Combien with inversion

Rhys H.C1Kwiziq community member

Combien with inversion

I was wondering how you would put combien into a question with inversion; and I couldn't find any lessons adressing this specifically. This occurred to me while thinking about the question "How many words in the dictionary?" Would it be:

Combien de mots la dictionnaire a-t-elle?

Combien la dictionnaire a-t-elle de mots?

La dictionnaire a-t-elle combien de mots?

Or would it be something different?

Anyway, I just need to ease my curiosity.

Asked 1 year ago
CélineNative French expert teacher in KwiziqCorrect answer

Bonjour Rhys,

With this specific question, it would be:

Combien y a-t-il de mots dans le dictionnaire ?

Other examples:

Combien as-tu dépensé ? = How much did you spend?

Combien sont-ils ? How many are they?

 

Take a look at the link ("more complex questions using question words"):

Inverted questions in the present tense (Le Présent) in French - regular forms (except il/elle/on forms)

I hope this is helpful.

Bonne journée !

Jim J.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Salut Rhys,

Have a look at this link from some years ago  --  I hope that it helps.

https://kwiziq.learnfrenchwithalexa.com/questions/search?search=combien

Bonne journée

Jim

Combien with inversion

I was wondering how you would put combien into a question with inversion; and I couldn't find any lessons adressing this specifically. This occurred to me while thinking about the question "How many words in the dictionary?" Would it be:

Combien de mots la dictionnaire a-t-elle?

Combien la dictionnaire a-t-elle de mots?

La dictionnaire a-t-elle combien de mots?

Or would it be something different?

Anyway, I just need to ease my curiosity.

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