How often and how much in French

Level A2

How often and how much in French

Learn how to describe how often activities happen and how much of something there is. French uses frequency words such as “toujours” and “parfois,” and phrases such as “une fois par semaine.” You’ll also learn to say when an amount is enough or excessive.

Frequency words

These words describe how often something happens, from “toujours” (always) to “jamais” (never). English often puts “always” before the main verb; in these French present-tense sentences, “toujours” normally follows the conjugated verb: “Elle se lève toujours.” “D’habitude” means usually or customarily and has flexible placement, including at the beginning of a sentence or after the conjugated verb.

Using frequency words in a sentence

Most of these frequency words normally follow the conjugated verb: “On mange souvent ensemble” and “Ils étudient parfois ensemble.” With a verb phrase such as “se brosser les dents,” the neutral placement is “Je me brosse toujours les dents le matin.” “D’habitude” has flexible placement; in “Mon frère fait d’habitude la vaisselle,” it follows the conjugated verb “fait.” To say “never,” French uses “ne” before the verb and “jamais” after it: “Je ne lis jamais en voiture.” In everyday speech, speakers often drop “ne.” English does not use this two-part construction.

Words for intervals and counts

“À quelle fréquence” asks how often. “Chaque” means every and comes before a time word, as in “chaque soir.” Use “une fois” for once and “deux fois” for twice; “fois” stays the same in both expressions.

Asking how often

Use “À quelle fréquence” to ask how often. With “tu,” the question is informal: “À quelle fréquence tu fais la lessive ?” “Vous” addresses one person formally or several people and always takes the second-person plural verb form: “Et à quelle fréquence travaillez-vous la nuit ?” Verb–pronoun inversion gives this question a more formal style, but is not required whenever you use “vous.” English “you” does not show the tu/vous distinction.

À quelle fréquence question sur une activité ?

Saying something happens every period

Put “chaque” before a singular time noun: “chaque soir” or “chaque samedi.” Like English “every,” “chaque” is invariable; it does not change for gender or number. In these examples, the time expression follows the verb: “Je lis chaque soir.”

Sujet verbe conjugué et complément chaque période ou jour.

Saying how many times per period

Use a number plus “fois par” and a time period: “une fois par mois” or “deux fois par jour.” Unlike English “once” and “twice,” French uses the same noun “fois” with a number. In the example with two, “deux fois” means twice.

Sujet verbe conjugué et complément nombre fois par période.

Words for enough and too much

“Assez” means enough, and “trop” means too much or too many. French uses “trop” with both uncountable nouns and plural countable nouns; the word does not change. English uses two forms, “too much” and “too many.”

Saying there is enough

Put “assez de” before the noun: “On a assez de chaises pour tout le monde.” In the negative, place “ne” before the conjugated verb and “pas” after it: “Je n’ai pas assez de temps pour lire.” Both English “enough time” and French “assez de temps” put the quantity expression before the noun, but French requires “de” here.

Sujet forme affirmative ou négative d’avoir assez de nom pour personnes ou activité.

Saying there is too much or too many

Put “trop de” before the noun: “Il y a trop d’eau dans mon verre” and “Il y a trop de chaises ici.” Before a vowel, “de” contracts to “d’,” as in “d’eau.” Use “trop de” with both uncountable and plural countable nouns; English switches between “too much” and “too many.”

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