French Phrase
Les trains, ils passent toutes les combien ?
Meaning
The speaker is asking how often the trains go by – essentially ‘What is the interval between train passages?’ It is a casual way to inquire about a timetable without specifying a unit (minutes, hours, etc.).
When to use
Use this phrase when you’re at a station, on a platform, or chatting with locals about train frequency in an informal setting. It’s perfect for travelers who want a quick, everyday‑language answer.
✦Grammar Breakdown
Lestrains,ilspassenttouteslescombien?
Article + noun agreement
‘Les’ is the plural definite article that must agree in gender and number with the noun ‘trains’.
Subject‑verb agreement
‘ils passent’ – the third‑person plural pronoun ‘ils’ matches the plural noun ‘trains’, so the verb ‘passer’ is conjugated in the present tense plural.
Idiomatic frequency phrase ‘toutes les combien’
This colloquial construction literally means ‘all the how many’, and it asks for the interval between repeated events (e.g., every how many minutes).
Punctuation in spoken French
A comma after ‘trains’ signals a short pause, mirroring natural speech rhythm.
🗨In Conversation
Les trains, ils passent toutes les combien ?
How often do the trains pass?
Toutes les cinq minutes, en moyenne.
About every five minutes, on average.
✕Common Mistakes
Les trains, ils passent combien les ?
The interrogative ‘combien’ must follow ‘toutes les’, not precede it.
Les trains, ils passent tous les combien ?
‘Tous’ is masculine; because the implied unit (minutes) is feminine, the correct form is ‘toutes les’. Using ‘tous les’ sounds ungrammatical to native ears.
Les trains, ils passent combien ?
Dropping ‘toutes les’ loses the idiomatic nuance and sounds too abrupt.
↔Alternatives
À quelle fréquence les trains passent‑ils ?
How frequently do the trains pass?
Les trains passent toutes les combien de minutes ?
The trains pass every how many minutes?
Quel est l’intervalle entre deux passages de train ?
What is the interval between two train passages?
Cultural Tip
‘Toutes les combien’ is a very informal, spoken‑language construction. In written or formal contexts French speakers prefer ‘à quelle fréquence’ or ‘quel est l’intervalle’. Also, note that in some regions of France (e.g., the south), people might say ‘tous les combien’ – the gender of ‘tout’ matches the noun that follows (here ‘les minutes’ is feminine, so ‘toutes’).