LESSON NOTES

Survival Phrases #11

How Many People?

CONTENTS
2 French
2 English
2 Vocabulary
2 Sample Sentences
3 Grammar
3 Cultural Insight

# 11
COPYRIGHT © 2012 INNOVATIVE LANGUAGE LEARNING. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
 FRENCH

1. Combien de personnes?

2. un, deux, trois, quatre, cinq

ENGLISH

1. How many people?

2. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

VOCABULARY

Fr e nc h English C lass Ge nde r

un/une one adjective

deux two noun masculine

trois three noun masculine

quatre four noun masculine

cinq five noun masculine

SAMPLE SENTENCES

Une table pour une personne, s'il vous J'ai deux frères.
plaît.
"I have two brothers."
"A table for one, please."

Il a trois ans. Quatre euros pour une baguette? C'est

cher!
"He is three years old."
"Four euros for a baguette? That's
expensive!"

FRENCHPOD101.COM SURVIVAL PHRASES #11 - HOW MANY PEOPLE? 2

J'ai cinq voitures !

"I have five cars!"

GRAMMAR

There is a wide variety of French food, and your job as a visitor is to eat as much of as many
things as possible! However, before you start eating, you have to get the table! So in today's
lesson we'll cover getting to the table in a restaurant. As for ordering...well, you'll just have to
hang on until next lesson.

When entering a restaurant in France, the host or hostess will greet you with bonjour or
bonsoir. The first question he or she will ask you is "How many people in your party?" In
French, this is Combien de personnes? The first word, combien, means "how many" or "how
much." This is followed by de, which in English means "of." Lastly, de is followed by
personnes, which in English means "people."

Now let's go over how to answer. First, let's just recap numbers here. From one to five they are
un, deux, trois, quatre, and cinq. Now adding the word for "person," we have une personne,
deux personnes, trois personnes, quatre personnes, and cinq personnes.

CULTURAL INSIGHT

Interacting with Your French Host/Hostess

Another question a restaurant host may ask you after you enter is whether you want to eat or
drink. Many restaurants function as bars at the same time, even high-class establishments. The
question is C'est pour manger ou pour boire? The key words here are manger ("to eat") and
boire ("to drink"). The waiter needs to know because restaurants are usually divided into two
areas and he needs to place you accordingly.

Another way to answer the question Combien de personnes is to show fingers. If you have ever
traveled, you will notice that different cultures count differently with the fingers. In France, we
indicate "one" with the thumb. To show "two," you put the thumb back and show the index
and middle fingers. To indicate "three," use the index, middle, and ring fingers. At "four," you
add the pinky, and at "five" the thumb.

FRENCHPOD101.COM SURVIVAL PHRASES #11 - HOW MANY PEOPLE? 3