Learn the key pattern to ask the price of something
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| Let's take a closer look at the conversation. |
| Do you remember how Ben asks, |
| "How much is this?" |
| これは いくらですか。(Kore wa ikura desu ka?) |
| The standard way of asking how much something costs follows a simple pattern. |
| First is これ, "this," これ. これ. |
| Next is は, the topic-marking particle. は. は. |
| It marks "This" as the topic of the sentence. Think of it like "As for..." in the expression, "As for this." |
| Together, これは. "As for this." これは. |
| Next is いくら, meaning "How much?" いくら. いくら. |
| After this is です, in this case, it's like the "is" in "How much is." It's a linking verb. で-す. です. |
| Last is か, the question-marking particle. か(enunciated) か.This particle turns the sentence into a question. |
| All together, it's これは いくらですか。This literally means, "As for this, how much [it] is?" but translates as, "How much is this?" |
| これは いくらですか。(Kore wa ikura desu ka?) |
| Let's take a closer look at the response. |
| Do you remember how the shop clerk says, "It's two hundred yen." |
| にひゃくえんです。(Ni-hyaku en desu.) |
| First is the number, にひゃく, "two hundred" にひゃく. にひゃく. |
| After this is えん, "yen" えん. えん. |
| Together, it's にひゃくえん, "two hundred yen." にひゃくえん. |
| And last is です, in this case, it's like the "is" in "[it] is." で-す.です. |
| All together, it's にひゃくえんです。This literally means, "two hundred yen [it] is," but translates as "It's two hundred yen." |
| にひゃくえんです。(Ni-hyaku en desu.) |
| Note the "it" is inferred through the context as the speaker is responding to a question about the price of the small snack. |
| Note, at the time of this lesson, 100 yen buys a bottle of water. |
| The pattern is |
| {ITEM} は いくら ですか。(wa ikura desu ka?) |
| How much is {ITEM}? |
| {ITEM} は いくら ですか。 |
| To use this pattern, simply replace the {ITEM} placeholder with the thing you'd like to know the price of. |
| Imagine you'd like to know the price of a coffee. |
| コーヒー (kōhī). コーヒー. コーヒー. |
| Ask, "How much is a coffee?" |
| Ready? |
| コーヒーは いくらですか。(Kōhī wa ikura desu ka.) |
| "How much is a coffee?" |
| コーヒーは いくらですか。(Kōhī wa ikura desu ka.) |
| If you don't know the name of something in Japanese, you can use the following three words to refer to a thing depending on the distance from the speaker and listener: |
| For things located nearby the speaker, これ (kore), "this." こ-れ. これ. |
| For things located farther away from the speaker and closer to the listener, それ (sore), "that." そ-れ. それ. |
| And finally, for things far from both the speaker and listener, あれ (are), "that (over there)." あ-れ. あれ. |
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