base 20 (10 fingers and 10 toes) so 70 is 20+20+20+10, 80 is four times 20. A floor? what is the meaning of the word in French? A height or an elevation, so the ground level is not an elevation it is therefore the ground level or level 0. A day having 24 hours and starting at midnight or 0:00 it is logical to just add the hours, eg: I get up at 6am and I have breakfast at 12pm. Oh yes we also have half dozen useful for eggs, oysters and snails lol.

[@davidperrott5743]

Until a century or so ago Irish counted in twenties.

[@abawell]

lI y a fort longtemps, on comptait par vingtaines. Il n'y avait pas trente, quarante, cinquante... mais vingt-dix, vingt-onze ... deux-vingt... deux-vingt-onze...trois-vingt... Il existe encore aujourd'hui un hôpital à Paris qui s'appelle l'hôpital des quinze-vingt. Son nom vient du fait qu'il avait 300 lits disponibles lors de sa création.

[@sjbeaver]

comma vs period in decimal numbers?

[@carmelasantana3091]

Zip codes and train numbers! In the U.S., you say each digit individually (train number 8-6-4-2); in France, they treat it as an entire number (train number eight thousand six hundred forty-two). It's really stressful at a busy train station when they're making announcements. I also get momentarily panicked when they ask for my zip code.

[@Bloobz]

ZIP are usually said by dividing in two bits. The first two number are the number of the department and the second is the number for the post office. So often people will say 75100 like Seventy-Five Hundred.

[@laurentsalomonoriginals3438]

quatre-vingts is a remain of an ancient gaulish vigesimal system (base 20). 60 was once called trois-vingts 3x20, and 120 six-vingts.

[@---ze8tc]

1 Billion : in France : 1 000 000 000 000 or a million million ; in English : 1,000,000,000 or a thousand million

[@colinprice712]

@@---ze8tc the original English (not US) billion is 1 000 000 000 000 as the French…

[@TheRealRedAce]

Not in ENGLISH. In American.

[@module79l28]

We in Portugal (and many, many other countries) also use the long billion.

[@jean-michelvanpruyssen936]

@@---ze8tc Yeah that's a very tricky one. I always have to check.

[@Xerxes2005]

Indeed. In French, a thousand million is "un milliard".

[@keacoq]

And those are just the beginning. Commas and points inversed for decimals and separators. Numbers with decimals are pronounced differently. 1.36 is pronounced one comma thirty-six instead of 1 point three six. Counting by twenties is common. Schoolwork is mostly marked out of 20, 20s used in counting only in France, not Belgium etc. This is more NZ than US. In NZ construction distances are always in mm or m. No need for units. In France centimeters are often used. So '1 meter 20' may be 1200 mm or 1020 mm. So French tape measures are different I was not aware of the thumb-as-1 idea for countinng on hands. Then clothing and shoe sizes......and date formats

[@jeromemckenna7102]

With Brooklyn brownstones, the actual ground floor isn't the first floor.

[@tarem4264]

Kids do not know how to read an analog clock! When my kids were little, I insisted on having analog clocks in the house, especially at their bedsides, to force them to learn! Now try analog clocks with Roman numerals!!!

[@davenwin1973]

I'm shocked that isn't just a North American issue. I knew for several years, this was an issue in both the US and Canada. Sadly, Roman numerals is also not being taught either. I had to look up select Roman numerals, as I don't see them being used for copyright years anymore in New books, and TV programs.

[@cathryn1413]

Does dizaine = “decade?” I wasn’t sure exactly from the video.

[@OuiInFrance]

No, the word for decade is décennie

[@davidperrott5743]

No, it's "about ten". There are names for about 20 and so on too.

[@TheEstampe]

@@OuiInFrance And "décade" in French exists but is not really used and means 10 days, not 10 years; although you'll hear French speakers use décade instead of décennie because of the influence of English but that's a mistake.

[@feraudyh]

Wow, I had no idea that in the US floors were counted differently.

[@deba4537]

Duolingo has us learning that dizaine and douzaine are 'about ten' and 'about twelve' of something. Does that 'tally' with your experience?

[@ArthurM0rgan63]

Even better, there is a word in French for twelve dozen. It's called "une grosse". It's especially used for counting oysters or snails

[@ArthurM0rgan63]

The way we French count 70 and up like this is because of our Gaulish ancestors who counted with their fingers AND toes. Oh and btw, "octante" does exist but in Switzerland (if I'm not mistaken).

[@Thundersauntie]

Love this! I just finished going over numbers with my (middle school) students today! I did *not* know about the "10 of" something. So how would you say "it's 10 of 8" (10 minutes before 8)?

[@marcyvon8404]

huit heures moins dix

[@nicolasbellino7728]

About the soixante-dix issue, we French often think of it as some strange-frenchy-thing, until we discover that some other european language have similar and sometimes even worse systems. Our Belgian and Swiss neighbours use a better way to count, even though most French makes fun of it.

[@NicolasDuvernois-p4o]

May I add to the list that French do use DD-MM-YYYY for dates, whereas USA is used to MM-DD-YYYY ?

[@OuiInFrance]

Yup, and that's because in French you say le 4 novembre so 4/11 not 11/4, November 4th, so it makes sense!

[@colinprice712]

The US is an outlier, UK uses dd/mm/yyyy

[@paulfranklin8636]

@@OuiInFrance do the American not say 4th of July????....In the UK we use dd-mm-yyyy like the rest of the World barring the backward states of America, but we say both November 4th & 4th of November when speaking it's fairly easy to grasp. If you're speaking to somebody they will hear you say the name of the month and thus know what you are talking about 11/4/2024 can easily be interpreted as the 11th of April......in fact in every country but 1 that's how it is interpreted....

[@davidperrott5743]

Not just the French...

[@davenwin1973]

​@paulfranklin8636 some people in the UK, as well as Canada, still use the mm/dd/yyyy format. Remember, it was Great Britain that started this format, and only in the last few decades, did Great Britain switch. Your island still have many holdouts. Now some Asian countries use the yyyy/mm/dd format

[@dev5963]

Bonjour. What you say is different in France for floors and time is for the most part normal in most of the world. The US is an outlier. However, French counting, whew boy. Between translating the words in my head from French to English and then doing the math, I just ask "écris-le s'il vous plaît" or hand them my phone. French people in tourist areas normally will tell you the price of something in English. However, I have struggled at markets and out of the way places. They are generally receptive of this since even they realize that their counting system is complex. Travel update: I'll be in Paris in 24 days! Can't wait.

[@OuiInFrance]

Enjoy your trip!!!

[@nicholasharvey1232]

When French people tell you (a tourist) prices in English, I bet it's often higher than the price they give in French. Another good reason to know the language when you travel...

[@laurentsalomonoriginals3438]

Bienvenue dans deux douzaines de jours! I'm kidding, we don't say that, except for eggs, snails, oysters....

[@KurtWhitehead-s1x]

​@nicholasharvey1232 no, they just say it in English. They are not being dishonest. I know enough French to get by. But numbers trip me up.

[@eldamyofarisstandaliss9677]

Hi there! 🤣😅 Yes, when one takes a step back quatre-vingt, quatre-vingt dix, soixante-dix .... Why and what the heck?! However we are totally used to that. To be honest I think it is very ... strange , weird, odd... whatever. It almost does not make sense Does the concept of floor is the same in the UK?

[@davidperrott5743]

Yes, floors in much of Europe including the UK go ground, first and so on.

[@Greg_de_Toulouse]

The most confusing of all for me is 12PM: it should come after 9PM, 10PM, 11PM... and therefore be Midnight! No Midday! Would about "tens of something"? Don't you use it?

[@zappow2827]

12 PM is midnight. And also 0 AM. French people do not use 12 PM (since there is no AM and PM THERE) but they don't use 24:00 either. They say "minuit" (midnight).

[@Greg_de_Toulouse]

@@zappow2827Sorry but... nope. 12PM = noon, midday!

[@zappow2827]

@@Greg_de_Toulouse I think you're wrong, my friend! PM means "Post Meridiem" (after midday) and AM "Ante Meridiem" (before midday). Hence, 12 PM is 12 Post Meridiem, 12 after midday, midnight. In fact, there is no 12 AM or 12 PM, AM being before 12 (midday, noon) and PM being after 12 (midday, noon). There is 11:59:59 AM, one second later 12, then 12:00:01 PM. And 11:59:59 PM, then 12 (or 24, or 0), then 00:00:01 AM.

[@Greg_de_Toulouse]

@@zappow2827 Well. It's not "me" per se ;-) ; I just repeat what I heard in the country and read here and there. Check this out for instance: simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/12-hour_clock

[@maryjanekolesar8325]

We were stumped in a UK Airport: -1 for a floor in an elevator!!! Otherwise, I'm used to the rest being Canadian and an army brat.

[@nicholasharvey1232]

The French also have a word for 20 of something, "vingtaine". In English we call a group of 20 a score, but this is considered somewhat archaic (Abraham Lincoln famously started his Gettysburg Address with "Fourscore and seven years ago...", also echoing the French way of counting numbers in the 80s!) and the term is nowadays used in the plural to mean a large amount of something.

[@laurentsalomonoriginals3438]

Absolutely, and also, trentaine, quarantaine, cinquantaine, soixantaine , centaine and millier.

[@cmolodiets]

@@laurentsalomonoriginals3438 millier is a synonym of mille. it doesn't convey the same approximative value as "-aine"

[@solaccursio]

we have teh same in Italy. Una decina, ventina, trentina (10, 20 30 -and all the other multiples of ten.... of something) una dozzina (12) but if you say un centinaio, un migliaio, it doesn't usually means exactly 100 or 1000, but "approximately 100, or 1000". 1000 units of an item are mille (1.000), if it's un migliaio, it's "around a thousand, more or less a thousand". There were around 1000 persons in the place = c'erano un migliaio di persone in quel posto (because you're not sure about the exact number, but they were around 1000)

[@sebastienfiguiere5092]

@@cmolodiets yes it does. Usually, saying 'il y a un millier d'auditeurs de Oui in France' doesn't say there's exactly 1 000 viewers but approximatly 1 000 (very often more than 1 000) and 'environ un millier' means around 1 000 but a little less than 1 000. But it's not an exact science 😉 And for sure, there's many more Oui in France viewers than 'un millier' 😁

[@regatta2k]

Dianne = Cool lady :)

[@OuiInFrance]

Thank you! I appreciate you watching

[@French-o8u]

... and 2 weeks are 2x7=15 days ! So easy... 😜

[@davidperrott5743]

Yes, it's inclusive counting, you begin with today (day 1) and then continue to the same day next week which is 8.

[@benoitgadefait1005]

You are right that the Belgians do not go all the way to logic since they still say quatre-vingt but the French speaking Swiss do : they say octante

[@Warcraft_Traveler]

Huitante actually.

[@Eniral441]

Another difference: France is one of the countries that don't use mixed numbers in mathematics. They don't exist. Mixed numbers are used in cooking, but cooking is not math, and they use different processes. Since mixed numbers do not exist in math, 2½ becomes a multiplication problem due to there being no operator between the whole number and the fraction. In France, 2½=2×½=1 Whereas we use mixed numbers in mathematics in the US, and therefore have to make an exception to the implied multiplication rule for them. 2½=2+½=2.5. It is also why we have to use parentheses if we want to multiply 2 times ½. 2(½)

[@jean-pierredesoza2340]

Regarding time, there are colloquial ways to describe it, the Irish (and probably others in the UK) use, and that confused me. Never had such an issue with american speakers : the bottom of the hour, to describe the half-hour after the hour (hour + 30 minutes), or worse "Let's meet at half twelve", which mean the half-hour before the hour, here "half twelve" is 11:30.

[@davidperrott5743]

@@jean-pierredesoza2340 the Americans don't say half twelve for 12.30?? In Germany, the Netherlands and Scandinavia they say half twelve for 11.30 too.

[@cmolodiets]

the russian also say half twelve for 11: 30 (in russian of course)

[@davidperrott5743]

@cmolodiets they may do, but I prefer not to think of a place that thinks a murderous megalomaniac makes a suitable leader.

[@OuiInFrance]

We'd say half past twelve for 12:30 (or twelve thirty).

[@EpicierVeneneux0]

15 jours means a fortnight, although it actually means 14 days. There also is a huitaine for eight items, which is mostly used to count days. Please get back to me within a week would translate into Veuillez répondre sous huitaine. Here again huitaine means 7 days, not 8. 2 huitaines make a quinzaine. 2x8=15=14 days.

[@laurentsalomonoriginals3438]

Another difference is that in French we do not count in hundreds, except for years in dates. 1600 is thousand six hundred, mille six-cents. It can only be sixteen hundred , seize cents, when speaking about the year 1600 AD. BTW, 1601 is the beginning of the seventeenth century, le XVIIe siècle. Centuries are always written in roman numbers.

[@LaraGemini]

Same in English, we would never say "sixteen hundred" unless it was a year, in money we would say "one thousand six hundred". But in American they count money in hundreds. Very bizarre.

[@santamanone]

The floor numbering system is the same in the United Kingdom.

[@scottscottsdale7868]

So Inhave some further insights into the number counting business. My wife is from Madagascar. And before anyone says anything you have to know they speak very very good French. Million times better than in Quebec. Anyway, so she pounced 80 for me and I said no wonder it is all goofy; 80 has wine in it. She then told me the word for 91 is literally “4 twenties plus 11.” No wonder the French play tennis all sneaky and they try to trick people, it is hard wired into their brains from birth. Finally, my wife said she never thought anything of it, until she watched this video. Now she sees it is strange. German is more like English for obvious reasons but they out the small number in from of the big. So “1 and 90.”

[@chucku00]

French slang for talking about an undefined two digit number bigger than 20 : "quarante-douze". (forty twelve)

[@nicholasharvey1232]

Wouldn't that just be 52?

[@lesfreresdelaquote1176]

Let's be honest, I have heard English people complaining about French numbers all the time. Now let's speak about the difference between fourteen and forty, sixteen and sixty which are basically a nightmare for French speakers. We simply don't hear the difference most of the time, because the _only difference_ is were the stress is put on the first or second syllable and the rest is simply mumbled out... For the whole list of these unintelligible numbers, we have: thirteen/thirty fourteen/forty fifteen/fifty sixteen/sixty seventeen/seventy eighteen/eighty and nineteen/nighty... An absolute nightmare to hear the difference... So please give us a break with soixante-dix and quatre-vingt...

[@davidperrott5743]

Not just English. In Swedish you have femton (15) and femtio (50) and so on.

[@lesfreresdelaquote1176]

@@davidperrott5743 And since, Swedish is also a language in which tone is a thing, foreigners might have a hard time hearing the difference. Do Swedish people sometimes get confused?

[@davidperrott5743]

@lesfreresdelaquote1176 I'm not familiar enough with Swedish to know, but I'd guess that as femtio has an ee sound and femton doesn't the confusion is probably less.

[@fredlehun3860]

Hi, You forgot the "quinzaine" for 15 😉

[@zappow2827]

If you go that way, she also forgot vingtaine, trentaine, quarantaine, cinquantaine and soixantaine.

[@gsbeak]

Une quinzaine ça peut aussi être 2 semaines et donc 14 jours... a "quinzaine" can also mean 2 weeks, so 14 days...

[@marcmonnerat4850]

Il y a aussi _sizaine_ , _huitaine_ , _neuvaine_ . Les autres existent aussi, mais sont très peu utilisés-

[@cmolodiets]

@@marcmonnerat4850 sizaine n'est pas employé. demi-douzaine le remplace. J'ai jamais entendu neuvaine mais ajouter aine a la fin d'un chiffre reste possible et devrait etre compris par tous les français meme si ça n'est pas dans le dictionnaire

[@marcmonnerat4850]

@@cmolodiets Si, _sizaine_ est/était employé en scoutisme. Et une _neuvaine_ de prière dans l'église catholique. Et _huitaine_ est plus courant : _paiement sous huitaine_ , _une huitaine de jours_ , etc.

[@cmolodiets]

Quoi? les montres ont des mains a la place des aiguilles aux Etats-Unis! Mais je savais pas.

[@OuiInFrance]

Bonjour, je ne sais pas si c'est de l'humour ou une question sérieuse 😅 mais je vais y répondre. Les aiguilles d'une montre se traduisent par le terme "hands" en anglais. C'est le même mot que celui qui signifie "mains", mais dans le cas d'une montre ça désigne les aiguilles, voilà ! PS : c'est aussi le même terme pour les horloges

[@ecdhe]

Another difference is how the French and the American write some digits, namely 1 and 7.

[@solaccursio]

also 4

[@hollish196]

I have always counted the French way! Grew up in Ohio and Missouri. Guess I am just weird.

[@mrdan2898]

Wow, kids nowadays can't tell time on a dial clock! Yikes!!! Don't schools have clocks in all classrooms!?

[@TheRealRedAce]

I thought that peculiar French way of saying numbers over 59 had been reformed some time ago?

[@davidperrott5743]

Mais non!

[@TheRealRedAce]

@@davidperrott5743 So still "Soixante-dixhuit" and "Quatre-vingts- et onze" etc?

[@davidperrott5743]

@TheRealRedAce mais oui... they use septante and huitante in Switzerland but apparently the French usage is becoming more common.

[@davidmeusnier9430]

Les Suisses disent "nonante" pour quatre-vingt-dix

[@OuiInFrance]

I love that!

[@Greg_de_Toulouse]

Les Suisses disent surtout Octante que les Belges n'utilisent pas !

[@marcmonnerat4850]

@@Greg_de_Toulouse Non, jamais entendu de ma vie, cela doit être très rare. _Septante_ et _nonante_ tous le monde.

[@TheEstampe]

@@Greg_de_Toulouse Les Suisses disent huitante, octante existe mais n'est plus usité.

[@Greg_de_Toulouse]

@@TheEstampe Ah ? J'ai travaillé avec des Suisses qui disaient bien octante

[@nokamae6943]

La différence avec la belgique et la suissse pour les chiffres a partir de 70 sont du selon les historiens a la façon de compté des gaulois !

[@CROM-on1bz]

Compter, comté c'est le fromage.😂😂

[@nokamae6943]

@CROM-on1bz je dois être encore gaulois 😄. Merci comme j' écris via mon téléphone, il y a des propositions automatiques et je n'ai pas relu ma phrase.

[@jean-pierredesoza2340]

Les gaulois souvent aussi appelés celtes couvraient le territoire de l'Europe, jusqu'au Danube. On sait ça parce qu'ils partageaient les mêmes coutumes funéraires pour enterrer leurs chefs. Mais ils n'avaient aucune conscience de ces similarités, et se sont divisés et combattus C'est beaucoup plus tard que l'appellation décrira seulement "nos ancêtres". Un belge est un gaulois et même des plus courageux selon Jules César, dans la Guerre de Gaules.

[@CROM-on1bz]

@@nokamae6943 😁😁

[@pascalolivier4458]

The fact children don't learn how to read time with hands is real unfortunately. Personnaly, I have a better representation of the time of the day while looking at an analog watch.

[@veho67]

Actually, they all learn it in CE2 (third grade). And there are analog clocks in most classrooms.

[@marlinbigfen9080]

Apart from the weird French number names at 6:06, this could have been called 'Ways the entire rest of the world and US use numbers differently"

[@OuiInFrance]

Hello, I make videos based on my lived experience so since I haven't lived in the "entire rest of the world," I try not to generalize and stick with what I know. Because the one time I assume, someone will of course point out the exceptions to the rule. Thanks for watching! Hope you enjoyed the video. ;-)

[@devroombagchus7460]

I think you overgeneralized. Much what you said about France is common all over Europe. 70 to 99 is pedantic in France only. Showing off by the aristocrats that they were good in Maths. In Switzerland, we never had an aristocracy, so we simply kept septante, huitante, nonante. More or less the same in Belgium.

[@OuiInFrance]

Hi there, my channel is from the point of view of my lived experience which is France and actually saying "this is how they do things in Europe" would be overgeneralizing. In the past, when I've said "in Europe," someone will always point out the exception so I stick to France vs US comparisons, but always say "it's like this in France and other areas of Europe." ;-) Thanks for watching!

[@thehapagirl92]

Lol how sad French kids can’t tell time on a mechanical clock. I can tell time on a mechanical clock. Il est trois heures de matin. Il est vingt-trois heures vingt-neuf ce soir.

[@OuiInFrance]

I don't think it's specific to French kids, just a generational thing. Kids these days aren't taught how to read a clock

[@davenwin1973]

​@@OuiInFranceI was shocked when you brought this up. I knew this was a problem in North America, but France, and probably continental Europe, is not a good sign.

[@matthewjay660]

Bonjour Diane. My parents visited me in France and they are anglophones-only, so when we went up to the counter to order I told the lady in French, "Bonjour Madame. Trois sandwiches au jambon et beurre, s'il vous plaît" and I held up three American fingers, my index, my middle, and my ring fingers like an American because I had just been speaking in English to my parents. They lady behind the counter asked me, > I realized my gaffe and held up the French hand-sign for 3: my thumb, my index, and my middle finger. She smiled and thanked me. (Speaking of cross-cultural gesture gaffes, I used to give the "Ok sign" 👌🏻 to my French students and when I told them "Ok" or "That's fine." They just looked at me in confusion until a French English teacher clued me in and told me in French that that hand gesture means