Expressing Quantities in French

  If you try to translate all the sentences below in French, you might get a bit muddled. Expressing quantity in French is tricky. The French have a specific list of words to communicate either vague or specific quantities.

‒I would like some water please!

‒Right away! Do you wish a bottle or a glass of water? And more wine?

‒No, no more wine, just a few glasses of water for everyone! And bring a slice of that beautiful looking apple pie…

Combien de… ?

One easy word that we learn quickly in French is combien de which means “how much” or how many”.

Examples:

Combien d’eau voulez-vous ? = How much water do you want?

Vous voulez une table pour combien de personnes ? = You want a table for how many people?

The question combien de can trigger many possible answers and they can be vague with words like: a bit, a few, more, etc. Or they can be more specific such as: 1 kilo of, a slice of, etc.

Expressing quantities that are not specific

Let’s start with a list of words that express quantities that are not so specific. And note how these expressions of quantity end with de:

Assez de (enough):

J’ai assez d’argent. = I have enough money.

Beaucoup de (lots of):

Il y a beaucoup de bruit. = There is lot of noise.

Plus de (more of) :

Je voudrais plus de café. =  I would like more coffee.

Ne… plus de (no more):

Je ne veux  plus  de café. = I don’t wan’t anymore coffee.

IMPORTANT NOTE: the pronunciation in “more” is plussss (we need to hear the “s”) whereas the pronunciation in “no more” is plu (as if the ‘s’ was dropped).

Moins de (less of):
Tu as moins de travail que moi. = You have less work than I do.

Un peu de (a bit of):
J’ai un peu de crème solaire. = I have a bit of sun lotion.

Trop de (too much of):
Tu rajoutes trop de sucre !  =you’re adding too much sugar!

Several words do not need de:

Plusieurs (several):
J’ai plusieurs amis à New York. = I have a few friends in New York.

Quelques ( a few):
J’ai quelques pommes dans le panier. = I have a few apples in the basket.

Aucun(e) (none at all):
Je n’ai aucune pomme dans le panier (that’s quite precise). = I have not a single apple in the basket.

Since we looked at the list of expressions of quantity, let’s try to translate these above requests for water written in the first paragraph:

‒I would like some water please. = J’aimerais un peu d’eau/J’aimerais de l’eau.

‒Right away! Do you wish a bottle or a glass of water? = Tout de suite ! Voulez-vous une bouteille ou un verre d’eau ?

And more wine? = Et plus de vin ?

‒No, no more wine, just a few glasses of water for everyone! = Non plus de vin ! Juste quelques verres d’eau pour tout le monde.

NOTE: The two different ways to say “I would like (some) water”. When you’re adding a quantity word such as un peu de, then de contracts with the word eau (d’eau). However, when you don’t add any quantity word, then you need to add the partitive article (le, la, les and with de, they become du, de la, des) before eau: je veux de l’eau (and not je veux d’eau).

Other examples:

Je voudrais une carafe de vin vs Je voudrais du vin = I would like a carafe of wine vs I would like some wine.

Je voudrais une assiette de soupe vs Je voudrais de la soupe. = I would like a bowl of soup vs I would like some soup.

Je voudrais beaucoup de clients vs Je voudrais des clients. = I would like many clients vs I would like some clients.

Food-related French expressions of quantities

Now let’s look at the common more precise expressions of quantities. We find them a lot in relation to food shopping, eating a restaurant, making recipes: I need a kilo of mushrooms. Would you like a bowl of soup? Or a plate of cheese?

There are many of them, but here is a selection of a few common ones:

Une bouteille de vin = a bottle of wine
Un verre de lait = a glass of milk
Un litre de jus de pomme = a liter of apple juice
Une carafe de vin = a carafe of wine
Une tasse de thé = a cup of tea
Un bol de lait = a bowl of milk
Une douzaine d’œufs = a dozen of eggs
Une boîte de chocolats = a box of chocolates
Un pot de confiture = a jar of jam
Un morceau de tarte = a piece of pie
Une tranche de saumon = a slice of salmon
Une cannette de bière = a can of beer
Un kilo de champignons = a kilo of mushrooms
Une assiette de fromage = a plate of cheese
Une planche de charcuterie = a board of charcuterie
Un plat de saumon fumé = a dish/platter of smoked salmon.

De vs À

Again, when you wish to express the quantity of something, these means of measurements are followed with de. However, you’ve probably heard and seen the preposition à after these words as well such as un verre à cognac.

So what is the difference between Un verre à cognac and un verre de cognac ?

The first one with à, gives information about what kind of glass is it, what is the use or purpose of this glass. So, when you hear it’s un verre à cognac, that means this glass is meant to be used for drinking cognac in it. Whereas, un verre de cognac means that the glass is filled with cognac.

Other examples:

Une planche à fromage. = it is a cheese board used to serve cheese on it.
Une planche de fromage. = A board full of cheese on it.

If you’re in a shop looking to buy a cheese board, you’ll be asking the clerk:

Est-ce que vous vendez des planches à fromage ? = Do you sell cheese boards?

If you’re in a restaurant wanting to order a cheese plate, you’ll be asking the waiter:

J’aimerais voir une planche de fromages. = I would like to see a selection of cheese (a board full of cheese).

Céline Van Loan