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Nous en voudrions une trentaine, s'il vous plaît.

Nous en voudrions une trentaine, s'il vous plaît.
We would like about thirty of them, please.
From Lesson 227:Approximative numbers (-aine)·French

Questions & Answers about Nous en voudrions une trentaine, s'il vous plaît.

How does the word trentaine work here?
Trentaine is formed by taking the number trente (thirty), dropping the final 'e', and adding the suffix -aine. It turns an exact number into an approximation, meaning "about thirty". These words act as feminine nouns, which is why it uses the feminine article une.
Why is the pronoun en used in this sentence?
en translates to "of them" here. In French, when you state a quantity like une trentaine but do not name the actual object in the same phrase, you must use en to refer back to it. As an object pronoun, it is placed directly before the conjugated verb voudrions.
Why use voudrions instead of the present tense voulons?
voudrions is the conditional form of vouloir (to want). Just like in English where we say "we would like" instead of "we want" to be polite, French uses the conditional mood to make requests softer and more respectful.
How would this sentence change if I wanted to specify what the "thirty" refers to?
If you want to name the objects, you add de followed by the noun, and you drop the pronoun en. For example, to ask for about thirty apples, you would say Nous voudrions une trentaine de pommes, s'il vous plaît.

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