Question Words 3 — Asking Numbers多 duō, 多少 duōshao & 几 jǐ
How tall? How far? How many? How much? What time? In Chinese, all of these questions come down to three words: 多 duō, 多少 duōshao, and 几 jǐ.
In part three of the question-word series, we look at how to ask about numbers: 多 duō + adjective for measurements, 多少 duōshao for bigger numbers, and 几 jǐ for small numbers, dates, and times.
1Quick Reference
Chinese has three ways to ask “how…?” about amounts and measurements. Which one you use depends on what you are asking about and how big you expect the number to be.
| Word | Used For | Measure Word? |
|---|---|---|
| 多 duō + Adj | how tall, how far, how old… (degree) | — |
| 多少 duōshao | numbers you expect to be bigger than ten, or have no idea about | optional |
| 几 jǐ | numbers you expect to be smaller than ten, plus dates and times | required |
Just like the other question words, these stay in the spot where the number will go in the answer — no reordering, and no 吗 ma at the end.
2How + Adjective — 多 duō
Put 多 duō in front of an adjective (also called a stative verb, SV) to ask about degree: 多高 duō gāo (how tall), 多远 duō yuǎn (how far), 多大 duō dà (how old / how big).
“Centimeter” is 公分 gōngfēn in Taiwan and 厘米 límǐ in Mainland China. Same unit, different word — switch the text display to see both.
3How Many / How Much — 多少 duōshao
Chinese doesn’t separate countable and uncountable nouns, so 多少 duōshao covers both “how many” and “how much”. It is typically used when you expect an answer bigger than ten, or when you have no idea how big the number is. The measure word after 多少 duōshao is optional.
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4How Many / How Much — 几 jǐ
几 jǐ also means “how many”, but it is typically used when you expect an answer smaller than ten. Unlike 多少 duōshao, 几 jǐ must be followed by a measure word. There are also some situations where we always use 几 jǐ, no matter how big the answer is — most importantly, dates and times.
Always 几 jǐ: Times and Dates
Asking someone’s age follows the same logic. To a young child, ask 你几岁？ nǐ jǐ suì? because you expect a small number. To a teenager or adult, ask 你多大？ nǐ duō dà? instead.
5Common Mistakes
6Practice
How would you say these in Chinese? Tap each card to check your answer.
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