Question 1

Could I use tellement de instead of tant de in this sentence?

Accepted Answer

Yes! When expressing intensity with a noun, tant de and tellement de both mean "so much" or "so many" and are completely interchangeable. You could say Il y a tellement de chariots que... and it would mean the exact same thing.

Question 2

Why is it tant de chariots instead of tant des chariots?

Accepted Answer

Expressions of quantity in French, like beaucoup de, un peu de, and here tant de, are always followed by a simple de (or d'), without the plural article les. So even though chariots is plural, it's just de, never des.

Question 3

What exactly does the que do in this sentence?

Accepted Answer

The que introduces the consequence of having so many shopping carts. Together, tant de... que... translates to "so many... that...". It bridges the extreme situation (Il y a tant de chariots) with its result (c'est la folie).

Question 4

I usually learn fou or folle for "crazy". Is la folie a noun here?

Accepted Answer

Yes, la folie is the noun form, literally meaning "the madness". However, French speakers use the expression c'est la folie very often in everyday speech to mean "it's crazy" or "it's insane" to describe chaotic situations like this one.

Question 5

Why do we use c'est before la folie instead of il est?

Accepted Answer

We use c'est because la folie is a noun with an article (la). As a general rule in French, you use c'est (not il est) when introducing a noun that has a determiner like un, une, le, or la in front of it.

Il y a tant de chariots que c'est la folie.

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