Learn Italian: Quanto costa un chilo di carne? - How much does a kilo of meat cost?

In this lesson, you are learning how quanto changes to match nouns (like quanta carne for "how much meat"). But here, quanto is asking about the price and modifies the verb costa (costs). When quanto is used with a verb to mean "how much," it acts as an adverb and never changes its ending.

How do we know to use costa instead of costano?

The verb costare (to cost) must match the item you are buying. Here, the main subject is un chilo (a kilo), which is singular, so we use costa. If you were asking about multiple kilos, you would use the plural: Quanto costano due chili? (How much do two kilos cost?).

Why do we use the word di in this sentence?

Italian uses the preposition di (of) to connect a unit of measurement to the item being measured, exactly like English does. Un chilo di carne literally translates to "a kilo of meat".

Why is chilo spelled with a "ch" if it sounds like a "k"?

In Italian, the letter combination ch is always pronounced with a hard "k" sound. It is never pronounced like the "ch" in the English word "cheese".