mille
/mil/
The French word mille means.
mille is the number used to represent a thousand (ten hundred).
How does it change in a sentence?
The word mille is invariable. This means it does not change its form to agree with gender or number, and it never takes an 's' even when describing a plural quantity. When followed by a noun, it remains mille regardless of the noun it modifies.
How do you pronounce it?
/mil/
Did you know?
- While mille is the number 'thousand', the word mille is also used as a noun to mean a 'mile'. In French, a mille is specifically a nautical or aerial mile of 1852 meters.
- The word mille shares the same Proto-Indo-European root as the English word 'mile', even though they represent different concepts of distance and quantity.
- Although mille never takes an 's', the word milliers is used when 'thousands' is used as an indefinite noun, such as in the phrase des milliers de personnes meaning 'thousands of people'.
Examples in context
- La distance entre les deux villes est d'environ mille kilomètres.The distance between the two cities is about a thousand kilometers.
- J'ai économisé mille euros pour mes vacances.I have saved a thousand euros for my vacation.
- J'ai passé mille heures sur ce jeu vidéo.I've spent a thousand hours on this video game.
- Il y avait mille personnes à la fête hier soir.There were a thousand people at the party yesterday.
- J'ai ramassé un millier de coquillages sur la plage.I collected around a thousand seashells on the beach.
- Mille personnesA thousand people
- Mille eurosA thousand euros
- Il y a mille personnes ici.There are a thousand people here.
- Ce livre coûte mille euros.This book costs a thousand euros.
- J'ai attendu mille ans.I waited a thousand years.
Example conversation
Nathan and Emma are looking at a vintage poster in a shop.
- NathanRegarde ce poster, il coûte mille euros !Look at this poster, it costs a thousand euros!
- EmmaC'est vraiment trop cher pour moi.That is really too expensive for me.
- NathanTu as raison, Emma.You are right, Emma.
- EmmaOn cherche quelque chose de moins cher.Let's look for something cheaper.
Sources
- Pronunciation: Wiktionary entry mille, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries mille, CC BY-SA 4.0.
