Questions & Answers about Wie viel kostet das Buch?
What is the difference between Wie viel and Wie viele?
Wie viel means 'how much' and is used for things you cannot count individually, like an amount of money. If you want to ask 'how many' for things you can count, you use Wie viele. Since we are asking for a price here, we use Wie viel.
Why does the verb kostet end in '-et' instead of just '-t'?
The base verb is kosten (to cost), and its stem is kost-. Because the stem already ends in a 't', adding the regular 't' ending for the 'it' form (since the book is an 'it') would be hard to pronounce. German adds an extra 'e' to make it kostet.
Why is the verb kostet before das Buch?
In German questions that start with a question word, the verb is always the second idea in the sentence. Here, the question phrase Wie viel (How much) takes up position 1, so the verb kostet must come immediately after it in position 2, followed by the subject das Buch.
How would I answer this question using a compound number from this lesson, like 24?
You would say Das Buch kostet vierundzwanzig Euro. Remember that for German compound numbers up to 100, you say the single digits before the tens, which literally translates to 'four-and-twenty'. Asking and answering prices is one of the most common ways you will use these new numbers!
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