How to Say "Eighty One" in French

quatre-vingt-un

Eighty one in French is quatre-vingt-un, the number after eighty and before eighty-two.

quatre-vingt-un is used for counting, ages, prices and any other quantity of eighty-one.

What does it mean word for word?

quatre-vingt-un literally means four twenties one, since French counts eighty as four times twenty.

Unlike twenty-one or thirty-one, the number quatre-vingt-un does not use et, meaning and. The parts are simply joined with hyphens.

Do not add et between the parts. Write quatre-vingt-un, without an s on vingt, because a number follows it.

In many parts of the French-speaking world, such as Switzerland or parts of Belgium, you might hear huitante et un instead of the mathematical quatre-vingt-un used in France.
The use of 'four twenties' in quatre-vingt-un is a linguistic fossil from the Celts and Gauls, who used a base-twenty counting method long before the Romans introduced the decimal system.
The logic of quatre-vingt-un is similar to the old English 'fourscore', which is why the King James Bible uses 'three score and ten' to mean seventy.

Neuf fois neuf font quatre-vingt-un.
Nine times nine is eighty-one.
quatre-vingt-un is the result of nine times nine.
Tatoeba #10292439 by carlosalberto, translation #10291467 by ddnktr
Le Péruvien Esteban Canal (1896-1981) a remporté le titre de grand maître des échecs en 1977, à l'âge de quatre-vingt-un ans !
Peruvian Esteban Canal (1896-1981) won the title of chess grandmaster in 1977, at the age of eighty-one!
quatre-vingt-un ans is how French gives an age of eighty-one years.
Tatoeba #10579377 by carlosalberto, translation #10579366 by carlosalberto
Le prix de la voiture est de quatre-vingt-un mille euros.
The price of the car is eighty-one thousand euros.

Léa and Hugo are looking at a house price list.

Léa

Regarde, cet appartement coûte quatre-vingt-un mille euros.
Look, this apartment costs eighty-one thousand euros.
Hugo

C'est un prix très raisonnable.
That is a very reasonable price.
Léa

Tu penses qu'on peut l'acheter ?
Do you think we can buy it?
Hugo

Oui, je pense que c'est possible.
Yes, I think it's possible.

Sources

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