多少

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Chinese

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

Pronunciation 1

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Adjective

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多少

  1. (interrogative) how many; how much
    多少  ―  Nǐ yào duōshǎo?  ―  How much do you want?
    多少男生 [MSC, trad.]
    多少男生 [MSC, simp.]
    Zhè ge bān yǒu duōshǎo nánshēng? [Pinyin]
    How many boys are in this class?
    唐詩多少 [MSC, trad.]
    唐诗多少 [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.]
    1tu-sau 5tshau-phiau [Wugniu]
    How much does it cost?
  2. (when duplicated in a sentence) as much as; as many as
    多少多少 [MSC, trad. and simp.]
    Nǐ yào duōshǎo jiù ná duōshǎo. [Pinyin]
    Take as many as you want.
    需要多少複印件複印多少 [MSC, trad.]
    需要多少复印件复印多少 [MSC, simp.]
    Nǐ xūyào duōshǎo fùyìnjiàn jiù fùyìn duōshǎo ba. [Pinyin]
    Make as many photocopies as you need.
Usage notes
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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:

電話號碼多少 [MSC, trad.]
电话号码多少 [MSC, simp.]
Nǐ de diànhuà hàomǎ shì duōshǎo? [Pinyin]
What is your phone number? (literally, How many/much is your phone number?)
電子郵件多少 [MSC, trad.]
电子邮件多少 [MSC, simp.]
Nǐ de diànzǐ yóujiàn shì duōshǎo? [Pinyin]
What is your email address? (literally, How many/much is your email address?)
微信多少 [MSC, trad.]
微信多少 [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
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  • (how many; how much):

See also

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Pronunciation 2

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Noun

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多少

  1. amount; how much; how many
    所得稅多少取決收入 [MSC, trad.]
    所得税多少取决收入 [MSC, simp.]
    Suǒdéshuì de duōshǎo qǔjué yú nǐ de shōurù. [Pinyin]
    How much income tax you pay depends on your income.

Adverb

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多少

  1. somewhat; more or less
    描述多少準確性 [MSC, trad.]
    描述多少准确性 [MSC, simp.]
    Zhè zhǒng miáoshù duōshǎo yǒu diǎn zhǔnquèxìng. [Pinyin]
    The description is more or less accurate.
Synonyms
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Derived terms

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Japanese

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Kanji in this term

Grade: 2
しょう
Grade: 2
on'yomi

Adverb

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()(しょう) (tashō

  1. little, somewhat, rather, quite

Noun

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()(しょう) (tashō

  1. amount, number