Сколько стоит медицинская страховка?

How much does medical insurance cost?

Breakdown of Сколько стоит медицинская страховка?

• сколько: how much
• медицинский: medical
• страховка: the insurance
• стоить: should / to be worth (doing)

Questions & Answers about Сколько стоит медицинская страховка?

Why is the verb стоит (singular) and not стоят (plural) here?

Because медицинская страховка (insurance policy/insurance) is grammatically singular (and the head noun страховка is singular).
Russian agrees the verb with the grammatical number of what is “costing” something:

• Сколько стоит страховка? (one policy) → стоит
• Сколько стоят страховки? (several policies) → стоят
• Сколько стоит билет? vs Сколько стоят билеты?

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What case is медицинская страховка in, and why?

It’s nominative singular feminine.

• страховка is the subject of стоит (literally: How much does the insurance cost?), so it stays in the nominative.
• The adjective медицинская agrees with страховка in gender (feminine), number (singular), and case (nominative).

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I thought сколько often requires the genitive. Why isn’t something in the genitive here?

Сколько does often trigger genitive in quantity expressions like:

• Сколько денег? (How much money?) → денег (genitive plural)
• Сколько времени? (How much time?) → времени (genitive singular)

But in the pattern Сколько стоит/стоят + noun?, the noun is typically the grammatical subject of стоить, so it stays nominative:

• Сколько стоит эта книга?
• Сколько стоят эти книги?

You can also see genitive after сколько in other structures, but this particular “price” question is normally nominative.

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What does стоить mean exactly, and how is it used in this sentence?

стоить means to cost. The present tense forms you’ll commonly use are:

• стоит = it costs (3rd person singular)
• стоят = they cost (3rd person plural)

So Сколько стоит медицинская страховка? uses the standard present-tense “price question” structure.

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How do I pronounce this sentence (stress and key sounds)?

Common stress pattern:

• Ско́лько сто́ит медици́нская страховка́?

Pronunciation notes:

• сколько has a soft ль sound (because of ь): roughly SKOL’-ka
• о in unstressed positions is reduced (sounds closer to a/uh in fast speech)
• страховка: stress on the last а́: stra-hóv-KÁ (with reduced vowels before the stress)

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Why is there a soft sign ь in сколько? Does it change meaning?

The ь in ско́лько doesn’t change the meaning; it changes the pronunciation by making the л soft (palatalized).
It’s part of the standard spelling of the word.

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Is медицинская страховка the most natural phrase, or are there alternatives?

It’s natural and widely understood. Depending on context, you might also hear:

• медстраховка (colloquial shortened form)
• медицинская страховка / медицинская страховка для поездки (more specific)
• страховка alone (if the context already makes it clear it’s medical)

In official/insurance contexts, you may also see more formal wording like медицинское страхование, but for asking a price, медицинская страховка is very common.

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Can I change the word order, or is it fixed?

The default, neutral word order is exactly what you have:
Сколько стоит медицинская страховка?

You can reorder for emphasis:

• Медицинская страховка сколько стоит? (more conversational; emphasis on medical insurance)
• Сколько медицинская страховка стоит? (possible but less neutral)

For learners, the safest everyday pattern is Сколько стоит + noun?

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How would I ask this more politely or in a more “service” style?

Common polite options:

• Скажите, пожалуйста, сколько стоит медицинская страховка? (Tell me please, how much does it cost?)
• Подскажите, пожалуйста, сколько стоит медицинская страховка? (Could you let me know…?)

Both are very natural in shops, offices, or on the phone.

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How do I ask about the price in the future (e.g., “How much will it cost?”) or about monthly cost?

Future/“will it cost”:

• Сколько будет стоить медицинская страховка?

To specify a period:

• Сколько стоит медицинская страховка в месяц? (per month)
• Сколько стоит медицинская страховка на год? (for a year)
• Сколько стоит медицинская страховка на неделю? (for a week)