No sé cuánto café bebo cada mañana.

I don't know how much coffee I drink every morning.

Breakdown of No sé cuánto café bebo cada mañana.

• yo: I
• la mañana: the morning
• cada: each, every
• beber: to drink
• el café: the coffee
• saber: to know
• no: not
• cuánto: how many

Questions & Answers about No sé cuánto café bebo cada mañana.

Why is it no sé and not no conozco?

Spanish has two different verbs for to know:

• saber = to know facts, information, how much, how, when, etc.
  
  • No sé cuánto café bebo. → I don’t know how much coffee I drink.
• conocer = to know / be familiar with people, places, things.
  
  • Conozco este café. → I know this café (I’ve been here / I’m familiar with it).

Because you’re talking about information (the amount you drink), you must use saber, so no sé, not no conozco.

Why does cuánto have an accent?

The accent (tilde) on cuánto shows it’s being used as an interrogative word (how much / how many), even though this is an indirect question.

• ¿Cuánto café bebo? → direct question (with question marks)
• No sé cuánto café bebo. → indirect question (inside a normal sentence)

In both cases, it’s still a question word, so it keeps the accent: cuánto.

Without accent (cuanto), it usually means things like as much as / however much, not a question:

• Bebo cuanto café quiero. → I drink as much coffee as I want.

Why is it cuánto café bebo and not cuánto bebo café?

In indirect questions, Spanish normally keeps normal statement word order (subject–verb–object), not the inverted order of a direct question.

• Direct question:
  ¿Cuánto café bebo? (question marks + question intonation)
• Indirect question:
  No sé cuánto café bebo. (no question marks, normal intonation in Spanish)

In cuánto café bebo, the structure is:

• cuánto = how much
• café = the noun being quantified
• bebo = the verb

Cuánto bebo café is not natural Spanish; the quantifier cuánto should go directly with the noun (café).

Why is it cuánto café and not something like cuánto de café?

With uncountable nouns like café, Spanish normally puts cuánto directly before the noun:

• ¿Cuánto café bebes? → How much coffee do you drink?

You use cuánto de + noun only in special structures, usually after something else:

• ¿Cuánto de este café quieres? → How much of this coffee do you want?

In your sentence there’s no need for de, so the natural form is cuánto café.

Could you also say cuánta or cuántos here?

You have to match cuánto with the gender and number of the noun:

• cuánto café – café is masculine singular → cuánto
• cuánta leche – leche is feminine singular → cuánta
• cuántos cafés – cafés (cups of coffee) is masculine plural → cuántos
• cuántas tazas – tazas is feminine plural → cuántas

So in No sé cuánto café bebo, cuánto is correct because café is masculine singular.

Why is there no question mark if cuánto is a question word?

Because this is an indirect question, not a direct one.

• Direct: ¿Cuánto café bebo cada mañana?
  (You are asking someone this.)
• Indirect: No sé cuánto café bebo cada mañana.
  (You’re stating that you don’t know the answer.)

Indirect questions in Spanish:

• do use question words (cuánto, quién, qué, dónde, etc.)
• do not use ¿ ? at the sentence level
• keep normal statement word order

Why is it bebo? Could I say tomo instead?

Yes. Both are correct, with a small nuance:

• beber = to drink (neutral, a bit more “textbook”)
  • No sé cuánto café bebo.
• tomar = to take / to drink (very common in Latin America for drinks)
  • No sé cuánto café tomo.

In Latin America, tomar café is extremely common and sounds very natural:

• ¿Tomas café? – Do you drink coffee?

So you can safely say No sé cuánto café tomo cada mañana as an alternative.

Why is bebo in the simple present and not some continuous form?

Spanish uses the simple present much more than English does, especially for:

• habits and routines
• general truths

So:

• Bebo café cada mañana. = I drink coffee every morning.
  (habit; direct equivalent of English present simple)

You usually do not say:

• Estoy bebiendo café cada mañana – that would sound like I’m in the process of drinking coffee every morning, which is odd.

So bebo (simple present) is the normal way to express a daily routine.

What does cada mañana add, and could I say it differently?

Cada mañana = every morning (each morning).

Other very common options:

• todas las mañanas – also every morning
  
  • No sé cuánto café bebo todas las mañanas.
• cada día por la mañana – every day in the morning
  
  • No sé cuánto café bebo cada día por la mañana.

In much of Latin America you’ll also hear:

• en la mañana / en las mañanas
  
  • No sé cuánto café bebo en las mañanas.

All of these keep basically the same meaning: a repeated daily routine.

What exactly does no negate here: not knowing, or not drinking?

The no negates the verb sé (from saber):

• No sé = I don’t know

The rest (cuánto café bebo cada mañana) is just the content of what you don’t know.

So the meaning is:

• I don’t know how much coffee I drink every morning
  not
• I don’t drink coffee every morning

To say that, you would negate bebo, not sé:

• No bebo café cada mañana. → I don’t drink coffee every morning.

Could I say No sé cuánto café beber cada mañana instead of bebo?

You can, but the meaning changes slightly.

• No sé cuánto café bebo cada mañana.
  → I don’t know how much coffee I actually drink every morning.
  (You’re describing your current habit.)

• No sé cuánto café beber cada mañana.
  → I don’t know how much coffee to drink every morning.
  (You’re unsure what amount you should drink; it sounds more like giving yourself advice or making a plan.)

So with bebo you’re talking about your existing routine;
with beber (infinitive) you’re talking about a decision or recommendation.