English asks about amount with two little words, "how much" and "how many," and picks between them by whether the noun is countable. Japanese slices the same territory differently. There is a dedicated word for money (いくら), a general-purpose counting word (いくつ), a stretchy word for time, distance, and degree (どのくらい), and — for anything you want to count precisely — the pattern 何 + the right counter. Learning these four tools, and which one each situation calls for, is how you ask the everyday questions that keep a conversation moving: what does it cost, how many are there, how long does it take.
いくら — how much (money, cost, amount)
いくら (ikura) asks about price or an uncountable amount. Its home turf is money: at a shop, a restaurant, a ticket counter, いくら is the word.
このかばん、いくらですか。
kono kaban, ikura desu ka
How much is this bag?
全部でいくらになりますか。
zenbu de ikura ni narimasu ka
How much does it come to altogether?
東京までの新幹線はいくらぐらいですか。
Tōkyō made no shinkansen wa ikura gurai desu ka
About how much is the bullet train to Tokyo?
いくら also reaches beyond money to any measured-out amount you would weigh, pour, or gauge — 塩をいくら入れる (how much salt to add) — though for most beginners the price meaning is what you will use daily.
いくつ — how many (general count) and how old
いくつ (ikutsu) is the general-purpose "how many." It is built on the native counting series (ひとつ, ふたつ, みっつ…) — see Two Number Systems — so it works for the same range of concrete, everyday objects that take the generic つ counter, roughly one through ten.
りんごをいくつ買いましたか。
ringo o ikutsu kaimashita ka
How many apples did you buy?
卵はあといくつ残ってる？
tamago wa ato ikutsu nokotteru?
How many eggs are left? (casual)
いくつ has a second, very common use: with the honorific お, おいくつ politely asks a person's age — especially a child's, but of adults too when you want to be gentle about it.
お子さんはおいくつですか。
o-kosan wa o-ikutsu desu ka
How old is your child?
どのくらい / どれくらい — how much, how long, how far
どのくらい (dono kurai) — and its interchangeable twin どれくらい (dore kurai) — is the stretchy one. It asks "to what extent," and that single question covers duration (how long), distance (how far), degree (how much / to what extent), and rough quantity. Where English switches words — "how long," "how far," "how often," "how much" — Japanese leans on this one phrase and lets context fill in the dimension.
駅までどのくらいかかりますか。
eki made dono kurai kakarimasu ka
How long does it take to the station?
ここから空港までどれくらいありますか。
koko kara kūkō made dore kurai arimasu ka
How far is it from here to the airport?
日本語はどのくらい勉強しましたか。
nihongo wa dono kurai benkyō shimashita ka
How long have you studied Japanese?
このお酒、どれくらい強いんですか。
kono osake, dore kurai tsuyoi n desu ka
How strong is this drink? (degree)
The difference between かかる (to take/cost) plus どのくらい versus いくら is a good gut check: for time, どのくらいかかりますか; for money, いくらかかりますか. English "how much does it cost/take" hides both under one verb, but Japanese splits the question word.
何 + counter — the precise "how many"
Here is the piece that reveals how Japanese really works. When you want to count something precisely, you do not use a generic word at all — you take the question kanji 何 (read nan here) and attach the counter that matches the object. This is why quantity questions are inseparable from the counter system: the "unit" you are counting is baked into the question itself.
| Counting… | Question | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| people | 何人 | nan-nin | how many people |
| flat/thin things | 何枚 | nan-mai | how many sheets |
| bound volumes | 何冊 | nan-satsu | how many books |
| machines/vehicles | 何台 | nan-dai | how many machines/cars |
| hours (duration) | 何時間 | nan-jikan | how many hours |
パーティーには何人来ますか。
pātī ni wa nan-nin kimasu ka
How many people are coming to the party?
切手を何枚買いますか。
kitte o nan-mai kaimasu ka
How many stamps will you buy?
毎日何時間ぐらい寝ますか。
mainichi nan-jikan gurai nemasu ka
About how many hours do you sleep every day?
Choosing between them — a quick map
| You want to ask… | Use |
|---|---|
| the price / an amount of money | いくら |
| a rough count of everyday objects (≈1–10) | いくつ |
| someone's age (softly / a child's) | おいくつ / いくつ |
| how long, how far, to what degree | どのくらい / どれくらい |
| a precise count of a specific thing | 何 + counter (何人, 何枚, 何冊…) |
Common mistakes
❌ りんごをいくら買いましたか。
Incorrect — いくら is for money; apples are countable objects.
✅ りんごをいくつ買いましたか。
ringo o ikutsu kaimashita ka
How many apples did you buy?
❌ この本はいくつですか。
Incorrect if you mean the price — this asks 'how many books,' not their cost.
✅ この本はいくらですか。
kono hon wa ikura desu ka
How much is this book?
❌ 駅までいくらかかりますか。（時間のつもりで）
Incorrect for time — いくら asks about money, so this asks the fare, not the duration.
✅ 駅までどのくらいかかりますか。
eki made dono kurai kakarimasu ka
How long does it take to the station?
❌ 学生はいくつですか。（人数のつもりで）
Incorrect — with people, いくつ reads as 'how old'; for a count use 何人.
✅ 学生は何人ですか。
gakusei wa nan-nin desu ka
How many students are there?
The trap for English speakers is treating いくら like "how much" across the board. Anchor it to money; send countable objects to いくつ or 何 + counter; and remember that どのくらい quietly owns time, distance, and degree.
Key takeaways
- いくら = how much money / cost.
- いくつ = how many (general, native-counter range); with お, "how old."
- どのくらい / どれくらい = how long, how far, to what degree.
- 何 + counter = precise "how many," which is why counting well means learning your counters.
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