Using "en" when expressing quantity

Joanne H.B2Kwiziq community member

Using "en" when expressing quantity

In this question, the sentences are, "I have only two horses. He has twelve." My question concerns the second sentence. The sentence reads, "Il a douze," and is translated as "He has to horses." Wouldn't an "en" be necessary, "he has two of them," referring back to the previous sentence?

This question relates to:French lesson "Forming the plural of French nouns ending in -al"
Asked 5 years ago
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Chris W.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Are you referring to this sentence?

Tu as un cheval ? - Non, j'ai deux chevaux.

If so, then the second sentence doesn't need en because it repeats the object (chevaux). However, you could say J'en ai deux. In this case, en refers back to cheval in the first sentence.

-- Chris.

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Joanne H. asked:View original

Using "en" when expressing quantity

In this question, the sentences are, "I have only two horses. He has twelve." My question concerns the second sentence. The sentence reads, "Il a douze," and is translated as "He has to horses." Wouldn't an "en" be necessary, "he has two of them," referring back to the previous sentence?

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