Quantitative er: Ik heb er drie (I have three)

Hoeveel appels heb je? Ik heb er drie. (How many apples do you have? I have three.) The number drie (three) remains, and the noun appels (apples) is understood from the question. This is quantitative er (roughly of them). It refers to a count noun that the context makes clear.

We hebben zes stoelen. We verkopen er twee. (We have six chairs. We are selling two of them.) A cardinal number or an amount expression can remain when the repeated count noun disappears. The context must still identify what you are counting.

1. Start with the full noun phrase: We verkopen twee stoelen. (We are selling two chairs.)
2. Keep the quantity twee (two) and omit the repeated noun stoelen (chairs).
3. Add er in the normal clause position: We verkopen er twee. (We are selling two of them.)

Ik heb er één. (I have one.) Ik heb er een paar. (I have a couple.) Keep één because it is the numeral one. Keep een in een paar (a couple) and een stuk of tien (about ten) because it belongs to the amount phrase. Other common choices include weinig (few), meer (more) and genoeg (enough).

Use quantitative er when you mean a number or amount from the group in context, not a specific set. Do not keep a word such as de (the) before the number: er de drie is excluded. Use Ik heb die drie. (I have those three.) for three specific items. Use Ik heb er drie. (I have three.) for any three from the group. Alle (all) refers to the whole set, so it does not fit this pattern either. Say Ik heb ze allemaal. (I have all of them.)

Wil je nog wijn? Ik heb nog genoeg. (Would you like more wine? I still have enough.) Standard quantitative er refers to count nouns such as glazen (glasses), not to a mass noun such as wijn (wine). Say Ik heb er genoeg. (I have enough of them.) when the context means enough glasses. Say Ik heb genoeg. (I have enough.) when it means enough wine.

Ik heb vier mokken. Mijn zus heeft er drie met een blauw oor. (I have four mugs. My sister has three with a blue handle.) A prepositional phrase may follow the quantity. A relative clause may follow it too: Ik heb er drie die nog werken. (I have three that still work.) An adjective before the noun cannot normally remain with quantitative er in Standard Dutch. Repeat the noun instead of writing er drie blauwe.

Ik heb er gisteren drie gekocht. (I bought three of them yesterday.) In neutral word order, unstressed er comes early after the finite verb and normally precedes its quantity. Other words can stand between them, so the two do not need to be adjacent.

• Yes-no question: Heb je er nog twee? (Do you still have two of them?)
• How-many question: Hoeveel heb je er gekocht? (How many did you buy?) The question word moves to the front.
• Fronted quantity for emphasis: Drie heb ik er gekocht. (I bought three of them.)

Hoeveel kaartjes heb je? Ik heb er geen. (How many tickets do you have? I have none.) Use geen for a zero quantity. Use niet before another quantity to negate it: Ik heb er niet veel. (I do not have many.)

Existential er and quantitative er can appear together. In Er staat er nog één. (There is one left.), the first er introduces the subject and the second points back to the understood count noun. Compare Er staan er nog twee. (There are two left.) The finite verb is singular with one and plural with more than one countable item. A measure phrase can remain as the quantity: Daar liggen nog een kilo of twee appels. Daar liggen er nog een kilo of twee. (About two kilos of apples are left there. About two kilos of them are left there.) Plural liggen agrees with the understood apples.