Lesson Plan 05
Lesson Plan 05
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Lesson Plan 5: QUANTITIES!
Fast Forward!
By the time you get to the end of Lesson Plan 5, you will be familiar with
numbers and asking “how much?”
You can expect to understand the French version of cardinal numbers (one,
two, three, etc) and ordinal numbers, (first, second, third, etc).
You probably haven’t taken much notice of how frequently statements in
English begin with “there is” and “there are”! It is difficult to talk about
amounts without making statements like “there are 3 apples left” or “there
is another one”. These statements are not just used to describe quantities
of course, but will be a useful structure for you to learn.
Cardinal Numbers
The following sections list the numbers from one to forty, forty one to one
hundred, and one hundred and one upwards. These lists illustrate the
general patterns, which will become easier to recognize as you repeat the
numbers and hear them on the audio tracks.
There are a few interruptions to the patterns, which once memorized, will
not be difficult to use. You will begin to see that once you have memorized
the sequence between one and twenty, that everything after that repeats
itself until of course, you come to the exceptions! Of particular note is the
use of “et” for 21, 31, 41, 51, 61 and 71 only.
Numbers 1-40
5.1 Zéro 0
5.2 Un 1
5.3 Deux 2
5.4 Trois 3
5.5 Quatre 4
5.6 Cinq 5
5.7 Six 6
5.8 Sept 7
5.9 Huit 8
5.10 Neuf 9 Cinq fleurs
5.11 Dix 10
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5.12 Onze 11
5.13 Douze 12
5.14 Treize 13
5.15 Quatorze 14
5.16 Quinze 15
5.17 Seize 16
5.18 Dix-sept 17
5.19 Dix-huit 18
5.20 Dix-neuf 19
5.21 Vingt 20
5.22 Vingt et un 21
Vingt et un bougies
5.23 Vingt-deux 22
5.24 Vingt-trois 23
5.25 Vingt-quatre 24
5.26 Vingt-cinq 25
5.27 Vingt-six 26
5.28 Vingt sept 27
5.29 Vingt-huit 28
5.30 Vingt-neuf 29
5.31 Trente 30
5.32 Trente et un 31
5.33 Trente-deux 32 Quatres boules
5.34 Trente-trois 33
5.35 Trente-quatre 34
5.36 Trente-cinq 35
5.37 Trente-six 36
5.38 Trente-sept 37
5.39 Trente-huit 38
5.40 Trente-neuf 39
5.41 Quarante 40
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Numbers 41-100
5.42 Quarante et un 41
5.43 Cinquante 50
5.44 Cinquante et un 51
5.45 Soixante 60
5.46 Soixante et un 61
5.47 Soixante dix 70
5.48 Soixante et onze 71
5.49 Quatre-vingt 80
5.50 Quatre-vingt un 81 Trois poissons
5.51 Quatre-vingt dix 90
5.52 Quatre-vingt-onze 91
5.53 Cent 100
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Note that “un mille”, “a thousand” changes to “des milliers”, “thousands”
in the plural in the context of a sentence (as per example shown below).
Par Exemple
En France il y a plus de
soixante million d’habitants
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Ordinal Numbers
When you need to use expressions with numbers and words like “first” or
“tenth”, the basic structure of cardinal numbers changes with “–ieme”
added after the number, as in “huit + ième” = “huitième”, eighth.
Note that this can be used in the masculine and feminine forms, as in “le
dixième livre”, “the tenth book”, or “la dixième chaise” “the tenth
person”. The core “dixième” does not alter to agree with gender in this
case.
Par Exemple
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Asking About Quantities
When talking about quantities you will need to become familiar with the
formula for asking questions in French.
► How many is asked with one simple word, Combien?
► How much does this cost? becomes Combien ça coute?
When answering questions about quantities, “There is” (singular form) and
“there are” (plural form) are useful little phrases which are easily
translated to “il y a” for both singular and plural. This is one of those times
when the French language actually simplifies a translation instead of making
it more elaborate!
► You can use il y a positively to make a statement there is or there are
► You can use il y a by reversing the order to y a t-il to ask the question
Is there? or Are there?
► You can use il y a negatively by adding two extra bits of words n and
pas as in il n’y a pas to say there is not or there are no
Look at the following examples below which bring the principles about
questions and answers together.
5.96 Combien?
How many?
5.97 Combien ça coute?
How much does this cost?
5.98 Il y a
There is or There are
5.99 Y a t-il
Is there? or Are there? Il n’y a pas de cheveux!
5.100 Il n’y a pas…
There is not… or There are no…
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Par Exemple
Approximations
When we use approximation about quantities in English we usually say
“there are about ten people”. This type of expression has an easy to
remember format in French: just add “aine”, which means “about. For
example, “about fifty books” is translated to “une cinquantaine de
livres”. Notice that this expression is always feminine.
“Aine” at the end of the number only applies to 10, “une dizaine”, 12,
“une douzaine”, 15, “une quinzaine”, from numbers 20 to 60 in multiples
of 10, and the number 100. It is also used exclusively to refer to “a
fortnight”, “une quinzaine”, and “a dozen”, “une douzaine”.
Par Exemple
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More Approximations
Let’s look at some additional words and expressions used when talking about
amounts:
5.112 D’autres
Others
5.113 Encore
More
5.114 Beaucoup
A lot of
5.115 Plus ou moins
More or less
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Action Replay!
► Ordinal numbers
► Formed by adding ième to the ending of cardinal numbers
► Le or La changes to agree with the gender of the subject (e.g.
Le livre) without altering the spelling of the ordinal number.
► Asking About Quantities
► Combien? How many?
► Combien ça coûte? How much does this cost?
► Il y a There is or There are
► Y a t-il Is there? or Are there?
► Il n’y a pas There is not or There are no
► Approximations
► For approximations just add aine, for example about fifty books
becomes une cinquantaine de livres.
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More Audio!
These audio tracks are for all the words in this Lesson Plan that you haven’t
heard yet! Most of them will be used in the following exercizes.
Extra Audio!
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Les Activités
Combien?
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Q.5 Combien de crayons?
Il y a _____________ crayons
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Q.9 Combien de valises y a t-il?
Il y a ______________ valises
Q.10 Il y a combien de pièces de monnaie?
Il y a ______________ pièces de monnaie
Translation Time!
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Un Jeu D’images!
Write the English translation in the space provided on the right. Then, on
the next line, write the French translation of the English phrase on the left.
En français! (In French!) En anglais! (In English!)
Q.19
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Q.22
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Les Réponses
Combien?
Translation Time!
Un Jeu D’images!
La Fin
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