French Vocabulary Quantities, Weights, and Measures

As you learn French, you will want to learn how to describe things in terms of quantity. From basic weights and measures to adverbs describing how many or how much, by the end of this vocabulary lesson, you will have a good understanding of quantifying things. This lesson is for an intermediate level student as some of it discusses concepts like conjugating verbs and the adverbs used to define quantities. However, with a little study and practice, any student of French can follow the lesson. Quantities, Weights, and Measures (Les Quantità ©s, les Poids et les Mesures) To begin the lesson, lets look at easy French words that describe simple quantities, weights, and measurements.   can, box, tin une bote de bottle une bouteille de box un carton de tablespoon une cuillre soupe de teaspoon une cuillre th de gram un gramme kilogram un kilogramme deun kilo de liter un litre de pound une livre de mile un mille foot un pied jar, cup un pot de inch un pouce cup une tasse de glass un verre de Adverbs of Quantity  (Adverbes de quantità ©) French adverbs of quantity  explain how many or how much. Adverbs of quantity (except  trà ¨s - very) are often followed by  de   noun. When this happens, the noun usually does not have an article in front of it; i.e.,  de  stands alone, with no  definite article.* There are a lot of problems. -  Il y a beaucoup de problà ¨mes. I have fewer students than Thierry. -  Jai moins dà ©tudiants que Thierry. *This does not apply to the starred adverbs below, which are always followed by the definite article. Exception: When the noun after  de  refers to specific people or things, the definite article is used and contracts with  de  just as the  partitive article  would. Compare the following sentences to the above examples to see what is meant by specific. A lot  of the problems  are serious. -  Beaucoup  des problà ¨mes  sont graves.- We are referring to specific problems, not problems in general.Few  of Thierrys students  are here. -  Peu  des à ©tudiants de Thierry  sont ici.- This is a specific group of students, not students in general. To further your understanding of the  adverbs used with  quantities, read: Du, De La, Des†¦ Expressing Unspecified Quantities In French. Verb conjugations may be singular or plural, depending on the number of the noun that follows.Approximate numbers (see below)  like  une douzaine,  une centaine  follow the same rules. quite, fairly, enough assez (de) as much, as many autant (de) a lot, many beaucoup (de) quite a few bien de* how many, much combien (de) more davantage more encore de* around, approximately environ the majority of la majorit de* the minority of la minorit de* less, fewer moins (de) a number of un nombre de quite a few pas mal de few, little, not very (un) peu (de) most la plupart de* more plus (de) a lot of une quantit de only seulement so si so much, so many tant (de) so tellement very trs too much, too many trop (de) Approximate Numbers (Nombres approximatifs) When you want to make an estimate or take a guess, you can use approximate numbers. Most approximate French numbers are formed with the cardinal number, minus the final e (if there is one), plus the suffix -aine. about eight [days] (about a week) une huitaine about ten (note that x in dix changes to z) une dizaine a dozen une douzaine about fifteen [days] (about two weeks) une quinzaine about twenty une vingtaine about thirty une trentaine about forty une quarantaine about fifty une cinquantaine about sixty une soixantaine about a hundred une centaine about a thousand un millier Approximate numbers are treated grammatically as expressions of quantity. Like all expressions of quantity, approximate numbers must be joined to the noun they modify with  de.   about 10 students -  une dizaine dà ©tudiants   about 40 books -  une quarantaine de livres hundreds of cars -  des centaines de voitures   thousands of documents -  des milliers de documents Note that in English, its typical to talk about dozens of something, whereas in French its more natural to say  dizaines  rather than the literal equivalent  douzaines: dozens of ideas -  des dizaines didà ©es