Expressions de Quantité | French Grammar

Quantity in French is built around a single structural pattern that catches most learners off guard: when you specify a quantity, the noun that follows takes de (or d' before a vowel), and the article disappears. Beaucoup d'étudiants, not beaucoup des étudiants. Un kilo de pommes, not un kilo des pommes. Un peu de patience, not un peu de la patience. This de + bare noun construction is the central rule of quantity expressions, and once you internalize it, the rest of the system becomes predictable.

This page surveys the everyday quantity vocabulary you'll need at A2: the basic adverbs of quantity, the measure words for food and drink, the approximation forms with -aine and -zaine, the comparison expressions plus de / moins de / autant de, the indefinite quantifiers certains / quelques / plusieurs / chaque / chacun, and the closing topics of frequency adverbs and time-related quantity words encore / déjà / jamais.

The core rule: quantity + de + noun

Whenever you express quantity in French — whether vague (beaucoup) or precise (un kilo) — the noun that comes next is preceded by de alone, with no article. This is unlike most other contexts in French, where you'd expect du / de la / des before nouns.

J'ai mangé beaucoup de fromage hier soir.

I ate a lot of cheese last night.

Il y a trop de monde dans ce restaurant.

There are too many people in this restaurant.

Tu peux acheter un kilo de tomates au marché ?

Can you buy a kilo of tomatoes at the market?

The reason for this is structural: de in quantity expressions isn't really a preposition the way it is elsewhere — it's part of the quantifier. Beaucoup de functions almost as a single unit meaning "a lot of." The same logic applies to all measure words and most quantity adverbs.

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The rule has one important exception: with adjectival quantifiers like plusieurs, certains, and quelques, no de appears at all. Plusieurs amis (several friends), not plusieurs d'amis. We'll come back to this.

un peu, beaucoup, trop, assez

The four core adverbs of quantity are un peu (de), beaucoup (de), trop (de), and assez (de). They cover most everyday situations and need to be solidly internalized.

un peu de = "a little, a bit of." Used with uncountable nouns (un peu de sucre, un peu de patience) or to soften a request.

Tu veux un peu de café ? Il en reste dans la cafetière.

Do you want a little coffee? There's some left in the pot.

For countable nouns, use quelques (a few) instead: quelques amis, not un peu d'amis. This is one of the trickier distinctions for English speakers.

beaucoup de = "a lot of, much, many." Works with both countable and uncountable nouns: beaucoup d'amis, beaucoup de temps. Beware: French does not distinguish much from many — both are beaucoup.

Elle a beaucoup d'amis grâce à son travail à l'université.

She has a lot of friends thanks to her work at the university.

On n'a pas beaucoup de temps avant le départ du train.

We don't have much time before the train leaves.

trop de = "too much, too many." Carries a negative judgment — implies an excess.

Tu as mis trop de sel dans la sauce, on ne peut plus la manger.

You put too much salt in the sauce, we can't eat it anymore.

In informal speech, trop alone (without de) functions as a slang intensifier meaning "really, super": c'est trop bon ! ("it's really good!"). This is colloquial but extremely common, especially among younger speakers.

assez de = "enough." Note: assez before an adjective means "rather, fairly" (assez bon = "fairly good"). The de + noun construction signals the quantity meaning.

On a assez de pain pour le dîner ?

Do we have enough bread for dinner?

Il n'a pas assez d'argent pour louer cet appartement.

He doesn't have enough money to rent this apartment.

A useful idiom for B1+ speakers: en avoir assez (covered in detail in the expressions/with-en page) means "to have had enough" in the sense of being fed up.

peu de, pas mal de, plein de

Three more quantity adverbs that fill out the vocabulary at A2.

peu de (without the un) = "few, little" with a negative cast — emphasizing scarcity. The contrast with un peu de is sharp: un peu d'argent ("a bit of money") suggests a small but appreciated amount, while peu d'argent ("little money") suggests there isn't enough.

Peu de gens savent que cette maison appartenait à Monet.

Few people know that this house belonged to Monet.

pas mal de (informal) = "quite a few, quite a lot." Despite the pas, this is a positive quantifier — it's an idiom that can't be parsed literally.

Il a pas mal d'expérience dans le domaine, on devrait l'embaucher.

He has quite a bit of experience in the field, we should hire him.

plein de (informal) = "loads of, tons of." Slangy but neutral, used everywhere in conversational French.

Il y a plein de choses à faire à Lyon le week-end.

There are loads of things to do in Lyon on the weekend.

Measure words: un kilo de, un litre de, une bouteille de

Specific measures of weight, volume, and packaging follow the same de + bare noun rule. The most useful ones at A2:

un kilo de — a kilo of
cent grammes de — 100 grams of
une livre de — a pound of (~500g, used at markets)
un litre de — a litre of
une bouteille de — a bottle of
un verre de — a glass of
une tasse de — a cup of
une boî te de — a box / can / tin of
un paquet de — a packet of
une tranche de — a slice of
un morceau de — a piece of
une douzaine de — a dozen of (we'll come back to this)

Je voudrais une bouteille d'eau et deux tranches de jambon, s'il vous plaît.

I'd like a bottle of water and two slices of ham, please.

Achète une boîte de conserve de tomates, on en aura besoin pour la sauce.

Buy a tin of tomatoes, we'll need them for the sauce.

Je prendrai un verre de vin rouge, merci.

I'll have a glass of red wine, thanks.

Approximation: une dizaine, une vingtaine, une centaine

A delightful French feature: most numerals can be turned into approximations by adding the suffix -aine (or -zaine for dixaine → dizaine). The approximation is feminine and takes de + noun.

The common forms:

une dizaine — about ten
une douzaine — a dozen (also approximate: ~12)
une quinzaine — about fifteen / a fortnight (a two-week period)
une vingtaine — about twenty
une trentaine — about thirty
une quarantaine — about forty
une cinquantaine — about fifty
une soixantaine — about sixty
une centaine — about a hundred
un millier — about a thousand (note: masculine, irregular form)

Il y avait une vingtaine de personnes à la réunion.

There were about twenty people at the meeting.

Je pars en vacances dans une dizaine de jours.

I'm going on vacation in about ten days.

Cette boulangerie vend une centaine de baguettes par jour.

This bakery sells about a hundred baguettes a day.

The forms septantaine, huitantaine, nonantaine exist in Belgium and Switzerland (paralleling their numerals septante, huitante, nonante) but are absent from standard French of France.

The form quinzaine has a special use: une quinzaine means "a fortnight" (two weeks) when speaking of time, regardless of approximation. Je serai absent une quinzaine = "I'll be away for two weeks."

environ, à peu près, presque — approximately, almost

When you want to mark approximation more flexibly, French has three useful adverbs:

environ = "approximately, around." Placed before the number.

Le trajet prend environ deux heures en train.

The journey takes approximately two hours by train.

à peu près = "more or less, roughly." Slightly more vague than environ, often used with non-numerical estimates too.

C'est à peu près ce que je voulais dire, oui.

That's roughly what I wanted to say, yes.

presque = "almost, nearly." Means just short of the stated quantity.

Il est presque minuit, je devrais rentrer.

It's almost midnight, I should head home.

The distinction matters: environ deux heures and à peu près deux heures are similar (could be 1h45 or 2h15), but presque deux heures implies just under two hours (1h50, say).

plus de, moins de, autant de — comparing quantities

The three comparative quantity expressions all follow the same pattern: quantifier + de + bare noun.

plus de = "more (of)." Used to compare quantities; the comparison can be implicit or explicit with que.

Il y a plus de touristes cette année que l'année dernière.

There are more tourists this year than last year.

moins de = "less, fewer (of)."

On dépense moins d'argent depuis qu'on cuisine à la maison.

We spend less money since we started cooking at home.

autant de = "as much / as many (of)." Equality of quantity.

Elle a autant de patience que sa mère, c'est impressionnant.

She has as much patience as her mother, it's impressive.

A pronunciation note: in plus de, the -s of plus is pronounced /s/ when plus introduces a positive comparative quantity (plus de pain = /plys də/). When plus is part of a negation (je n'en veux plus), the -s is silent. This /s/ vs silent distinction is one of the trickier phonological details in French.

certains, quelques, plusieurs — some, several

These are adjectival quantifiers, and they break the + de + noun pattern: they attach directly to the noun without de.

quelques = "a few." For countable nouns, modest number.

J'ai invité quelques amis à dîner samedi.

I invited a few friends to dinner on Saturday.

plusieurs = "several." Larger than quelques, vaguer than a specific count.

On a essayé plusieurs restaurants avant de trouver le bon.

We tried several restaurants before finding the right one.

certains / certaines = "some, certain ones." Used to introduce a subset out of a larger group; often paired with another d'autres to set up contrast.

Certains pensent que c'est une bonne idée, d'autres non.

Some think it's a good idea, others don't.

The pattern certains + plural noun + verb often opens generalizations: certains professeurs sont très exigeants ("some teachers are very demanding"). Don't confuse this with the adjective certain meaning "certain, sure": je suis certain ("I'm sure") is a totally different construction.

chaque, chacun, tout — each, every, all

Three closely related quantifiers that distinguish individual items (chaque/chacun) from totality (tout).

chaque = "each, every." Adjective; always singular. Chaque jour, chaque enfant. Note: chaque never has a plural form — saying chaques jours is a beginner mistake.

Chaque matin, il prend son café au même bistro.

Every morning, he has his coffee at the same bistro.

chacun, chacune = "each one." Pronoun; replaces chaque + noun. Agrees in gender with the noun being replaced.

Les invités ont chacun apporté un plat différent.

The guests each brought a different dish.

tout / toute / tous / toutes = "all, every, the whole." Adjective when modifying a noun, requires the article: tous les jours ("every day"), toute la nuit ("all night"), tous les enfants ("all the children"). Note the article — this is one of the rare quantity expressions where de doesn't appear.

Tous les étudiants doivent rendre leur devoir avant vendredi.

All students must hand in their homework before Friday.

Elle a passé toute la journée à lire dans le jardin.

She spent the whole day reading in the garden.

The pronoun tout (alone) means "everything": j'ai tout vu ("I saw everything"), tout est prêt ("everything is ready").

du tout, pas du tout — at all, not at all

The expression du tout intensifies negation. Pas du tout means "not at all" and is one of the most common emphatic negations in French.

— Tu es fâché ? — Pas du tout, ne t'inquiète pas.

— Are you angry? — Not at all, don't worry.

Je n'ai rien compris du tout à ce film.

I didn't understand a thing about that film.

The pattern is negation + du tout for emphasis: je n'aime pas du tout, je n'ai rien du tout, il n'y a personne du tout.

encore, déjà — still, already

Two adverbs that pair with quantity in subtle ways. They aren't strictly quantifiers, but they're indispensable for talking about ongoing or completed states.

encore = "still, again, more." Three uses to distinguish:

"still" (continuation): il dort encore ("he's still sleeping")
"again" (repetition): il a encore plu hier ("it rained again yesterday")
"more" (additional quantity, with de): encore du pain ? ("more bread?")

Tu veux encore du café, ou ça suffit ?

Do you want more coffee, or is that enough?

Elle habite encore chez ses parents à vingt-cinq ans.

She still lives with her parents at twenty-five.

déjà = "already." Used with the passé composé (or other past tenses) to indicate completion at the point of reference.

On a déjà mangé, merci, c'était délicieux.

We've already eaten, thank you, it was delicious.

The pair déjà / pas encore maps neatly onto English already / not yet: tu as déjà fini ? — non, pas encore ("have you finished yet? — no, not yet").

toujours, souvent, parfois, jamais — frequency adverbs

A small set of frequency adverbs that fill out the temporal-quantity vocabulary:

toujours — always
souvent — often
parfois / quelquefois — sometimes
rarement — rarely
jamais — never (with ne in front of the verb)

Il vient toujours en retard, c'est insupportable.

He's always late, it's unbearable.

On va parfois au cinéma le mercredi.

We sometimes go to the cinema on Wednesdays.

Je ne mange jamais de viande le vendredi.

I never eat meat on Fridays.

A subtle point about toujours: it can also mean "still" in some contexts, overlapping with encore. Il est toujours là can mean either "he's always there" or "he's still there," depending on context.

How French differs from English here

The big structural difference is the obligatory de in quantity constructions. English speakers tend to translate "a lot of friends" → beaucoup amis (dropping de) or beaucoup des amis (keeping the article). Both are wrong. The correct beaucoup d'amis feels strange at first because English uses "of" only sometimes ("a lot of friends" but "many friends" without "of"). French is uniform: every quantifier takes de, and the article never appears.

A second difference: English distinguishes much (uncountable) from many (countable). French collapses this distinction into beaucoup — same word, both uses. Don't try to find a much/many distinction in French.

A third trap is peu de vs un peu de. English maps both to "a little / a few" depending on emphasis, but French uses the words to flag the speaker's attitude: un peu de patience ("a bit of patience" — modest but present) vs peu de patience ("little patience" — scarcity emphasized). This nuance matters and English speakers often miss it.

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When you encounter a new quantifier, learn it as a unit including the de: not beaucoup but beaucoup de; not un kilo but un kilo de. This habit prevents the most common error.

Common Mistakes

❌ J'ai beaucoup des amis à Paris.

Incorrect — quantity expressions take only de, no article.

✅ J'ai beaucoup d'amis à Paris.

I have a lot of friends in Paris.

❌ Je voudrais un peu d'amis.

Incorrect — un peu de is for uncountable nouns. Use quelques for countables.

✅ Je voudrais quelques amis comme lui.

I'd like a few friends like him.

❌ Chaques étudiants doivent venir à neuf heures.

Incorrect — chaque is invariable singular, never plural.

✅ Chaque étudiant doit venir à neuf heures.

Each student must come at nine o'clock.

❌ Plusieurs des amis sont venus.

Incorrect — plusieurs takes the noun directly, no de.

✅ Plusieurs amis sont venus.

Several friends came.

❌ Il y avait environ de cinquante personnes.

Incorrect — environ is placed directly before the number, no de.

✅ Il y avait environ cinquante personnes.

There were approximately fifty people.

Key takeaways

The French quantity system is built on three patterns. First, the dominant quantifier + de + bare noun pattern covers the great majority of quantifiers (beaucoup de, trop de, un kilo de, plus de, autant de, une vingtaine de). Second, the adjectival quantifiers (quelques, plusieurs, certains, chaque) attach directly to the noun without de. Third, tout / toute / tous / toutes requires the article (tous les enfants, not tous enfants).

Master these three patterns and the entire quantity vocabulary becomes systematic. Add the approximation suffix -aine, the comparison expressions plus / moins / autant de, and the frequency adverbs toujours / souvent / parfois / jamais, and you have everything you need at A2 to talk about how much, how many, and how often. From here, the only remaining elaboration is at the lexical level — learning specific measure words for new contexts (une pincée de sel, un brin de muguet, une cuillerée de miel) — and the structural framework already in place will support all of them.

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