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To express quantities such as a few, several and many in French, you will use quelques, plusieurs and de nombreux/nombreuses.
How to express quantities in French
Quelques vs plusieurs = a few vs several
In English, there is a nuance between a few and several :
I have a few books. versus I have several books.
-> a few implies a slightly smaller amount than several.
The same nuance exists in French between quelques and plusieurs :
-> Here quelques implies a slightly shorter distance than plusieurs. It remains quite subjective, but it is definitely worth noticing!
Attention : You never say un quelques (a few)
If we had to establish an order of quantity, it would go like this:
| a couple / some /a few | several | many / numerous |
| quelques | plusieurs | de nombreux (m) de nombreuses (f) |
De nombreux / de nombreuses = many
To say many, you use the expression de nombreux / de nombreuses, depending on the gender of the thing it refers to.
Also see the more advanced Quelque/quelques vs Un peu de/peu de = A couple/a few vs a bit of/few (French Indefinite Adjectives)
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Examples and resources
I live a couple of streets away.
