Learn French: Combien pèse ce poisson ? - How much does this fish weigh?

We use combien de (how much / how many) when it is directly followed by a noun to measure a quantity of something, like combien de poissons (how many fish). Here, combien means "how much" in relation to the action of the verb pèse (weighs). Because it modifies the verb rather than a noun, no de is needed.

Why is the verb pèse placed before the subject ce poisson?

In French questions, it is very common to invert (swap) the subject and the verb, especially after a question word like combien. While you might hear Ce poisson pèse combien ? in casual speech, Combien pèse ce poisson ? is a natural and slightly more elegant way to ask.

Why does pèse have an accent mark when the infinitive peser doesn't?

Peser (to weigh) is a stem-changing verb. To make it easier to pronounce, the unaccented "e" in the stem changes to an "è" (grave accent) whenever the verb ending is silent. This happens with the je, tu, il/elle/on, and ils/elles forms, including il pèse (it weighs).

Why do we use ce instead of le for "this fish"?