Quantity and Selection Questions in French

In Brief

Use combien for an amount or number: Combien ça coûte ? means “How much does it cost?” Before a noun, use combien de: combien de livres (“how many books”). Use quel, quelle, quels, or quelles before a noun when asking “which?” or “what?”, choosing the form that matches the noun: quel âge but quelle heure.

Overview

French uses two different question-word families where English often relies on “how much/many,” “what,” or “which.” Combien (de) asks for a quantity, number, price, or measurement. Quel asks the other person to identify something, provide a detail, or choose from possible answers.

These are practical A1 patterns. You need them to ask a price, reserve a table, discuss family, arrange a time, give personal details, or choose a train. They also build on the three basic French ways of asking questions: rising intonation in conversation, est-ce que, and subject–verb inversion.

One difference from English deserves attention from the start. English “what” and “which” do not change, but French quel is an adjective (a word that describes or limits a noun). It therefore agrees with its noun in gender (the noun’s masculine or feminine category) and number (singular or plural). The choice depends on the French noun, not on the person answering.

How It Works

Combien: asking for an amount or number

Combien can mean “how much” or “how many.” French does not need separate words for countable items and uncountable substances.

Pattern	Use	Example
combien + verb	the verb supplies the context	Combien coûte le billet ? — How much is the ticket?
verb + combien	common conversational order	Le billet coûte combien ? — How much is the ticket?
combien de + noun	the thing counted or measured is named	Combien de billets voulez-vous ? — How many tickets do you want?
combien d’ + vowel sound	elision before a vowel or silent h	Combien d’heures ? — How many hours?

When combien stands alone, the missing noun is clear from context:

• Vous êtes combien ? — How many people are in your group?
• Tu en prends combien ? — How many are you taking?
• Ça fait combien ? — How much is that altogether?

When the noun is stated, add de:

• combien de personnes — how many people
• combien de café — how much coffee
• combien de temps — how much time / how long
• combien d’argent — how much money

The beginner rule is simple: combien de + noun, with no un, une, des, du, or de la between them. English changes between “many” and “much”; French keeps the same structure.

Plural after combien de

A countable noun is normally plural when the expected quantity may be more than one: Combien de chambres ? (“How many rooms?”). A mass noun—a substance or idea not normally counted as separate units—stays singular: Combien de sucre ? (“How much sugar?”).

The spelling does not always tell you what is being asked. Combien de temps ? has singular temps, but it asks about an amount of time. Likewise, combien d’argent uses singular argent.

Où placer combien

In everyday speech, French often leaves combien in the position where the answer would appear:

• Tu as combien de frères ?
• Ça coûte combien ?
• Vous restez combien de jours ?

For a careful neutral question, move the question phrase to the front and use est-ce que:

• Combien de frères est-ce que tu as ?
• Combien de jours est-ce que vous restez ?

Inversion joins the verb and subject pronoun with a hyphen and is common in careful writing and formal speech:

• Combien de frères as-tu ?
• Combien de jours restez-vous ?

Do not combine ordinary inversion with est-ce que: choose one question frame. If the subject is a noun, a polished question often repeats it with a pronoun: Combien coûte ce livre ? is natural because combien is linked directly to the price, while Combien de jours Marie reste-t-elle ? uses complex inversion.

Quel: asking for identity or selection

Use quel before a noun to ask which one, what kind, or what specific detail. It has four written forms.

Noun	Form	Example	Meaning
masculine singular	quel	quel train	which/what train
feminine singular	quelle	quelle date	which/what date
masculine plural	quels	quels jours	which/what days
feminine plural	quelles	quelles langues	which/what languages

This agreement is based on the noun immediately associated with quel. Âge is masculine, so French says Quel âge as-tu ? Heure is feminine, so it says Quelle heure est-il ? There is no reliable shortcut based on the English translation; learn a French noun together with its article, such as un âge and une heure.

In speech, all four forms are usually pronounced alike before a consonant. A plural liaison before a vowel can make the final -s audible, but writing always requires agreement that may otherwise be inaudible.

Quel directly before a noun

The most direct pattern is quel + noun + question structure:

• Quel film tu veux voir ? — Which film do you want to see? (conversation)
• Quel film est-ce que tu veux voir ? — Which film do you want to see? (neutral)
• Quel film voulez-vous voir ? — Which film do you want to see? (careful/formal)

With inversion, the whole quel + noun phrase normally comes first: Quelle musique écoutes-tu ?

Quel with être

Quel can be separated from its noun by être (“to be”). It still agrees with that noun:

• Quel est votre nom ? — What is your name?
• Quelle est votre adresse ? — What is your address?
• Quels sont vos horaires ? — What are your opening hours?
• Quelles sont vos disponibilités ? — What times are you available?

Here nom is masculine singular, adresse feminine singular, horaires masculine plural, and disponibilités feminine plural. The verb also changes between singular est and plural sont.

“What” does not always mean quel

English “what” covers several jobs. Use quel when it selects or identifies a noun: Quel livre ? (“What/which book?”). Use que, qu’est-ce que, or conversational quoi when “what” stands for a thing rather than accompanying a noun: Qu’est-ce que tu lis ? (“What are you reading?”).

Compare:

French	English	Why
Quel livre lis-tu ?	What/which book are you reading?	quel modifies livre
Qu’est-ce que tu lis ?	What are you reading?	no noun follows “what”
Tu lis quoi ?	What are you reading?	informal spoken order

Examples in Context

French	English	Note
Combien ça coûte ?	How much does it cost?	Standard everyday price question
Ces chaussures coûtent combien ?	How much are these shoes?	Conversational word order
Combien de frères as-tu ?	How many brothers do you have?	de before a stated noun
Combien d’enfants est-ce qu’ils ont ?	How many children do they have?	d’ before a vowel
Vous êtes combien ce soir ?	How many of you are there tonight?	Useful for a restaurant booking
Combien de temps faut-il pour aller à la gare ?	How long does it take to get to the station?	Literally asks an amount of time
Tu veux combien de café ?	How much coffee do you want?	Mass noun in the singular
Quel âge as-tu ?	How old are you?	French asks “what age”
Quelle heure est-il ?	What time is it?	Fixed everyday question
Quel bus va au centre-ville ?	Which bus goes downtown?	Masculine singular bus
Quelle couleur préférez-vous ?	Which color do you prefer?	Feminine singular couleur
Quels jours êtes-vous libre ?	Which days are you free?	Masculine plural jours
Quelles places est-ce que vous voulez ?	Which seats do you want?	Feminine plural places
Quel est ton numéro de téléphone ?	What is your phone number?	quel agrees with numéro
Quelles sont vos dates de voyage ?	What are your travel dates?	quelles and sont are plural

Common Mistakes

Leaving out de before a noun

• Wrong: Combien livres veux-tu ?
• Right: Combien de livres veux-tu ?
• Why: When the item being counted is named, the normal pattern is combien de + noun.

Keeping an article after combien de

• Wrong: Combien des billets voulez-vous ? (for “How many tickets do you want?”)
• Right: Combien de billets voulez-vous ?
• Why: In a general quantity question, de replaces the indefinite or partitive article. Do not copy English “of the” into this pattern.

Choosing quel from the person, not the noun

• Wrong: Quel est votre adresse ?
• Right: Quelle est votre adresse ?
• Why: Quel agrees with adresse, which is feminine. The speaker’s and listener’s genders do not matter.

Using singular quel with a plural noun

• Wrong: Quel langues parles-tu ?
• Right: Quelles langues parles-tu ?
• Why: Langues is feminine plural, so both feminine and plural agreement must appear in writing.

Using quel when “what” stands alone

• Wrong: Quel tu fais ?
• Right: Qu’est-ce que tu fais ? or, informally, Tu fais quoi ?
• Why: Quel needs an associated noun. Here “what” is the object—the thing affected by the action—of faire, so use a basic “what?” structure.

Translating “how old” word for word

• Wrong: Comment vieux es-tu ?
• Right: Quel âge as-tu ?
• Why: French asks which age someone has, not how old they are. Learn the whole expression as one unit.

Usage Notes

Everyday speech and careful French

Spoken French favors intonation and often leaves the question phrase later: Tu pars quel jour ? and Vous en voulez combien ? These are normal, not careless. Fronting the question phrase with inversion—Quel jour partez-vous ?—sounds more formal or more written. Est-ce que offers a useful neutral middle ground: Quel jour est-ce que vous partez ?

With prices, several common expressions overlap:

• Ça coûte combien ? — How much does it cost?
• C’est combien ? — How much is it?
• Ça fait combien ? — How much is that altogether?

The last two depend strongly on context, such as paying at a shop or café.

Useful fixed combinations with quel

Some English questions are phrased differently in French. Treat these as high-frequency chunks:

• Quel âge… ? — How old…?
• Quelle heure est-il ? — What time is it?
• Quel jour sommes-nous ? — What day is it?
• Quel temps fait-il ? — What is the weather like?
• Quel est votre nom ? — What is your name?

In these expressions, English is not a word-for-word guide. French organizes the question around a noun such as âge, heure, jour, or temps.

French question spacing

Standard French typography places a space before a question mark: Combien ça coûte ? This is a writing convention, not part of the grammar, but it is worth copying in messages and exercises.

Beyond the Basics / Advanced Use

You do not need to master the distinctions in this section at A1, but they explain forms you will meet later.

Combien de within a specific group

The beginner pattern has no article: Combien de candidats ont réussi ? (“How many candidates passed?”). When asking “how many of” an already defined group, French may place a possessive or demonstrative determiner after de: Combien de vos collègues viennent ? (“How many of your colleagues are coming?”) or Combien de ces photos gardes-tu ? (“How many of these photos are you keeping?”). This does not cancel the core rule; vos and ces identify a specific set.

You may also encounter combien des, where des is the contraction of de + les and truly means “how many of the”: Combien des candidats sélectionnés ont accepté ? (“How many of the selected candidates accepted?”). This is more restricted than ordinary combien de candidats. Beginners should default to combien de unless they clearly mean a subset of a previously identified group.

Quel versus lequel

Quel accompanies a noun: Quel dessert choisissez-vous ? (“Which dessert are you choosing?”). Lequel is a pronoun—a word that replaces a noun—and stands alone: Lequel choisissez-vous ? (“Which one are you choosing?”). Its full set is lequel, laquelle, lesquels, lesquelles. If you name the noun, use quel; if “which one(s)” replaces it, lequel may be needed.

Quel in exclamations

The same four forms can introduce an exclamation rather than a question:

• Quelle bonne idée ! — What a good idea!
• Quel dommage ! — What a shame!
• Quelles belles photos ! — What beautiful photos!

Agreement works exactly as it does in questions, but the speaker is expressing a reaction rather than requesting information.

Literary or emphatic combien

In more elevated writing, combien can express degree rather than request a number: Combien il est difficile de partir ! (“How difficult it is to leave!”). You may also see combien de fois used rhetorically: Combien de fois faut-il le répéter ? (“How many times must it be repeated?”). Recognize these uses, but keep your beginner production focused on real quantity questions.

Finally, do not confuse interrogative quel with the separate construction quel que (“whatever/whichever”), as in Quelle que soit la raison. That construction involves later grammar and is written as two words.

Practice Tips

1. Sort nouns into four agreement groups. Pick ten useful nouns and attach the correct form: quel train, quelle gare, quels billets, quelles places. Say the complete phrase aloud, then write it so that silent plural endings receive attention.
2. Build one question three ways. Start with Tu restes combien de jours ?, then make Combien de jours est-ce que tu restes ? and Combien de jours restes-tu ? This separates the quantity phrase from the question style.
3. Rehearse real-life mini-dialogues. Practice buying something (Ça coûte combien ?), booking a table (Vous êtes combien ?), and arranging plans (Quel jour ? Quelle heure ?). Short reusable exchanges are easier to retrieve than isolated rules.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Basic Questions — introduces French question words, intonation, est-ce que, and inversion, which these quantity and selection patterns reuse.