Expressing a Specific Quantity In French

Expressing a Specific Quantity In French This is the second part of my lesson on French quantities. First, read about  du, de la and des, how to express  unspecific quantities in French,  so you follow the logical progression of this lesson. So now, lets take a look at specific quantities. 1 - Un, Une = One and the Numbers This one is quite easy. When you are talking about a whole item, use: un ( masculine word) to say one. Ex: Jai un fils (I have one son).une ( feminine word) to say one. Ex: jai une fille ( I have one daughter).a cardinal number, like deux, or 33678  Ex: jai deux filles (I have two daughters). Note that un and une are also indefinite articles in French, meaning a/ an in English.   2 - More Specific Quantities = Expressions of Quantity Are Followed by De or D ! This is the part that usually confuses students. I hear these  mistakes several times a day during my Skype lessons. Its definitely one of the most common French mistakes. Expressions of quantity are followed by de (or d), never du, de la, de l, or des. In English, you say I would like a little bit OF cake, not a little bit SOME cake dont you? Well, its exactly the same thing in French. So, in French, after an expression of quantity, we use â€Å"de† or â€Å"d† ( word starting with a vowel). Ex: Un verre de vin (a glass OF wine, NOT DU, you do not say â€Å"a glass some wine†)Ex: Une bouteille de champagne (a bottle of champagne)Ex: Une carafe d’eau (a pitcher of water – de becomes d’ vowel)Ex: Un litre de jus de pomme (a liter of apple juice)Ex: Une assiette de charcuterie (a plate of cold cuts)Ex: Un kilo de pommes de terre (a kilo of potatoes)Ex: Une botte de carottes (a bunch of carrots)Ex: Une barquette de fraises (a box of strawberries)Ex: Une part de tarte (a slice of pie). And do not forget all the adverbs of quantity, that also specify quantities : Ex: Un peu de fromage (a bit of cheese)Ex: Beaucoup de lait (a lot of milk).Ex: Quelques morceaux de lards (a few pieces of bacon). Note that in spoken French, this â€Å"de† is very much glided, so almost silent. OK, now that I made this very clear, I am going to confuse you even more†¦ bear  with me. You could say je voudrais un morceau du gà ¢teau au chocolat. Why? Because in these cases, you are running into another French grammar rule: the du here is not a partitive article, meaning some, but a contraction of the definite article with de, de le du.   It makes sense when you stay focusses on the context: Je voudrais du gà ¢teau some cake, I dont care how much.Je voudrais un morceau de gà ¢teau a piece of cake.Je voudrais un morceau du gà ¢teau au chocolat a piece of the chocolate cake, this specific one Im looking at right now, not the strawberry cake next to it, but that chocolate cake (Imagine Cookie Monster, it will help)†¦ BTW, you say un gà ¢teau AU chocolat because its made with chocolate and other ingredients, not just chocolate. The chocolate is a flavor, but there is also flour, sugar, butter. Youd say un pà ¢tà © de canard because its a way to prepare the duck. Remove the duck and youre left with only spices. But I digress...So now, for the last part of this lesson, lets see what happens when the quantity is zero, and with adjectives of quantities.