In the exercise quelques livres is translated as a couple of books as well as some books.
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Cécile
Kwiziq language super star
23/07/18
Hi K,
In my experience, a couple of, in English is used for 2 or thereabouts.
We don't have such an expression for very small approximate quantities in French as they start with the number 10:
Une dizaine, une vingtaine, une trentaine etc.. which mean about 10, 20, 30 ...
so Quelques, meaning a few, ( an indeterminate small quantity) can be some, a few or a couple of depending on the context.
Some will often be 'des'.
Hope this helps!
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Karen
Kwiziq community member
22 July 2018
1 reply
In the exercise quelques livres is translated as a couple of books as well as some books.
In English I was always taught that strictly "couple" means two and it's a misuse to use it otherwise. Can you explain why quelques therefore translates as some and two? Thank you.
This relates to:
Quelque(s) vs (un) peu de = A couple/a few vs a bit of/few (indefinite adjectives) -