Certain -vs- (un) peu de

Lanny R.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

So I overlooked answering with "certain" for the question : Il y a un ___. (There is some risk.) As risk is uncountable I went with : Il y a un peu de risque. (There is a bit of risk.) In English I can think of instances where those differ (your example of full stress on "some" being one of them.) but they seem mostly interchangable. Any hints on when to use "certain" and when to use "(un) peu de" in French?

This question relates to:French lesson "Certain = specific / sure in French (adjectives that change meaning according to position)"

Asked 6 years ago

Like0Answer1

CécileNative French expert teacher in KwiziqCorrect answer

Hi Lanny,

'Certain' is a indeterminate quantity and 'un peu' is a small amount so I don't feel they are interchangeable.

Hope this helps!

Like06 years ago

Lanny R. asked:

certain -vs- (un) peu de

So I overlooked answering with "certain" for the question : Il y a un ___. (There is some risk.) As risk is uncountable I went with : Il y a un peu de risque. (There is a bit of risk.) In English I can think of instances where those differ (your example of full stress on "some" being one of them.) but they seem mostly interchangable. Any hints on when to use "certain" and when to use "(un) peu de" in French?

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