¿Cuántas quieres?

How many do you want?

Breakdown of ¿Cuántas quieres?

• querer: to want
• tú: you
• cuánto: how many

Questions & Answers about ¿Cuántas quieres?

Why is it cuántas and not cuántos?

Because cuántas agrees with a feminine plural noun that is understood from context.

Spanish changes cuánto depending on the gender and number of the thing being counted:

• cuánto = masculine singular
• cuánta = feminine singular
• cuántos = masculine plural
• cuántas = feminine plural

So ¿Cuántas quieres? means the speaker is asking about more than one feminine thing.

Example:

• ¿Cuántas galletas quieres? = How many cookies do you want?

What noun is missing after cuántas?

Usually, an understood noun is being left out because it is already clear from the situation.

For example, if you are talking about:

• galletas → ¿Cuántas quieres?
• cervezas → ¿Cuántas quieres?
• camisas → ¿Cuántas quieres?

In English, we also sometimes do this:

• How many do you want?

So the full idea is often something like:

• ¿Cuántas [galletas] quieres?

What does quieres mean exactly?