Quantities French: Explanation & Rules

You buy from the baker in the morning two buns and a Croissant. Then you go to the supermarket to buy ingredients for a cake. You need four eggs, a kilo Flour, one board chocolate and sugar. Because you are thirsty, you still buy yourself a bottle Water. In the evening you order with your friends three pizzas

Have you noticed that you are responsible for all these activities quantities need?

Quantities, in French les indications de quantityprovide information about the Crowd or the number a noun.

Quantities French – Rules

As in German, you also distinguish between in French certain and indefinite quantities.

With the first example sentence you press the particular quantity «a kilo of flour». The second sentence is about one indefinite amount of flour.

J’achète un kilo de farine.

(I buy a kilo of flour.)

J’achète de la farine.

(I buy flour.)

Certain quantities in French

With certain quantities you give the exact Crowd to what it is. As a quantity you can both adverbs as well as nouns together with the preposition en use.

de means translated «from«. So you’re expressing how much you want or need «of» something.

Quantities with en in French

The preposition en always stands for certain quantities Behind the quantity and before the noun whose quantity you determine.

The quantities trop (too much) and beaucoup (much) stand before en. behind are the underlined nouns tarte aux fries (apple pie) and devoirs (Homework), which you determine in more detail with the quantity.

Yeah fait trop de Apple pie.

(I’ve made too much apple pie.)

Theo a beaucoup de devoirs à faire aujourd’hui.

(Théo has a lot of homework to do today.)

Besides is en with certain quantities always immutable. Even if the following noun im Plural is, you use the preposition en. See the example with the noun myrtiles (blueberries) in the plural.

how many beaucoup en myrtiles. (I eat a lot of blueberries.)

In German you mostly use no Preposition between the quantity and the noun. In the Translating the next example you will notice that en Not is translated into German with «von».

Nous avons achete deux liters de jus d’orange.

(We bought two liters of orange juice.)

The preposition en (from) stands Behind the quantity deux litres (two liters) and before the noun jus d’orange (Orange juice). However, the German translation is «two liters of orange juice» and Not «two liters of the orange juice».

Vocabulary for quantities in French

In the first table you will find adverbswhich you can use as specific quantities.

Adverb + de as quantity translationassez degenugbeaucoup devielmoins de lessplus demehrtrop dezu muchun peu deeinBIT

In addition to the adverbs, you can also nouns use to express specific quantities.

noun + de as quantity translationune boîte dea caneune bouteille dea bottleun gramme dea gramun groupe deein groupun kilo deein kilo un liter deein literun morceau deein pieceun paquet deeine packun pot deeine jug tablette de chocolateine ​​chocolate barune tasse deeine tasseune tranche deeine discun verre deein glass

Indefinite quantities in French

To express indefinite quantities in French, you use the so-called division article and a noun.

J’achète of framboises fraîches.

(I buy fresh raspberries.)

You are there with the division article of just assume that you buy raspberries at all. but you say Not, how many You buy raspberries.

Article of division in French

In French there is division article you, de la, de l’ and of. They are composed of the preposition en and the certain articles le, la (the) and read (the). In German you don’t use an article for this, so the divisional articles are not (literally) translated into German.

In the example sentences, will no exact amount of nouns indicated. Before the masculine noun sel (salt) you use the divisional article you. Before the feminine noun salade (salad) you use de la and before the noun fruits (fruit) in Plural you use the division article of.

Il faut que j’achète you sel. (I have to buy salt.)

Il mange de la salade.

(He eats salad.)

Tous les matins, Emma mange of fruits.

(Emma eats fruit every morning.)

In front of nouns that begin with a vowel or a silent «h», you shorten the dividing article you and de la to de l’ away.

Elles boivent en l’eau.

(You drink water.)

The noun eau (Water) for example starts with that vocal -ewhich is why you the division article de la to de l’ abbreviates.

You also use the division articles together with abstract termssince it is not possible to specify a specific quantity for it.

Simon ecoute de la music.

(Simon listens to music.)

You can’t measure an exact amount of music, so it’s one indefinite Crowd. There music (music) on female is noun, use the divisional article de la.

Quantities French – negation

Quantities can also be denied. By negating you press the quantity «zero» out. In German, the translation is usually «no/no».

To denial encloses You with no… pass (not) the conjugated verb. The preposition en stands Behind of negation. In addition, you use in negative sentences for both definite and indefinite quantities only the preposition en.

Camille no boat okay en the.

(Camille does not drink tea.)

vous no faites okay en gâteau. (You don’t bake a cake.)

The elements of negation no and okay enclose the verbs boire (drink) and fair (make). The preposition en is in both example sentences Behind of negation.

Before verbs that start with a vocal or one silent «h» begin, you abbreviate no to n’ away. On the one hand, this makes pronunciation easier for you in French, but on the other hand, this is also common.

je n’achete okay d’oranges.

(I don’t buy oranges.)

Ils n’available okay en chance. (They weren’t lucky.)

The verbs acheter (buy) and avoir (have) begin with the vocal -atherefore you abbreviate no in the examples too n’ away.

Compare by quantities in French

With plus en …que (more than), autant de … que (as much as) and Moins de … que (less than) you can use different nouns together to compare.

the amount to compare you ask in between en and que. The first example sentence is about the amount of Languageswho are talking to Marie and Lucie. Therefore stands languages (Languages) in between en and que.

Marie parle plus en languages que Lucie.

(Marie speaks more languages ​​than Lucie.)

Marie is the subject of the sentence and is at the beginning of the sentence. You put the noun that you want to compare with Marie Behind que. In this example, that would be «Lucie».

The other examples deal with the quantities gâteaux (Cake), cadeaux (gifts) and fleurs (flowers) all in between en and que stand.

Mon grand-père mange plus en gâteaux que ma grand-mère.

(My grandfather eats more cakes than my grandmother.)

J’ai reçu autant en cadeaux que hey.

(I got as many presents as you.)

Nous avons plante Hello en fleurs que nos voisins.

(We planted fewer flowers than our neighbors.)

the subjects mon grand-père (my grandpa), ever (me and nous (we) are at the beginning of each sentence. The nouns and pronouns to be compared ma grand-mère (my grandmother), hey (you and nos voisins (our neighbors) stand Behind que.

French numbers as quantities

You can also specify quantities with natural numbers. As in German, you only use the numbers in connection with nouns, without the preposition en.

The payment deux (two), sept (seven and cinq (five) stand here before the noun tickets (tickets), livres (books) and dauphins (dolphins), as you can see in the example below.

Tu achètes deux tickets.

(You buy two tickets.)

Yeah lu sept livres. (I have read seven books.)

Ils ont vu cinq dauphins.

(You saw five dolphins.)

Fractional numbers as quantities in French

give fractions subsets from a whole. You probably already know them from math class. However, fractional numbers also occur, for example, in quantities in baking recipes.

In contrast to quantities with natural numbers, you need the preposition again when using subsets en.

De stands in between the fraction and the adverb or the noun, which determines the amount. You also add en one more time in between the quantity and the noun from which the quantity is determined:

Il achète un tiers de kilo de fries.

(He buys a third kilo of apples.)

In the example it is determined how many apples the person buys. The fractional number and tiers (one third) stands before en. The noun kilo (kilo) stands in between the two prepositions en. Nomen fries (apples) stands Behind the second preposition.

When specifying quantities with and demi (a half) you use one hyphen in between demi and the noun or adverb that determines the quantity.

use and demi-kilo en farine.

(Use half a kilo of flour.)

In the table you will find some fractions in French and German. A quarter is in French for example and quart.

les nombres fractionnairesthe fractions1/2un demiea half1/3un tiertiera third1/4un quartea quarter1/5un cinquièmea fifth1/6un sixièmea sixth1/7un septièmea seventh1/8un huitièmea eighth1/9un neuvièmea ninth1/10un dixièmea tenth

For more fractions, see the explanation «fractional numbers French» on.

Quantities French – The Most Important

  • Quantities provide information about the quantity or number of a noun.
  • There are definite and indefinite quantities.
  • Particular quantities you press in French with one adverb or one noun and the preposition en out.
  • For indefinite quantities Do you use the French? division article.
    • In French, you put the articles of division from the preposition en and one certain article together.
  • With plus en (more than), autant de (as much as) and hey de (less than) you can mix with each other to compare.
  • the negation of quantities with no… pass means «none» in German and expresses the quantity «zero».
  • If you with Counting indicate a lot, stands en Not between the number and the noun, but is omitted, e.g. B. deux croissants (two croissants).