Numbers are supposed to be universal, right? They’re the language of math and that transcends language. Easy peasy. Well, that’s what I thought until I moved to France and found myself surprised by all the ways the French use numbers differently than how we do in the U.S.
5 Ways France & the U.S. use numbers differently
One of the first things we learn as language learners is how to count. For some reason, numbers tend to stick with us. I think I can still count to ten in Spanish from my six-week Spanish elective in middle school. They’re easy enough! But beyond the actual numbers, the way we use numbers in different cultures can be quite interesting.
Who knew that the same digits could cause so much confusion? Americans and the French use numbers in surprisingly different ways. And while these differences can be fascinating, they can also lead to some pretty entertaining misunderstandings.
In this post, I’ll break down five ways that the U.S. and France use numbers differently… and this is just the beginning! Whether you’re planning to travel, move, or are just curious about how cultures shape even our most fundamental concepts, you’ll find it interesting and, hopefully, a little entertaining. Let’s go!
1. Counting on hands
As kids, we learn to count our hands. One finger for one, two for two, and so on…. Except the fingers we learn on in different countries aren’t the same!
In the U.S., our pointer finger is one (the finger next to the thumb), two is that one plus the middle finger. In France, one is the thumb and two is the thumb and pointer finger next to it.
It’s easiest to understand if I just show you via a photo below. Thank you to Tom, the hand model.
Tom said the four can go either way. It depends on whether he’s counting sequentially on his hand or just showing someone he needs four of something.
2. Floors of buildings
This one really tripped me up when I first arrived in France and is something I still double check myself on both in the U.S. and France (if I’m not using an elevator, that is, where all you have to do is press the right button).
In France, the ground floor that’s at street level is considered floor zero or the rez de chaussée (RDC). You’ll see RDC on elevators and that means the ground floor or lobby of a building. The first floor is one flight up.
In the U.S., the ground floor is the first floor and if you go up one flight of stairs, that’s the second floor. You can see how this could easily confuse an uninformed tourist or newcomer.
In the early days, there were times when I’d show up to an appointment and even a vacation apartment rental on the wrong floor. I even knocked on the wrong door once and had a very confused elderly woman in pajamas wondering who the heck woke her up and why. Ooops.
You learn this difference pretty quickly, but it’s one to be aware of so you can avoid any awkward situations.
3. Telling time
In France, it’s quite common for people to use a 24-hr clock when telling time. Instead of saying an appointment is at 1 p.m., it would be 13 o’clock (13h, treize heures). There’s no a.m./p.m. in French to differentiate, so the 24-hr clock makes it clear.
An appointment at 6 p.m. is 18h, dix-huit heures), and so on. You’ll see and hear times referred to like this on TV schedules, when making doctors’ appointments with the secretary, movie times, etc. French people do also use the 12-hr clock but in less formal situations when speaking to others. In print, the 24-hr clock is what’s most commonly used.
While it’s not completely foreign to Americans, military time/24-hr clock isn’t widely used in the U.S. We’ll say let’s meet at 8 p.m. or eight in the evening, to be clear we’re not talking about the morning. No one would really say 20 o’clock or twenty-hundred hours… unless you’re in the military.
When I first moved, although I was familiar with the 24-hr clock, it took me a little practice to learn it like the back of my hand. Sometimes I’d catch myself writing 6pm for 16h (it’s 4 p.m.) because I saw the 6 or 4 p.m. for 14h (it’s 2 p.m.) when I wasn’t paying attention.
I showed up at an appointment late once because of this. But after making the mistake once, you’ll confirm and reconfirm an appointment so you’re 100% sure you wrote down the time correctly.
P.S Kind of tangentially related, someone told me the other day to ask a teen under 15 to read the time on a mechanical watch (one with hands, not digital) and see what happens. I asked my neighbor and he had no clue how to read a clock with hands. I guess kids aren’t learning to read actual clocks these days because phones and even watches are digital. If you have a young teen, let me know if they can tell time! 😉
8 Things that are calculated differently in France >>
4. There is a word for 10 of something
The French have the word dozen, 12 of something, just like we do in English. The French word is douzaine. Douze is 12 in French. But they also have another handy word to mean 10 of something. The word for 10 is dix, so a dizaine is 10.
We don’t have this word in English. The word ten doesn’t really lend itself very naturally to tenzen. But I guess the equivalent (if it existed) would be dizen (using the French root dix) since the English word dozen seems to be from the French word douze. Maybe I should start saying dizen and see if it catches on….
5. Words for 70 and up in French require math
Learning French numbers is all fun and games until you get to 70. It’s soixante-dix, which is literally sixty-ten. Eighty is quatre-vingt, literally four-twenty. Ninety is even more fun and is quatre-vingt-dix, four-twenty-ten. You with me?
Sometimes even today, I still ask people to repeat their phone numbers if I’m not 100% confident I got it the first time, especially if they don’t pause between the numbers and they all get slurred together. Even when I am confident, I still ask people to repeat just for good measure. Numbers really are that tricky!
Go figure… in the French-speaking part of Belgium, they have very logical words for 70 and 90, septante and nonante, respectively, which take after the Latin root. Surprisingly, they still say quatre-vingt for 80, octante doesn’t exist.
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Hope you learned a few things about how the French and Americans use numbers!
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Muriel Areno says
Septante and nonante were used in many French provinces back in the day. I would hear old people use those words when I was a child in the 50s.
Regarding the hours of the day, I always wondered why “military time” in the US said “hundred” instead of just twenty hours like they do in French. Seems like a waste of time and breath.
Lauren Helfand says
Perfect timing! (Pun intended!). I’m re-learning French and we’re working on telling time right now. Math has never been my forte. And it’s even less so now. So complicated! We’ll see how well I do on my next test! Ha!
Diane says
Sending good vibes your way!!
Michel says
You forgot to mention how to tell phone numbers in France. It’s spelled as groups of two digits, while in the US you spell each digit separately. For example, if a French tells you their phone number as 1234567890, they will spell it as twelve-thirty-four-fifty-five-seventy-eight-ninety. This is why a phone number is commonly written as groups of two digits 12.34.56.78.90. Also, the zero is said zero, and not the letter O.
Diane says
Hi there, I linked to an entire post I wrote about phone numbers in this one!