One French Word - Episode 11: Combien
You are at a market stall, you have picked out a baguette, and there is one question you need before you pay: combien.
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One French Word - Episode 11: Combien
Today's word is combien, the French adverb for how much and how many. 1
Pronounce combien roughly like kohn-BYEN, in two parts: kohn, then byen. Both vowels are nasal, hummed through the nose, and the final n is never finished as a letter of its own. Wiktionary gives the French pronunciation as
/kɔ̃.bjɛ̃/. 2The everyday price question is short, and it puts the word at the end.
- C'est combien ? - How much is it?
- Combien ça coûte ? - How much does it cost?
- Combien est-ce que ça coûte ? - How much does it cost, in the longer form.
Collins gives all three as ways to ask a price. 1
When you ask how many of something, French adds de.
- Combien de baguettes ? - How many baguettes?
- Combien de personnes ? - How many people?
- Combien de temps ? - How long?
Lawless French lists combien among the adverbs of quantity, and combien de as the expression that modifies the quantity of a noun. 3
References
- 1Collins Dictionary - French-English: combien
collinsdictionary.com
- 2Wiktionary - combien
en.wiktionary.org
- 3Lawless French - Adverbs of quantity
lawlessfrench.com
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