quatre-vingt-douze
Ninety two in French is quatre-vingt-douze.
The phrase is used to denote the number that follows ninety-one and precedes ninety-three. In a colloquial context, you might hear quatre-vingt-douze balles to mean ninety-two bucks.
What does it mean word for word?
The number is literally composed of quatre (four), vingt (twenty) and douze (twelve), effectively meaning "four-twenty-twelve".
Is it said differently in some regions?
In Belgium, Switzerland and certain areas of France, nonante-deux is used for ninety-two.
How does it change in a sentence?
When writing this number, the word vingt does not take an s because it is followed by another number.
Did you know?
- The French numbering system for ninety-two is an ancestral echo of the Celts, who used base-20 counting long before the Romans brought base-10.
- While quatre-vingt-douze is a mathematical sum, French does not use a single word for 'ninety' in France, unlike English or Spanish.
- While quatre-vingt-douze is standard in France, the alternative nonante-deux used in Belgium and Switzerland is based on the Latin word nonaginta, which means 'ninety'.
Examples in context
- Le vieux devant nous a quatre-vingt-douze ans.The old man in front of us is ninety-two years old.This sentence is useful for expressing the age of a person using quatre-vingt-douze.Tatoeba #3260413 by nimfeo, translation #3260414 by CM
- Quatre-vingt-douze voituresNinety two cars
- Il y avait quatre-vingt-douze personnes dans la salleThere were ninety-two people in the room
- Le numéro de la maison est quatre-vingt-douze.The house number is ninety-two.
- Il y a quatre-vingt-douze pages dans ce livre.There are ninety-two pages in this book.
Example conversation
Lucas and Chloé are checking a house number on a street.
- LucasC'est le numéro quatre-vingt-douze ?Is it number ninety-two?
- ChloéOui, c'est bien celui-là.Yes, it is that one.
- LucasJe croyais que c'était le quatre-vingt-un.I thought it was ninety-one.
- ChloéNon, regarde bien le panneau.No, look closely at the sign.
Sources
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
