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I have a few iOS simple language learning apps (Spanish/French) that I'm trying to internationalize. In them I have groups of words, which are named like the following for English speakers:

Animal List 1
Animal List 2
Animal List 3
Animal List 4
Basic Verb List 1
Basic Verb List 2
Basic Verb List 3
Basic Verb List 4
Clothes List 1
Clothes List 2

My French translator translated like this:

Liste des animaux 1
Liste des animaux 2
Liste des animaux 3
Liste des animaux 4
Liste 1 des verbes de base
Liste 2 des verbes de base
Liste 3 des verbes de base
Liste 4 des verbes de base
Liste 1 des vêtements
Liste 2 des vêtements

The problem is that these are sorted lists so the groups (e.g. animals, clothes, colors, food, etc) won't sort properly in my menus. I'll get something like this with the above data:

Liste 1 des verbes de base
Liste 1 des vêtements
Liste 2 des verbes de base
Liste 2 des vêtements
Liste 3 des verbes de base
Liste 4 des verbes de base
Liste des animaux 1
Liste des animaux 2
Liste des animaux 3
Liste des animaux 4

My question is can I reword my French lists so that I can do a basic sort? For example, is this acceptable? 

Animaux - Liste 1
Animaux - Liste 2

Is there a more appropriate way to write this that is more natural for native French speakers?

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Yes, it is definitley acceptable:

Animaux - Liste 1

Moreover, "liste des animaux" is not appropriate, you would rather say:

Liste d'animaux

So you could definitly write:

Liste de vêtements 1

Liste de vêtements 2

Liste de verbes de base 1

Liste de verbes de base 2

Liste d'animaux 1

Liste d'animaux 2

Liste d'animaux 3

Also, with a little of programming you can display the list in which order you want, no? It does not have to be the alphabetic order.

Finally, if the context is clear enough, you can just write:

Animaux 1

Animaux 2

and so on...

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  • 3
    I would avoid the hash symbol # altogether. It is not used to mark numbers (or at all) in French. Use “nᵒ” (with a superscript o, not a degree symbol ° nor a Spanish ordinal indicator º — underlined in some fonts) or “no”.
    – Édouard
    Commented Sep 6, 2013 at 5:29
  • 1
    S'il s'agit de pré-trier les animaux, il est aussi possible de remplacer les numéros par l'espèce ou la classe telles que Mammifères, Poissons, Insectes, ou Félidés, Canidés, sans préciser Animaux s'il sont regroupés dans le même chapitre ou menu.
    – Personne
    Commented Sep 6, 2013 at 6:20
  • Instead of "Animaux - Liste 1" is it also acceptable to simply say: "Animaux Liste 1"?
    – h4labs
    Commented Sep 28, 2013 at 19:53
  • @h4labs , I would not do that. But people would still understand I guess. It would be like in English: "List 1 Animals"
    – oli
    Commented Sep 29, 2013 at 0:37

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