Learn French Adverbs of Quantity

French adverbs of quantity explain how many or how much.

Adverbs of quantity (except très) are often followed by de + noun. When this happens, the noun usually does not have an article in front of it; i.e., de stands alone, with no definite article.*

Il y a beaucoup de problèmes - There are a lot of problems.
J'ai moins d'étudiants que Thierry - I have fewer students than Thierry.

*This does not apply to the starred adverbs, which are always followed by the definite article.

Exception: When the noun after de refers to specific people or things, the definite article is used and contracts with de just as the partitive article would. Compare the following sentences to the above examples to see what I mean by specific.

Beaucoup des problèmes sont graves - A lot of the problems are serious.

 - We are referring to specific problems, not problems in general.

Peu des étudiants de Thierry sont ici - Few of Thierry's students are here.

 - This is a specific group of students, not students in general.

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Verb conjugations may be singular or plural, depending on the number of the noun that follows -learn more.

Approximate numbers (like une douzaine, une centaine) follow the same rules.