How do French postcodes work?

Answer 1

French postcodes have five figures. The first two are the number of the Département, the last three refer to the individual commune. When speaking the postcode, say the first two figures as a single number, followed by the last three as a single number. So, for example, Créances, where I used to live, is in the Département of MANCHE (50), near Coutances (50700), and has the postcode 50710; so one says 'cinquante, sept cent dix'.

Answer 2

France is divided up administratively into 'départements' (in Britain that would be the equivalent of a county) - a concept that goes back to the French Revolution. Each 'département' has a number which is at the beginning of each post code (code postale). If you live in the 'County Town' or 'Préfecture' of your département, your post code will be the first two numbers of that département followed by three noughts. If you live elsewhere in your département there will be further numbers in place of those noughts. Evry is the 'préfecture' of the Essonne (91), so the code postale is 91000, Gif-sur-Yvette is also in the Essonne, but the code postale is 91190. Paris is 75, les Yvelines (Versailles) are 78, la Gironde (Bordeaux) is 33, les Bouches du Rhône (Marseille) are 13, le Rhône (Lyon) is 69, les Alpes Maritimes (Nice) are 06, les Alpes de Haute Provence (Digne) are 04 et ainsi de suite (etc).