French Money: How To Count Coins And Notes (Bills)

Author
Written byAmélie Pinon

In France, the official currency is the euro (€). It used to be the franc.

In this lesson, I'll teach you how to count coins and notes/bills in French, which you'll need if you're paying by cash in France.

Numbers

First, we should brush up on our small numbers (in case you forgot).

You'll need these for the terms that follow.

  • zéro (zero)
  • un (one)
  • deux (two)
  • trois (three)
  • quatre (four)
  • cinq (five)
  • six (six)
  • sept (seven)
  • huit (eight)
  • neuf (nine)
  • dix (ten)

French money types (euro coins and notes)

Coins

FrenchEnglish
un centimeone cent
deux centimestwo cents
cinq centimesfive cents
dix centimesten cents
vingt centimestwenty cents
cinquante centimesfifty cents
un euroone euro
deux eurostwo euros

Notes (bills)

FrenchEnglish
cinq eurosfive euros
dix eurosten euros
vingt eurostwenty euros
cinquante eurosfifty euros
cent eurosone hundred euros
deux cents eurostwo hundred euros
cinq cents eurosfive hundred euros

Examples

Using coins

When counting coins, we use pièces ("piece" was historically used in English and Spanish as well to refer to coins).

Here are some examples:

deux pièces de dix centimes

two ten-cent coins

une pièce de cinquante centimes et deux pièces de vingt centimes

one fifty-cent coin and two twenty-cent coins

trois pièces de deux euros

three two-euro coins

Using bills (notes)

deux billets de dix euros

two ten-euro bills

un billet de cinquante euros et deux billets de vingt euros

one fifty-euro bill and two twenty-euro bills

trois billets de cent euros

three one-hundred-euro bills

Counting notes and coins together

Here are a few examples combining notes and coins:

un billet de vingt euros et quatre pièces de cinq centimes

one twenty-euro bill and four five-cent coins

deux billets de cinquante euros, une pièce de un euro et trois pièces de vingt centimes

two fifty-euro bills, one one-euro coin, and three twenty-cent coins
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French Money: How To Count Coins And Notes (Bills)
In this lesson, I'll teach you how to count coins and notes/bills in French, which you'll need if you're paying by cash in France.
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