Presque expresses an idea of quantity, time, or degree: it means not completely, but very close. With presque tout, presque toute, presque tous, and presque toutes, we talk about a set that is not total, but very large.
Presque
Presque can be used alone with a verb, an adjective, a number, or a time expression.
- J’ai presque fini. (I have almost finished.)
- Il est presque prêt. (He is almost ready.)
- Il est presque midi. (It is almost noon.)
- Nous avons presque 10 minutes. (We have almost 10 minutes.)
Presque + tout / toute / tous / toutes
We use these expressions to talk about a very large set, but not complete.
- J’ai compris presque tout. (I understood almost everything.)
- Elle a passé presque toute la journée à lire. (She spent almost the whole day reading.)
- Presque tous les élèves sont arrivés. (Almost all the students have arrived.)
- Presque toutes les boutiques sont ouvertes. (Almost all the shops are open.)
Other examples
- Le repas est presque prêt. (The meal is almost ready.)
- Il a bu presque tout son café. (He drank almost all his coffee.)
- J’ai vu presque toute l’exposition. (I saw almost the entire exhibition.)
- Presque tous mes amis aiment ce restaurant. (Almost all my friends like this restaurant.)
- Presque toutes les réponses sont correctes. (Almost all the answers are correct.)
Attention
- The form of tout changes according to its gender and number: tout, toute, tous, toutes.