how many

combien

Sert à demander le nombre de personnes ou de choses.

En anglais simple : You use this to ask for the number of people or things.

• How many do you need?
• How many books did you buy?
• How many of you have visited France?

Comment l'utiliser : how many + plural noun (How many tickets do we need?); how many of + plural noun/pronoun (How many of these are yours?)

Expressions courantes : how many people, how many books, how many of something

combien

Désigne un nombre de personnes ou de choses qui n’est pas connu ou précisé.

En anglais simple : This refers to a number of people or things that is not known or stated.

• Some broke, but I don’t know how many.
• Several people left; nobody counted how many.
• We need more chairs, though I’m not sure how many.

Comment l'utiliser : verb + how many + clause (I cannot remember how many came.)

Expressions courantes : know how many, remember how many