Published November 3, 2024 • Updated May 12, 2026 — By French teacher David Issokson • Native Audio by Marie Assel Cambier
Today’s lesson focuses on how to use the adverb combien, which can translate to both “how much?” and “how many?”
📘 Combien meaning
Combien is a French question word meaning “how much” or “how many.” It’s used to ask about quantity, price, age, distance, and time. You’ll hear it often in everyday expressions such as “C’est combien ?” (How much is it?) and “Combien de temps ?” (How much time / how long?).
🎧 Combien pronunciation
The pronunciation of combien is /kɔ̃.bjɛ̃/ (IPA), which sounds roughly like “kohm-byehn”.
📝 Combien examples
These first two sentences use the form combien de + noun, meaning “how many + noun”.
Combien de fois es-tu allé à Paris ?
How many times have you gone to Paris?
Combien de chiens est-ce que tu as ?
How many dogs do you have?
This sentence also uses combien de + noun but the English translation is “how much?”.
Combien d’argent as-tu dans ton compte ?
How much money do you have in your account?
When asking the price, use: “Combien coûte + noun?”, which translates literally to “How much does + noun + cost?”.
Combien coûte le café ?
How much is the coffee?
In informal French, “C’est combien ?” means “How much is it?”.
C’est combien ?
How much is it?
💡 Combien is used with prices and quantities, making French numbers 1 to 100 the natural next step. They’ll help you to speak French when shopping in France with confidence.
❓ Want to feel more confident in French?
🎯 À Moi Paris — My top recommended course by Camille Chevalier, featuring engaging audio stories (3 speeds) to help you understand real spoken French and improve pronunciation.
👉 Explore À Moi Paris »
👉 Read my review »
🎧 French Verb Drills — Camille’s step-by-step audio drills help you finally master verb conjugations.
👉 See Verb Drills »
If you purchase the courses, I may earn a small commission — at no extra cost to you.
🪶 Word origin
The Modern French combien is a combination of the Old French com (equating to comme; like or as in Modern French) and bien (well). Combien was also written cumbien in the past.
🔗 Related words and expressions
- combien ça coûte ? — how much does it cost?
- c’est combien ? — how much is it?
- combien de + noun — how many / how much + noun
- à quel point — to what extent
- tant de — so many / so much
- le montant — the amount
- dans quelle mesure — to what degree
📚 Related lessons
👉 French numbers 1-100 »
👉 Asking questions »
👉 Argent (money) »
👉 Euro (currency) »
🚀 Continue learning on FrenchLearner!
👉 French Word of the Day (200+ lessons) »
👉 French verb conjugations »
👉 French vocabulary lists »
