| Let's look at the sentence pattern. |
| This pattern is the structure that all of our examples will follow. |
| Combien coûte/coûtent + ce/cet/cette/ces + Noun ? |
| "How much does/do this/that/these/those + Noun cost?" |
| Combien coûte is an interrogative phrase that means "How much does it cost?" |
| Coûte, meaning "costs" or "does cost." It is the third-person singular form of the verb coûter, "to cost," used for singular objects. |
| Please note that for plural nouns, coûte becomes coûtent to match the plural subject. |
| Next are the demonstrative adjectives ce, cet, cette, and ces, meaning this, that, these, and those. |
| To use this pattern, replace NOUN with the noun you want to ask about, ensuring agreement in gender and number. |
| Let's look at the demonstrative adjectives ce, cet, cette, and ces. |
| Have you ever wondered why French has four different ways to say "this" or "that?" |
| That's because demonstrative adjectives must match the noun in gender and number. |
| For a masculine singular noun that starts with a consonant, ce is used—like ce livre, meaning "this book." |
| But if the masculine noun starts with a vowel or a silent h, cet is used instead—like cet arbre, meaning "this tree," or cet hôtel, meaning "this hotel." This small change makes pronunciation smoother. |
| For a feminine singular noun, cette always applies, no matter if the word starts with a consonant or a vowel. So it's cette chaise for "this chair" and cette école for "this school." |
| And for plural nouns, gender doesn't matter. Ces works in all cases—ces livres for "these books" and ces maisons for "those houses." |
| Let's see how a line from the dialogue follows this pattern. |
| Excusez-moi, combien coûte ce tableau ? |
| "Excuse me, how much does this painting cost?" |
| In this sentence: |
| Excusez-moi means "Excuse me" and isn't a part of the pattern. |
| Next is combien coûte, meaning "How much does it cost?" |
| Followed by ce, meaning "this," which refers to the item being asked about—in this example, tableau, a masculine singular noun meaning "painting." |
| So, the full sentence Excusez-moi, combien coûte ce tableau ? means, "Excuse me, how much does this painting cost?" |
| Now you can use this structure to ask about the price of anything when shopping in France! |
| Bargaining is not common in most French shops, especially in chain stores, supermarkets, and department stores, where prices are fixed. |
| However, you can negotiate prices in a few places, such as open-air markets (marchés), flea markets, and antique shops. |
| Now let's look at some speaking examples. |
| Combien coûte cet album ? |
| "How much does this album cost?" |
| Can you see how the pattern applies here? |
| Let's break it down: |
| Combien coûte, means "how much costs," |
| followed by cet, meaning "this." |
| Finally, we have the masculine singular noun album, meaning "album." |
| Notice that here, cet is used instead of ce because album starts with a vowel. |
| So, that is how Combien coûte cet album ? follows the "Combien coûte + cet + Noun ?" pattern. |
| Here's another example |
| Combien coûte ce stylo ? |
| "How much does this pen cost?" |
| Combien coûte ce stylo ? |
| "How much does this pen cost?" |
| Let's try one more, |
| Combien coûtent ces chaussettes ? |
| "How much do these socks cost?" |
| Combien coûtent ces chaussettes ? |
| "How much do these socks cost?" |
| Another one. |
| Combien coûte cette robe ? |
| "How much does this dress cost?" |
| Combien coûte cette robe ? |
| "How much does this dress cost?" |
| One last example. |
| Combien coûte ce sac ? |
| "How much does this bag cost?" |
| Combien coûte ce sac ? |
| "How much does this bag cost?" |
Comments
Hide