"How much is that chair?"
Translation:その椅子はいくらですか？
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It corrected me to そのいすはいくらですか? after I used あの instead... there is no indication of distance so both answers are technically correct...
Hopefully, you reported it and it's accepted by now.
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その means that chair is near the person you are speaking to.
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あの means that chair is not near either the speaker nor the person being spoken to.
are they eating chairs in Japanese restaurants or something?
This is the RESTAURANT topic!
Why can't you use が as a particle in this sentence? I did so and it marked it wrong.
Because the subject in this sentence has been identified, You must use は. We use は when you want to mark the topic (いす) with the property of it (いくら) . People don't use が in these kinds of questions, because the topic has been identified and you just wanted to know more about it.
For examples:
a) マリアさんは アメリカ人 です。
b) マリアさんが アメリカ人 です。
In example a, you've already known maria, and the アメリカ人 (American) is a trait to know more about Maria, so use は.
In example b, you must put this statement in a particular situation. For example, in a classroom, you wanted to know who is American, so you asked the teacher:
アメリカ は だれですか？ (Who is American?)
And the teacher answered: マリアさんが アメリカ人 です。
As you can see, マリア is an unknown subject, and the only thing you know is her characteristic (アメリカ人), so use が
So: Maria san wa america jin desu ---> Who is Maria Maria san ga america jin desu ---> Who is American
This is just the most basic difference between は and が. You'll find out more complicated grammars in the future. I'm learning Japanese too so my explaination might hard to understand. I'm really sory about that. Go to this link to know more details: https://8020japanese.com/wa-vs-ga/
I have to ask. But should it not be アメリカ人は誰ですか for the question "who is American? As far as I've learned アメリカは誰ですか means who is America.
Or perhaps this is how they would say it?
Yes, that example is not correct. If you want to ask "who is American?", then "who" is the subject and you ask:
- だれがアメリカ人ですか？ (dare ga amerikajin desu ka)
Question words (like "who", "what", "how much") are marked with が when they are the subject.
Topics that come before question words are marked with は. In this sentence, "chair" is the topic and "how much" is the question word, so we say いすはいくら.
799
Why exactly is ...椅子が... wrong? There is no indication that the chair they are talking about was already mentioned (I understand this as one of the differences between は and が). Can someone explain this?
When you have a question word such as いくら "how much" - that is the important information that you want an answer to
が places the emphasis on what comes before it as new important information, for this reason it isn't used before question words. "Chair" is context, and "how much" is what you want to stress because it is the unknown. If you are asking for a price, and are pointing out a specific chair その "that one", then the existence of a chair is already known information.
Similarly は marks contextual information for the statement you are about to make, which is known information, so a question word like いくら cannot come before this particle because unknown information can't be marked as known context.
How does "How much is that chair?" Not also translate to このいすはいくらですか？ Why is the answer only あのいすはいくらですか?
I believe この means "this" chair, which you would be close to in proximity. And あの mean "that" chair over there, which you would not be in close proximity to you.
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To make it slightly easier, read the sentence backwards. "That chair is how much?" instead of "How much is that chair."
- 1150
Odd that the casual form "いくらなの" is accepted for desk but not chair. Though not quite as odd as a restaurant selling such items in the first place.
Your response is "how much is the chair?" as appose to "that chair". If you started the conversation with "Holy crap, do you see that chair thats super blue?" then "how much is the chair" would be an acceptable follow up since you know what chair you're talking about. If, however, you are standing in a chair warehouse and just said "how much is the chair?", noone would have any idea what you were talking about, and they'd have to ask which and where so they could give you a response.
The purpose here of "その椅子" (そのいす) is to establish which chair you're talking about and should only need to be said once. Afterwards, you could probably refer to it as "the" chair since its understood what you're talking about (unless you're comparing multiple chairs, then you'll need to keep differentiating).
それ and これ can stand on their own and are followed by particles. その and この act as adjectives and come before nouns.
その - that thing far away from the speaker and close to the listener
あの - that thing far away from both the speaker and the listener
When you see the English word "that", both should be accepted.
- 1150
I tried the same (あの椅子はいくら?) and it wouldn't accept it, nor with なの? at the end. Didn't try without あの .
- 1091
Btw, why does the female voice pronounce 椅子 from the word bank as "is" instead of "isu"? I don't think that "u" here should be reducted
You're right, the "u" should be pronounced, but the TTS audio is automatically generated and machines aren't quite perfect yet.
Why is 「その椅子にいくらですか？」not accepted?
What's the difference between using に and は?
I'm not quite sure why you want to use に in this sentence, so I will try to answer you, but my answer might not address your concerns.
[something] は [question word] ですか
is a very common structure for asking questions in Japanese. The は particle shows you the topic of question. You can think of it like an "=".
椅子はいくらですか。 (isu wa ikura desu ka)
How much is the chair? / the chair = how much?
これは何ですか。 (kore wa nan desu ka)
What is this? / this = what?
彼女は誰ですか。 (kanojo wa dare desu ka)
Who is she? / she = who?
According to Wasabi, the に particle is used to show:
Location of Existence
Direction
Destination
Result of Change
Object of Verb
Source
Specific Time
Notion of Per
These cases would not make sense for asking a question like this.
- 1018
Hey, I wrote "それ椅子はいくらですか?" Is there a reason "sono" needs to be used here? Or is it interchangeable with "sore"?
それ is a pronoun that replaces the noun you are referring to. "That thing/that one"
その is a pre-noun adjective that must be paired with a noun その椅子 - "That chair"
You can think of その as a contraction of それ and the noun-linking particle の
その椅子はいくらですか "How much is that chair?"
それはいくらですか - "How much is that" (while gesturing towards a chair)
～れ endings are pronouns. These stand in for other nouns.
それ - That one (near listener)
これ - This one (near speaker)
あれ - That one (away from speaker and listener)
どれ - Which one?
～の are pre-noun adjectives. These are a contraction of the pronoun ～れ and the genitive/grouping particle の (which is like a possessive ('s) or reflexive "of" in English) の goes between two nouns to link them together into a single noun phrase. So these words must be followed by a noun.
その - That (noun) near the listener
この - This (noun) near the speaker
あの - That (noun) away from the speaker and listener
どの - Which (noun)?
I just cant figure out all the "this, that, that over there, etc." I swear it keeps changing it, also seems to be different depending on the subject. Made more difficult because you cant actually see if its close or far as theres no picture or anything. Getting so frustrated with this.
Adjectives:
この椅子 (kono isu) - this chair
その椅子 (sono isu) - that chair
あの椅子 (ano isu) - that chair over there; that chair
Pronouns:
これ (kore) - this
それ (sore) - that
あれ (are) - that over there; that
Because we don't differentiate between "that over there" and "that", Duolingo accepts "that" as a translation for あれ and あの as well.
～れ words are pronouns. These stand in for other nouns.
これ - This one
それ - That one
あれ - That one (over there)
どれ - Which one?
～の words are pre-noun adjectives. They are a contraction of the ～れ pronoun and the particle の used to group/link nouns. These must be paired with a noun
この - This (noun)
その - That (noun)
あの - That (noun) over there
どの - Which (noun)?
それは椅子です - That is a chair
その椅子はいくらですか - How much is that chair?