de nombreuses

MerrittA2Kwiziq community member

de nombreuses

Could you say...  "J'habite à de nombreuses rues d'ici" ?  I live many streets from here.  Do you need that "à"? 
Asked 4 years ago
CécileKwiziq team memberCorrect answer

Hi,

I have been thinking about this one and it does sound odd to me.

You could say it, I suppose and be understood but I don't think a French person would use what is the equivalent of 'numerous' here, I am not convinced it sounds good in English either, but I am prepared to stand corrected...

ChrisC1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

I am not sure that works in French, but Cécile's opinion would be the final verdict on this.

AlanC1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

It sounds odd in English too (you wouldn't say "many streets", but you could say "many miles" etc.), but I think the question is really whether it's grammatical. The combination of à de nombreuses looked strange to me, but it seems to be perfectly OK, so I suppose it could be used quite reasonably in a different context.

AshB1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

My problem with this lesson isn't the French but the English.  

Few, several and a couple can all mean "two". A couple is definitely "two". Several and a few could mean more than two. But I would have said that "several" was less not more than a "few".  I think this also depends on where you're from.

(ps instinctively, I've always understood quelque as "some", plusieur as "many", beaucoup as "a lot" and nombreuse as "numerous", but that last one is probably a false cognate.)

CécileKwiziq team member

Hi Ash,

You could say in French -

J'ai de nombreux amis qui habitent en France 

meaning:

You have many friends who live in France 

you assume this is a significant number.

I always understood that 'a couple of' was a vague number around the 2 mark, you are not quite sure how many but very few.

The word 'few' to me means a small quantity and several a larger quantity but all very vague in number.

To go back to the original question you just wouldn't say -

à de nombreuses rues d'ici

you would probably say -

J'habite loin d'ici  = I live far from here ( many streets away)

or 

J'habite à quelques rues d'ici = I don't live far from her ( a few streets away) 

Hope this helps!

 

de nombreuses

Could you say...  "J'habite à de nombreuses rues d'ici" ?  I live many streets from here.  Do you need that "à"? 

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