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- "いくらですか？"
"いくらですか？"
Translation:How much is it?
28 Comments
Yes and 'how much is it' is an acceptable answer because I jused used it and passed.
Also, correct me if I'm wrong.
I think "how much" is exclusive to prices only. Measures have other interrogatives like "how long/short" for length, "how far/near" for distance, "how hot/cold" for temperatures, etc.
It's not only for prices. "how much" is for uncontable quantities. For example: how much sand/water/love is there?
Exact translation for "how much is it?". It's about prices only, not quantities.
Then how would you ask the number of something, like how many puppies are there. I saw some other people saying this wasnt just for prices.
Sorry if I sound skeptical or anything, I'm just trying to make sense of it.
イクラかな。。。＝Hm... Red caviar, huh? いくらかな。。。＝Hm... How much is it, I wonder?
The same word written in katakana イクラ means "red caviar" (Search on wiki if you don't have idea about what it is, it's a common ingredient for Japanese sushi.)
Of course no one will misunderstand you if you want to ask about price in Japan, though :D
Would that mean if you're buying caviar you can ask イクラはいくらですか？ Because that would amuse me more than it probably should.
528
イクラ comes from икра which is Russian (ikra) so katakana is used. The words are unrelated.
What's with that question mark? All other exercises I've seen featured the full stop punctuation 「。」 to terminate the question and relied on the 「か」as the last character to communicate a question.
It is optional. Originally, question marks were not part of the Japanese writing style (at least says so Wikipedia: "疑問符は元来の日本語の書法にはない"¹). "However, the question mark is very commonly used, especially in casual and creative writing and in manga."² I'd say Western influence changed the writing style. Now it's very common³. However, it is not usually used in formal Japanese¹¹.
¹https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%96%91%E5%95%8F%E7%AC%A6#%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC%E8%AA%9E
²https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_punctuation#Question_mark
³http://yesjapan.com/YJ6/question/896/do-japanese-people-use-question-marks
¹¹https://cotoacademy.com/japanese-punctuation/
- 22
Could it be translated as "How much are you"?
In other examples, it seems to me that when the subject is omitted, it implies you in a question and I in a descriptive sentence.
So if I say "Is this salmon roe" VS "How much?", is there a difference between the intonation of いくら？
I typed the English instead of the Japanese when I heard it in Japanese and it was asking for Japanese. I don't know if I should be ashamed or proud.
