Un 7.6
Quantities
Often, you will need to describe the amount of something. While knowing numbers can help, there are other, less precise expressions that can also do the job.
Expressions of Quantity
When asking about the specific quantity of something, the distinction between un/countable nouns is not shown in French, unlike in English.
e.g.
|
Il y a combien de biscuits ? |
There’s how many cookies? |
|
Il y a combien de viande ? |
There’s how much meat? |
When using most expressions of quantity in French, there is, however, the needed preposition ‘de’ in cases where the noun (the ‘what’) is mentioned along with the description of its quantity.
e.g.
|
Il y a beaucoup. |
There’s a lot. |
|
Il y a beaucoup de légumes. |
There’s a lot of vegetables. |
There are several expressions that can be used to describe the amount of something, many of them being imprecise and relative:
|
Expressions of Quantity |
|
|
un (deux, trois, ..) kilo(s) (de X) |
a (two, three, ..) kilo(s) (of X) |
|
assez (de) |
enough |
|
beaucoup (de) |
a lot (of) |
|
moins (de) |
less |
|
peu (de) |
little/few |
|
plus (de) |
more |
|
trop (de) |
too much/many |
|
un peu (de) |
a bit (of) |
|
pas mal (de) |
lots (of) |
With the preposition ‘de’ involved in these expressions, it’s important to pay attention to any required contractions.
Both ‘un peu de’ and ‘pas mal de’ are more frequent in spoken and less-formal contexts. The expression ‘un peu de’ is not used with countable nouns.
The Pronoun, Adjective, Adverb... ‘tout’
The word ‘tout’ can have several forms. The choice of form can depend on grammatical gender, and on the word’s role (pronoun, adjective, etc.) in the sentence.
e.g.
|
Toutes les sortes de glace sont bonnes. |
All of the types of ice cream are good. |
|
Je veux tout. |
I want everything. |
As a pronoun, ‘tout’ has three different forms, which are used on their own to refer to something. The choice first depends on if we are referring to the idea of ‘everything’ or ‘everyone’, and, if we are referring to ‘everyone’, then a second choice based on grammatical gender is needed. In the pronoun form ‘tous’, the final ‘s’ is pronounced.
e.g.
|
C’est tout ? |
That’s everything? / That’s all? / That’s it? |
|
Nous sommes tous prêts. |
We’re all ready. |
|
Les filles ont toutes assez de bonbons. |
The girls all have enough candy. |
As an adjective, there are four possible forms of ‘tout’, the choice of which depends on grammatical gender and grammatical number, as for any French adjective. When used as an adjective, the form of ‘tout’ is followed by an article, or sometimes by a demonstrative adjective, which also corresponds to the noun in grammatical gender and grammatical number, and then by the noun itself. Similarly, if the expression with ‘tout’ is the subject of the sentence, the verb conjugates according to the noun with ‘tout’. In the adjective form ‘tous’, the final ‘s’ is not pronounced. The expression ‘tout le monde’ corresponds with the English ‘everyone’.
e.g.
|
Tout ce déjeuner a l’air délicieux, merci beaucoup. |
All of this lunch looks delicious, thank you so much. |
|
Mangez toute la salade ! |
Eat the whole salad! |
|
Je veux acheter tous les gâteaux. |
I want to buy all the cakes. |
|
Mince ! Toutes les pommes sont pourries ! |
Shoot! All the apples are rotten! |
As an adverb, there are two possible forms of ‘tout’. The adverb use of ‘tout’ is typically for modifying an adjective, with the general role of adding emphasis to the meaning of the following adjective, similar to an adverb like ‘completely’ or ‘entirely’. The choice of form depends on if the following adjective is in a grammatically feminine form that begins with a consonant, or not.
e.g.
| Lui, il est tout content. | Well, he’s very happy. |
|
La vendeuse est toute seule. |
The saleslady is all alone. |
