51 in French
cinquante et un
Spellings verified June 2026 · page updated 2 October 2026
Et-un at 51
“Fifty-one in French” is cinquante et un, the number 51. Hear it spoken below.
NUMERAL
51
FRENCH
cinquante et un
IPA
/sɛ̃.kɑ̃t.e.œ̃/
Breakdown
Ordinal form
Ranking things rather than counting them: 51 becomes cinquante et unième, written 51e in figures.
MASCULINE
cinquante et unième
51e
FEMININE
cinquante et unième
51e (same word as the masculine)
French writes the abbreviation with a plain e, never ème: 51e. The Académie française allows two irregular pairs: premier and première abbreviate 1er and 1re, and second and seconde abbreviate 2d and 2de. Full rules on the ordinal numbers reference.
Counting around 51
Real sentence examples
“Le département cinquante et un (Marne) couvre Reims et Chalons.”
“Il y a cinquante et un signataires.”
Pronunciation and morphology notes
Cinquante et un follows the et-un rule. The number 51 in French postal codes refers to the Marne department.
Frequently asked questions
How do you say fifty-one (51) in French?
Fifty-one in French is "cinquante et un" (the number 51). It is built as 50 + 1 = 51.
How is cinquante et un (51) pronounced in French?
In the International Phonetic Alphabet, "cinquante et un" is transcribed /sɛ̃.kɑ̃t.e.œ̃/. Use the audio button on this page to hear the standard French pronunciation.
What is the ordinal form of 51 in French?
The ordinal for 51 is "cinquante et unième", abbreviated 51e. The form is the same in the masculine and the feminine.
How is 51 used in a French sentence?
A natural example is: "Le département cinquante et un (Marne) couvre Reims et Chalons."
Related numbers
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