Now you know what to say when you want some beer, an indefinite quantity of wine, and whatever you will need to treat it: (Did you forget?)
And you know what to say when you want a specific number of things, such as one cent, one car, two wheels, three years old: (Did you forget?)
You also know how to say you want or have none of these things: (Did you forget?)
But what when you want a given quantity of any of these things, without having to actually count them?
Well first, you learn the vocabulary for expressing various quantities (click on words to listen):
pas /pah/ : not
peu /puh/ : little, few
un peu /ehn puh/: a little
assez /ah say/: enough
beaucoup /boe coo/: a lot
trop /t-rho/: too much, too many
Here is the structure for using them:
Pas de bière /pahd bee air/ Listen
Peu de voitures /puhd vwatürh/Listen
Un peu de sel /ehn puhd sell/Listen
Assez de céréales /ah say dsay ray al/Listen
Beaucoup de bonbons /boe cood bon bon/
Trop de nouilles /t-rho dnoo yuh/Listen
Trop de choix /t-rho dshwah/Listen
*Notice how most nouns are in the plural? Voitures, bonbons, nouilles… except salt and beer which are not considered countable. But bonbon and noodle are, as opposed to English. For an extensive list comparing the two languages, click here.
Other quantities
Sometimes, you need to be even more precise. In the case of a specific quantity, the structure remains the same as above:
Une barre de chocolat /ünn bahrduh show coe lah/Listen
Un morceau de gâteau /ehn mor sowdgah toe/Listen
Un paquet de chewing gum /ehn pahked shwing gumuh/Listen
Un verre de lait /ehn vairduh lay/Listen
Un biberon de lait /ehn bib rondlay/Listen
Un panier de fruits /ehn pah nee ayd frwee/Listen
Une darne de poisson /ünn dahrnduh pwass own/Listen
Une rondelle de salami /ünn ron delduh sah lah me/Listen
Une tranche de pain /ünn tron shduh pehn/Listen
Un litre de vin /ehn leetrhuh dvehn/Listen
Quelques, plusieurs, certains, aucun
These expressions, which are called “adjectifs indéfinis” (indefinite determiners), do not follow the above structure using “de”. They are used directly before the noun:
Quelques palmiers /kelkuh pahl mee ay/ Listen
Plusieurs pingouins /plü zee uhr pehn goo ehn/ Listen
Certains jours /ser tehn zhoor/ Listen
Aucun problème /oh kehn pro bleh muh/ Listen
Difference Between…
… certains and des: both mean “some”. “certains” is sometimes clearer.
… aucun and pas de: no difference.
Over To You!
Listen and fill in the blanks (Via M. Parmentier & D. Potvin / En bons termes / Pearson Education – Canada)
Choose and click (Via French Online Exercises / CMU Carnegie Mellon University – USA)
Precise quantities: Click and drag (Via Hélène Weinachter / Exercices de français – Le Point du FLE – France)
And click and drag (Via Inmaculada Bosque Sendra / Exercices de révision – Spain)
Testez-vous! (Via Français interactif / University of Texas at Austin – USA)
© Ouicestca 2013, tous droits réservés.
