No. 2,147 in French
combien
"How much" or "how many."
In a sentence
Combien ça coûte ?
How much does it cost?
Here, 'combien' is used as an adverb to inquire about the quantity or price of something.
Combien d'élèves sont présents aujourd'hui ?
How many students are present today?
In this sentence, 'combien' introduces a question about the number of students, and it is followed by 'de' before a noun to specify the quantity being asked.
Je sais combien il travaille dur.
I know how hard he works.
Here, 'combien' is used in a subordinate clause to describe the extent or degree of an action, emphasizing 'how much' he works.
Hear it in real podcasts
The recording above is a synthetic voice. Hear how people say “combien” in actual French podcasts.
Find “combien” in podcastsLearn it from shows you like
LangTurbo plays French podcasts with a transcript and the English under every line. Tap a word like this one and it tells you what it means right there. For iPhone, iPad and Android.
Learning English?
LangTurbo plays real English podcasts with every line translated into français, and tells you what any word means in that sentence. For iPhone, iPad and Android.
French books and courses on Amazon (an affiliate link: a purchase through it supports this site).