what is the difference between mille and millier de

Deng B.A1Kwiziq community member

what is the difference between mille and millier de

Could I chose freely which one to use or there are some circumstance need to be consider? 

Asked 7 months ago
Maarten K.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor Correct answer

Deng, 

Link to a previous answer by Céline to similar question. 

They are interchangeable terms, except when there is a complement following, in which case "mille" should not be used. 

For example,  ' ... de milliers de visiteurs' is correct, but not '.... de mille de visiteurs" - a limitation on the use of 'mille'.

See Larousse under Difficulties-Emploi

 https://kwiziq.learnfrenchwithalexa.com/questions/view/mille-et-milliers

 https://www.larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais/mille/51453#difficulte

Adrian B.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

For those like me who thought Maarten's answer seemed to rule out "mille" altogether, the complement rule in the Larousse article is about usage following "des dizaines de...".

what is the difference between mille and millier de

Could I chose freely which one to use or there are some circumstance need to be consider? 

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