Chinese has two everyday words for "how many / how much," and choosing between them is not free — the choice quietly announces how big you expect the answer to be. 几 (jǐ) asks about a small, countable amount, the kind you could hold up on your fingers, and it drags a measure word along with it. 多少 (duōshao) asks about any amount — large, small, or completely unknown — and usually travels without one. English hides this distinction entirely: "how many students?" is the same whether you expect three or three thousand. In Chinese you commit to an expectation before the other person has even answered.
几 — small, countable, always with a measure word
Use 几 when you assume the answer will be a handful, roughly under ten: guests, siblings, questions, the time, the date, a young child's age. Because 几 behaves grammatically like a number, it must carry a measure word — 几个人, 几本书, 几点 — exactly as 三 or 五 would. (For the mechanics of 几 as a number-slot, see 几 + measure word; here the point is simply when to pick 几 over 多少.)
你家有几口人？
nǐ jiā yǒu jǐ kǒu rén?
How many people are in your family? — a family is small, so 几 (with the MW 口).
现在几点了？
xiànzài jǐ diǎn le?
What time is it now? — clock hours max out at twelve, so 几 is idiomatic.
你要几个，两个还是三个？
nǐ yào jǐ ge, liǎng ge háishì sān ge?
How many do you want — two or three? — a small choice invites 几.
你孩子今年几岁了？
nǐ háizi jīnnián jǐ suì le?
How old is your child this year? — a young child's age is a small number, so 几岁.
今天几号？
jīntiān jǐ hào?
What's the date today? — dates run 1–31, a small closed set, so 几号.
多少 — any amount, unknown or large, measure word optional
Reach for 多少 when the answer could be big, or when you genuinely have no idea of the scale: prices, populations, phone numbers, salaries, exam scores. Its default is to appear without a measure word — 多少钱, 多少人 — because the whole point is that you are not presuming a countable handful. A measure word is allowed after 多少 (多少个人 is grammatical) but is usually left off; adding 个 sounds heavier and slightly more deliberate.
一斤草莓多少钱？
yì jīn cǎoméi duōshao qián?
How much is a jin of strawberries? — money is open-ended, so 多少, and no MW before 钱.
你们公司有多少员工？
nǐmen gōngsī yǒu duōshao yuángōng?
How many employees does your company have? — could be dozens or thousands, so 多少.
你的手机号是多少？
nǐ de shǒujī hào shì duōshao?
What's your mobile number? — a phone number is a big unknown figure, so always 多少, never 几.
昨天的演唱会来了多少人？
zuótiān de yǎnchànghuì lái le duōshao rén?
How many people came to yesterday's concert? — a crowd is large, so 多少人.
这次考试你考了多少分？
zhè cì kǎoshì nǐ kǎo le duōshao fēn?
What score did you get on this exam? — a score can run up to 100, so 多少分.
Notice the phone-number case especially: a string of digits is the definition of a "big unknown number," so it is 多少 even though you are not really counting anything. The same logic covers house numbers, ID numbers, and QQ/WeChat IDs.
The decision in one line
| You expect… | Use | Measure word? | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| a small handful (≈ under 10) | 几 | required | 几个人 (how many people) |
| any / large / unknown amount | 多少 | usually dropped | 多少人 (how many people) |
| a price, number string, score | 多少 | none | 多少钱 (how much money) |
| the time / date | 几 | 几点 / 几号 | 几点了 (what time is it) |
A useful mental test: could the answer plausibly be "two" or "three"? If yes, 几. Could it just as easily be "eight hundred" or "I have no idea"? Then 多少. When you truly don't know the scale, defaulting to 多少 is the safe choice — it never sounds wrong, whereas 几 applied to a big quantity sounds like you badly misjudged the situation.
Common Mistakes
1. Dropping the measure word after 几. English "how many books" has no classifier, so learners strip it out — but 几 is a number and demands one.
❌ 你有几书？
Incorrect — 几 needs a measure word: 几本书.
✅ 你有几本书？
nǐ yǒu jǐ běn shū?
How many books do you have? — 几 + 本 + noun.
2. Adding a measure word to 多少钱. With money, 多少 stands directly before 钱; 个 never appears here.
❌ 这个多少个钱？
Incorrect — 钱 takes no measure word after 多少.
✅ 这个多少钱？
zhège duōshao qián?
How much is this? — 多少 directly before 钱.
3. Using 几 for a big or open-ended quantity. A phone number or a large crowd is never 几.
❌ 你的电话号码是几？
Incorrect — a phone number is a large unknown figure, so 多少.
✅ 你的电话号码是多少？
nǐ de diànhuà hàomǎ shì duōshao?
What's your phone number? — 多少 for any number string.
4. Asking an adult 几岁. 几岁 presumes a single-digit answer and is only for small children.
❌ 请问您几岁？
Odd/rude to an adult — 几岁 implies you expect a toddler's age.
✅ 请问您多大？
qǐngwèn nín duō dà?
How old are you, may I ask? — 多大 for teenagers and adults.
Key Takeaways
- 几 (jǐ) asks about a small count (≈ under ten) and requires a measure word: 几个人, 几点, 几号.
- 多少 (duōshao) asks about any, large, or unknown amounts and usually drops the measure word: 多少钱, 多少人.
- Prices, phone numbers, scores and populations are always 多少 — they are "big unknown figures," not countable handfuls.
- Ages split: 几岁 for a small child, 多大 for anyone older.
- When you don't know the scale, default to 多少 — it is never wrong; 几 misapplied to a large quantity always sounds off.
Now practice Chinese
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning Chinese→Related Topics
- 几 + MW (Approximate / How Many)HSK 1 — 几 (jǐ) plus a measure word means both 'how many?' in questions and 'a few / several' in statements — 几个人？ (how many people?) and 我有几本书 (I have a few books) — always keeping its classifier, exactly like a number.
- Age (几岁 / 多大)HSK 1 — How you ask someone's age depends on how old they are: 几岁 for small children, 多大 for older kids and adults, 多大年纪 for elders. Stating age needs 岁 (no measure word) and no 是 — 我三十岁, never 我是三十岁.
- Question Words Stay In Place (In Situ)HSK 1 — The single most important rule for Chinese wh-questions: the question word sits exactly where the answer will sit. No fronting, no do-support, no reordering — 你去哪儿？ not ❌哪儿你去？ And because the question word already asks, you never add 吗.
- 多 Approximation (三十多)HSK 2 — 多 (duō) attached to a number means '-odd / and more' — 三十多 (thirty-odd), 一百多 (a hundred-plus); its position (before or after the measure word) changes whether the extra is whole units or a fraction.