In a method of determining the quantity of exhaust gas recirculation for an internal combustion engine having exhaust gas recirculation, the exhaust gas recirculation quantity (r.sub.AGR, m.sub.AGR) is determined from an exhaust gas temperature (T.sub.exhaust), a fresh gas temperature (T.sub.air2), a fresh gas quantity (m.sub.air) and/or a volumetric efficiency (.eta.). The fresh gas temperature (T.sub.air2) is determined by a fresh gas temperature model (15) which is adaptively adjusted in response to influencing parameters relevant to the fresh gas temperature.