多少 duōshao — how many, how much

Meanings

1. 1

   how many, how much

   Asks about quantity with no upper limit in mind. 几 is preferred when the expected answer is small (under about ten) and always keeps its measure word; 多少 can drop the measure word entirely.

   pronoun
2. 2

   an amount, however much there is

   numeral

Character breakdown

• 多

  duō (first tone, high and level)

  many, much; more; how (in questions of degree: 多大, 多远)

  6 strokes⿱夕夕Radical 夕
• 少

  shǎo (third tone, dipping) shào (fourth tone, falling)

  few, little; to be short of, to be missing; (shào) young

  4 strokesRadical 小

Example sentences

• 这个多少钱？/這個多少錢？Zhège (fourth tone, falling) duōshao (first tone, high and level) qián? (second tone, rising)···

  How much is this?

• 你们学校有多少学生？/你們學校有多少學生？Nǐmen (third tone, dipping) xuéxiào (second tone, rising) yǒu (third tone, dipping) duōshao (first tone, high and level) xuésheng? (second tone, rising)···

  How many students are there at your school?

Common mistakes

• Not quite多少个钱？

  Correct多少钱？

  多少 goes straight onto the noun with no measure word, and 钱 never takes 个 in any case. 多少钱 is a fixed way to ask a price.

Similar words

Words containing 多

• 多duō (first tone, high and level)many, much, a lot
• 差不多chàbuduō (fourth tone, falling)about the same, close enough, not much different
• 多么/多麼duōme (first tone, high and level)how …! (exclamatory)

Words containing 少

• 少shǎo (third tone, dipping)few, little, not much