Multiplicative Numbers

French multiplicatives
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Numéraux multiplicatifs

Multiplicative numbers are, unsurprisingly, words used to multiply nouns. The numbers themselves can be adjectives or nouns – either way, their gender agrees with the nouns they modify / replace.

Par exemple…

J’ai mangé une double portion de frites.   I ate a double portion of fries.
Il gagne le triple de moi.   He earns three times more than I do.

Only the first few multiplicatives are typically used in either French or English; beyond that, it’s more common to just say (nombre) fois, (number) times, or (number)fold.

simple x1 single
double x2 double
triple x3 triple
quadruple x4 quadruple
quintuple x5 quintuple, five times, fivefold
sextuple x6 sextuple, six times, sixfold
septuple x7 septuple, seven times, sevenfold
octuple x8 octuple, eight times, eightfold
nonuple x9 nonuple, nine times, ninefold
décuple x10 decuple, ten times, tenfold
centuple x100 a hundred times, a hundredfold

Multiplicative verbs

Multiplicatives have equivalent French verbs, but again, the higher numbers are rarely if ever used.

Adjective / Noun   French Verb
double   doubler
triple   tripler
quadruple   quadrupler

Multiple births

Most of the names for multiple babies are based on multiplicative numbers.

un/e singleton 1 of 1 baby singleton
un jumeau
une jumelle
1 of 2 babies twin
un triplé
une triplée
1 of 3 babies triplet
un quadruplé
une quadruplée
1 of 4 babies quadruplet
un quintuplé
une quintuplée
1 of 5 babies quintuplet
un sextuplé
une sextuplée
1 of 6 babies sextuplet
un septuplé
une septuplée
1 of 7 babies septuplet
un octuplé
une octuplée
1 of 8 babies octuplet
un nonuplé
une nonuplée
1 of 9 babies nonuplet
un décuplé
une décuplée
1 of 10 babies decuplet

 Related lessons

More French Numbers

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French multiplicatives

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