quelque (singular)
You will generally only come across the singular form in a very few fixed expressions, such as quelqu'un (someone), quelque part (some where), quelque temps (some time / a while).
quelques (plural)
Used with countable things it means a couple of, some, a few.
Il a quelques livres à lire.
He has a few books to read.
J'ai acheté quelques bougies pour décorer ma chambre.
I bought a couple of candles to decorate my bedroom.
Here also see Quelques, plusieurs, de nombreux = A few, several, many (quantities)
[un] peu de
Used with uncountable quantities, un peu de means a little, abit of
J'ai un peu de lait.
I have a little (bit of) milk.
Tu t'es amusé hier? - Un peu.
Did you enjoy yourself yesterday? A bit.
and peu de means little, not much of, few
Learn more about these related French grammar topics
Examples and resources
Tu t'es amusé hier? - Un peu.
Did you enjoy yourself yesterday? A bit.
Nous avons peu d'argent.
We have little money.
We haven't got much money.
Il a quelques livres à lire.
He has a few books to read.
J'ai acheté quelques bougies pour décorer ma chambre.
I bought a couple of candles to decorate my bedroom.
J'ai quelques amis qui vont me rendre visite.
I have some friends who are going to visit me.
Elle a peu d'amis.
She has few friends.
Je la connais depuis quelque temps.
I've known her for some time.
J'ai un peu de lait.
I have a little (bit of) milk.
Q&A
Chris
Kwiziq community member
5/08/18
Hi Rob,
peu is the opposite of beaucoup. And quelques is "a few". Maybe you could say peu is "few" and quelques is "a few"
However you want to translate this into English, it's best to try grasp the meaning in French first. Often it isn't possible to make a 1:1 correspondence between English and French.
-- Chris.
Chris
Kwiziq community member
5/08/18
Karen
Kwiziq community member
22 July 2018
1 reply
In the exercise quelques livres is translated as a couple of books as well as some books.
In English I was always taught that strictly "couple" means two and it's a misuse to use it otherwise. Can you explain why quelques therefore translates as some and two? Thank you.
Cécile
Kwiziq language super star
23/07/18
Hi K,
In my experience, a couple of, in English is used for 2 or thereabouts.
We don't have such an expression for very small approximate quantities in French as they start with the number 10:
Une dizaine, une vingtaine, une trentaine etc.. which mean about 10, 20, 30 ...
so Quelques, meaning a few, ( an indeterminate small quantity) can be some, a few or a couple of depending on the context.
Some will often be 'des'.
Hope this helps!
Chris
Kwiziq community member
4/06/18
Hi Nabeel,
yes, there's a slight difference in meaning.
un peu d'argent -- a bit of money.
peu d'argent -- little money.
For example:
Il ne me faut qu'un peu d'argent pour ça. -- I only need a little bit of money for that.
Il est pauvre. Il a peu d'argent. -- He is poor. He is little money.
Hope that helps, -- Chris (not a native speaker).
Chris
Kwiziq community member
21/12/17
Stewart
Kwiziq community member
21/12/17
Aurélie
Kwiziq language super star
22/12/17
Indeed, with expression of quantity like "beaucoup de, un peu de...", you will only use "du" if you mean "a lot of the, a bit of the", as such:
I drink a bit of milk.
Je bois un peu du lait que j'ai trouvé dans le frigo.
I drink a bit of the milk that I found in the fridge.
Here's our lesson about partitive articles:
https://french.kwiziq.com/revision/grammar/du-de-la-de-l-are-used-to-express-some-or-any-partitive-articles
I hope that's helpful!
À bientôt !
Aurélie
Kwiziq language super star
13/03/17
Doraida
Kwiziq community member
13/03/17
Paul
Kwiziq community member
17/06/18
Used with countable things it means a couple of, some, a few.
[un] peu deUsed with uncountable quantities, un peu de means a little, a bit of
Andrew
Kwiziq community member
11/12/16
Il a quelques amis = he has A FEW friends
Il a peu d'amis = he has FEW friends
Aurélie
Kwiziq language super star
13/12/16
Michael
Kwiziq community member
3/06/18
Blake
Kwiziq community member
2 January 2019
1 reply
In reference to the question with "Georges a acheté quelques livres au marché."
Why can't a valid answer be "George bought four or so books at the market?" In English, a few could possibly mean "four or so." "Few" is a vaguely definable quantity in English -- does "quelques" mean something more specific in French, or is this a matter of question/answer construction?
Steve
Kwiziq community member
3 January 2019
3/01/19
Blake,
I would translate "quelques" as "some" in this phrase.
Without a definite quoted number in the phrase, personally I would not be inclined to put a number in the translated text.