Numbers written in full

Anne D.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Numbers written in full

Just checking, the number of minutes are written out in full in all the examples - is there ever a situation in French where numerals are written instead? eg 23 instead of vingt-trois.

Asked 3 months ago
CécileKwiziq team memberCorrect answer

Hi Anne, 

To add to what Chris said, numerals will be used for dates, addresses, prices, measurements, years, and percentages however, in formal writing, such as literature or official documents, numbers are often spelled out, especially for smaller numbers (usually up to 16 or 20, depending on the style guide). In these cases, you would write "douze" instead of "12" or "vingt" instead of "20".

Hope this answers your question.

Chris W.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

The convention is the same as in English. You use digits for brevity and clarity. Rarely will a time have its digits spelled out in full. On kwiziq this is mostly done for practice. 

Anne D.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

I’m also interested about centuries, which I can’t find covered anywhere on the site - pretty sure my answer of 1er siècle was marked wrongly in one of the dictées and the correct answer was in Roman numerals?

Maarten K.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Anne, 

the attached link will help you, I think. 

I can’t recall seeing a single example on signs in France for, or in written material about, chateaux or churches etc that didn’t use Roman numerals for important ‘period dates’ in their history.

https://www.lawlessfrench.com/vocabulary/roman-numerals/

Numbers written in full

Just checking, the number of minutes are written out in full in all the examples - is there ever a situation in French where numerals are written instead? eg 23 instead of vingt-trois.

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