多少

Chinese
many; much few; little
trad. (多少) 多 少
simp. #(多少) 多 少

Pronunciation 1

Adjective

多少

  1. (interrogative) how many; how much
    你要多少？  ―  Nǐ yào duōshǎo?  ―  How much do you want?
    這個班有多少男生？ [MSC, trad.]
    这个班有多少男生？ [MSC, simp.]
    Zhè ge bān yǒu duōshǎo nánshēng? [Pinyin]
    How many boys are in this class?
    你背唐詩背了多少首？ [MSC, trad.]
    你背唐诗背了多少首？ [MSC, simp.]
    Nǐ bèi Tángshī bèi le duōshǎo shǒu? [Pinyin]
    How many Tang poems have you memorized?
    多少鈔票？ [Shanghainese, trad.]
    多少钞票？ [Shanghainese, simp.]
    [tv̩ʷ⁵⁵ sɔ²¹ t͡sʰɔ³³ pʰiɔ⁴⁴] [IPA]
    How much does it cost?
  2. (when duplicated in a sentence) as much as; as many as
    你要多少就拿多少。 [MSC, trad. and simp.]
    Nǐ yào duōshǎo jiù ná duōshǎo. [Pinyin]
    Take as many as you want.
    你需要多少複印件就複印多少吧。 [MSC, trad.]
    你需要多少复印件就复印多少吧。 [MSC, simp.]
    Nǐ xūyào duōshǎo fùyìnjiàn jiù fùyìn duōshǎo ba. [Pinyin]
    Make as many photocopies as you need.
Usage notes

Sometimes 多少 (duōshao) is used in ways that the English terms how many and how much are not; for example, in Mandarin it is common to ask:

你的電話號碼是多少？ [MSC, trad.]
你的电话号码是多少？ [MSC, simp.]
Nǐ de diànhuà hàomǎ shì duōshǎo? [Pinyin]
What is your phone number? (literally, How many/much is your phone number?)
你的電子郵件是多少？ [MSC, trad.]
你的电子邮件是多少？ [MSC, simp.]
Nǐ de diànzǐ yóujiàn shì duōshǎo? [Pinyin]
What is your email address? (literally, How many/much is your email address?)
你的微信號是多少？ [MSC, trad.]
你的微信号是多少？ [MSC, simp.]
Nǐ de Wēixìn hào shì duōshǎo? [Pinyin]
What is your Wechat account (usually not made up of digits)? (literally, How many/much is your Wechat account?)

This usage of how many may have become prevalent on account of the fact that phone numbers - as well as many email addresses in China - are made up completely of digits.

Synonyms
  • (how many; how much):
Dialectal synonyms of 多少 (“how many; how much”) [map]
Variety Location Words
Classical Chinese 幾, 幾何, 幾多, 幾許, 多少
Formal (Written Standard Chinese) 多少
Mandarin Beijing 多少
Taiwan 多少
Jinan 多少
Xi'an 多少
Wuhan 幾多, 好多
Chengdu 好多
Guilin 好多
Xiangtan (Jiangnan Industries Group koine) 幾, 幾多
Yangzhou 多少
Hefei 好些, 好多
Singapore 多少
Cantonese Guangzhou 幾多, 幾
Hong Kong 幾多, 幾
Taishan 幾多
Yangjiang 幾多, 幾
Singapore (Guangfu) 幾多, 幾
Gan Nanchang 幾多
Hakka Meixian 幾多
Miaoli (N. Sixian) 幾多
Pingtung (Neipu; S. Sixian) 幾多
Hsinchu County (Zhudong; Hailu) 幾多
Taichung (Dongshi; Dabu) 幾多
Hsinchu County (Qionglin; Raoping) 幾多
Yunlin (Lunbei; Zhao'an) 幾多
Jin Taiyuan 多少
Min Bei Jian'ou 幾多
Min Dong Fuzhou 若夥
Singapore (Fuqing) 若夥
Min Nan Xiamen 偌濟
Quanzhou 偌濟
Shishi 偌濟
Zhangzhou 偌濟
Zhao'an 偌濟
Tainan 偌濟, 幾
Penang (Hokkien) 幾
Singapore (Hokkien) 偌濟, 幾
Manila (Hokkien) 偌濟, 幾
Chaozhou 若濟
Shantou 若濟
Jieyang 若濟
Pontianak (Teochew) 若濟
Haikou 偌濟
Wu Shanghai 多少, 幾化, 幾多化 dated
Suzhou 幾化
Ningbo 多少
Wenzhou 幾倈兒, 幾倈
Xiang Changsha 好多
Xiangtan 幾, 幾多
Shuangfeng 好多, 幾多

See also

Pronunciation 2

Noun

多少

  1. amount; how much; how many
    所得稅的多少取決於你的收入。 [MSC, trad.]
    所得税的多少取决于你的收入。 [MSC, simp.]
    Suǒdéshuì de duōshǎo qǔjué yú nǐ de shōurù. [Pinyin]
    How much income tax you pay depends on your income.

Adverb

多少

  1. somewhat; more or less
    這種描述多少有點準確性。 [MSC, trad.]
    这种描述多少有点准确性。 [MSC, simp.]
    Zhè zhǒng miáoshù duōshǎo yǒu diǎn zhǔnquèxìng. [Pinyin]
    The description is more or less accurate.
Synonyms
Synonyms of 多少

Derived terms

Japanese
Kanji in this term
多 少
た
Grade: 2		 しょう
Grade: 2
on’yomi

Adverb

多(た)少(しょう) • (tashō) 

  1. little, somewhat, rather, quite

Noun

多(た)少(しょう) • (tashō) 

  1. amount, number
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