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How to Say ‘For how many people?’ in French

Pour combien de personnes ?

poor kohm-BYAN duh pehr-SON

[poor kohm-BYAN duh pehr-SON]

💬 Usage Tip: After combien "how many", always use de, never des. Compare combien de temps ? "how long?".

Phrase Breakdown

Pour combien

poor kohm-BYAN

For how many

'Combien' means 'how many/how much'. It has a nasal 'on' and 'ien': 'kohn-BYAN'.

Example

Pour combien de temps ?

For how long?

Words in this phrase

Pour

[poor]

for

Indicating purpose or reason.

Example

C'est pour toi.

It's for you.

combien

[kohm-BYAN]

how many

Question word asking about a quantity or number.

Example

Vous êtes combien ce soir ?

How many of you are there tonight?

de personnes ?

duh pehr-SON

people?

After 'combien', use 'de' before the noun. Say it 'duh pair-SON', with rising intonation for the question.

Example

Beaucoup de personnes.

A lot of people.

Words in this phrase

[duh]

Expressing the relationship between part and a whole.

Example

Un verre de lait.

A glass of milk.

personnes

[pehr-SON]

people

Plural of 'personne'; used to count guests.

Example

Nous sommes quatre personnes.

We are four people.

Guides for French learners

Ordering in French: Cafés, Bakeries and Restaurants (with Menu Vocabulary)How to order in French at a café, a bakery and a restaurant: the phrases, the questions staff ask, and the menu and food vocabulary to understand the answers.Hello in French: Greetings, Good Evening and How to Answer "How Are You?"How to say hello in French, when to switch to good evening, how to ask how are you and what to answer, with tu vs vous and native audio.

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