quantity

la quantité

Expressing qualities can be quite tricky in French. The following table offers a complete list of quantity words and expressions. We’ve included some example sentences below the table.

ADVERBS
a lot ofbeaucoup de
a lot ofpas mal de
a minimum ofun maximum de
a minimum ofun minimum de
aboutenviron
almost, nearlypresque
approximatelyà peu près
as much asautant de
enoughsuffisant de
enoughassez de
fewpeu de
how much (many)combien de
lessmoins de
majority ofla majorité de
moreplus de
so much, so manytant de
too muchtrop de
ADJECTIVES
tripletriple
littlepetit, petite
halfdemi, demie
fullplein, pleine
entireentier, entière
emptyvide
eachchaque
doubledouble
biggros, grosse
APPROXIMATE AMOUNTS
a fistful of une poignée de
a mouthful ofune bouchée de
a part ofune part de, une partie de
a piece ofun morceau de
a piece ofune pièce de
a portion ofune portion de
a quantity ofune quantié de
several, manyplusieurs
CONATINERS
a can / box ofune boîte de
un bol dea bolw of
un verre dea glass of
une assiette dea plate of
une tasse dea cup of
MEASURMENTS
a pound of une livre de
a liter ofun litre de
a kilogram ofun kilo de

how to form quantity sentences

To express quantities, most of the above expressions use the following grammatical structure: Quantity word + de + noun. The definite article (le, la, les) is not included. Here are examples:

  • Il a beaucoup de voitures. He has a lot of cars.
  • Nous avons peu de temps. We have time.
  • Ils ont assez d’argent. They have enough money.
  • Je prends un morceau de pain. I take a piece of bread.
  • J’ai une dizaine d’amis en France. I have about ten friends in France.
  • J’achète un kilo de pommes. I’m buying one kilo of apples.

When dealing with specific numbers there’s no need to use -de. For example:

  • J’achète trois bananes. I buy three bananas.
  • Nous avons trois heures. We have three hours.
  • Ils ont un kilo de pommes de terre. They have one kilo of potatoes.
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