French Numbers, Dates and Time for TEF Canada

Getting Started — Numbers Are the Highest-Scoring Element

In TEF and TCF Canada listening and speaking, numbers come up constantly — prices, phone numbers, addresses, birthdates, appointment times, years. This page teaches you every number, day, month, and time word you need.

How to use: Each table’s Pronunciation column gives simple English respelling. The phonetics are approximations only — French’s nasal vowels, “u”, and guttural “r” don’t translate perfectly into English. Always verify with real audio (Radio-Canada, RFI).

First read: French Alphabet and Sounds — so these pronunciations make more sense.

1. Numbers 0–20

Note: The final consonants in “six”, “huit”, and “dix” drop before another consonant (six chats = “see shah”), but stay before a vowel or at the end of an utterance (il est six = “eel eh seess”). This trips up many — listen for it on the TEF.

2. Numbers 21–99 (Tens and Patterns)

Pattern rules (learn once, apply everywhere):

• 21, 31, 41, 51, 61 use “et un” (no hyphen): vingt et un.
• 71 also follows this: soixante et onze.
• 22–29, 32–39 use hyphens, no “et”: vingt-deux, trente-trois.
• 70–79 = “60” + 10–19 (soixante-dix, soixante-onze… soixante-dix-neuf).
• 80 = “quatre-vingts” (4×20, takes an ‘s’); 81–89 = quatre-vingt-un…neuf (the ‘s’ drops when followed by a number).
• 90–99 = “quatre-vingt” + 10–19 (quatre-vingt-dix, quatre-vingt-onze…).
• Belgium/Switzerland use septante (70), huitante (80), nonante (90), but Canadian French uses the forms above — learn this for TEF.

3. Numbers 100 and Up

Note: “Cent” and “vingt” take an “s” when multiplied and not followed by another number (deux cents, quatre-vingts), but drop the “s” when another number follows (deux cent un). “Mille” never takes an “s”. “Million” and “milliard” are nouns and take “de” before the next noun: un million de dollars.

4. Ordinal Numbers (1st–20th)

Note: Only “premier/première” is irregular (changes with gender). All others are the same in masculine/feminine: la deuxième fois, le deuxième jour. Dates almost always use regular numbers, not ordinals — except the 1st of the month (le premier mai).

5. Days of the Week

Note: Days aren’t capitalized. “Le lundi” = every Monday (habit); plain “lundi” = next Monday. Weekend = “le week-end” or “la fin de semaine” (common in Canada/Quebec).

6. Months of the Year

Note: Months aren’t capitalized either. Use “en” before them: en janvier, en mars. “Août” is often pronounced without the “t” (“oo”), though some say it with the “t” — both show up on TEF.

7. Seasons

Note: Special rules for prepositions: au printemps, en été, en automne, en hiver.

8. Telling Time

Note: Official/24-hour time (schedules, bus/trains, appointments) drops “et quart/et demie” and just states numbers: 14h15 = “quatorze heures quinze”, 14h30 = “quatorze heures trente”. Learn both — the TEF uses both.

9. Talking About Dates

Note: French dates are day-month-year, not month-day (12/07/2026 = July 12, not December 7). Only the 1st uses “le premier”; all other dates use regular numbers (le deux, le vingt et un…). Years are read as full numbers: 2024 = “deux mille vingt-quatre”.

10. Time and Frequency Words

11. Numbers in Real Situations (Phone, Price, Age)

Note: Phone numbers, postal codes, and years are often read in pairs or hundreds (1994 = “dix-neuf cent quatre-vingt-quatorze”, or “19-94”). Both forms appear in Canadian French — be ready for both on TEF.

What’s Next

Numbers and dates are the backbone of listening. Now practice:

• Check with real audio: TCF Listening Strategy and Listening Comprehension Strategy.
• Talk about yourself daily: your age, phone number, birthdate, today’s date and time — out loud, in French.