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คุณ　มี　หนังสือ　กี่　เล่ม　คะ

คุณ　มี　หนังสือ　กี่　เล่ม　คะ
How many books do you have?
From Lesson 20:Classifiers for counting (คน, อัน)·Thai

Questions & Answers about คุณ　มี　หนังสือ　กี่　เล่ม　คะ

How does the word order for "how many books" work here?
When asking "how many" of an object, Thai uses the pattern: Noun + กี่ (how many) + Classifier. So หนังสือ กี่ เล่ม literally means "book how-many [book-classifier]". เล่ม is the specific classifier you must use when counting books.
Why is the question word กี่ near the end instead of the beginning?
Thai question sentences usually keep the exact same word order as normal statements. A statement would be "You have three books" (คุณ มี หนังสือ สาม เล่ม). To make it a question, you simply replace the number with the question word กี่ (how many).
Why does the sentence end with คะ instead of ค่ะ?
Female speakers use คะ (with a high tone) at the end of questions. You would use ค่ะ (with a falling tone) for statements or to answer yes. Since this sentence is asking "how many," คะ is the correct polite particle.
Do I need to make หนังสือ plural to ask about multiple books?
No, Thai nouns never change form to show plurals. หนังสือ can mean "book" or "books". The idea of plurality comes entirely from the question word กี่ asking for a quantity.

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