my-korean1-2nd-ed

UNIT 9 얼마예요?
얼마 ‘How much?’
You learned the meaning of 몇 - ‘how many’, or ‘what’ when used with
numerical nouns such as ‘time’/’age’/’date’/’floor’ etc. - in Unit 6. Now we
will look at the word 얼마 which has a similar meaning, but different usage.
얼마 is also used for numerical quantities but, unlike 몇, 얼마 is not used
before nouns. For example, 몇 can be used for the following:
(1) 몇 시예요? What time is it?
(2) 몇 살이에요? What age are you?/What age is s/he?
(3) 몇 층이에요? What floor is it?
In these examples, 몇 is asking what number.
It is also used like this:
(4) 하루에 커피 몇 잔 마셔요? How many cups of coffee do you
drink in a day?
얼마, on the other hand, is used like this:
(5) 이거 얼마예요? How much is this?
Note that there is no noun after 얼마, but simply the verb meaning ‘is’. This
construction can always be equated to ‘How much is…?’ In the simple form
above, it is used to ask the price of something, but the word ‘price’ is not used
in the sentence. So when asking about prices, always use 얼마, and for now,
use 몇 for asking about all other quantities or amounts.
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