第三十四天

[nnozomi]

多少 for "how many" with numbers (usually) larger than 几
https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Measure_words_in_quantity_questions
(same page as yesterday, further down)
Like 几 it can also mean "some amount of" in non-questions.

Guardian:
他留了多少级了？ how many grades did he repeat? (not very respectful about a corpse, Zhao Yunlan)
多少钱呀？ how much is it?
你听到了多少？ how much did you hear? (Shen Wei after his meeting with Zhao Xinci)

My practice:
你的电话号码多少？ (If correct, it tickles me that you ask "how much is your phone number" instead of "what is your phone number."
他买了多少玫瑰？怎么回事，会求婚呢？

Comments

[presumenothing]

I concur – 多少个人 isn't incorrect, but the 个 just isn't necessary/sounds stiff there. I don't know that this is strictly generalisable to all cases, though (of the above examples, 照片 and 朋友 both sound more natural to me with the counter attached, while I… can't actually imagine why you'd need to count 系).

On the other hand, to point out the possibly-obvious, you do need to include the counter if you're dropping the noun itself ("你等下可以帮忙买些苹果吗？" "好啊，要买几个/多少个？").

[grayswandir]

Thank you, this is helpful! (Including the last bit; I actually wouldn't have known you need the counter if you drop the noun. The equivalent Canto term doesn't! :P )

照片 and 朋友 both sound more natural to me with the counter attached

Hah, all right, so this probably just needs to be absorbed from a lot of listening...

[nnozomi]

this probably just needs to be absorbed from a lot of listening...
doesn't everything, sigh, oh dear... (despairing but hopeful)

[presumenothing]

I actually wouldn't have known you need the counter if you drop the noun. The equivalent Canto term doesn't!

Haha, I hadn't even realised until I actually thought about it, but 多少？ without any counter is automatically 多少钱？ i.e. price LOL. Priorities.

And oh is the Canto equivalent 几多?

(Also I just skimmed through it briefly but this answer looks promising re: when to include the counter.)

[grayswandir]

Hah, well, to be fair, English isn't that different... if someone just says "How much?" without any other context, I definitely assume they mean money, even though though could be talking about how much sugar to add to the cookie dough or whatever...

And oh is the Canto equivalent 几多?

It is!

this answer looks promising

That answer does look helpful! My intuitive guess was that leaving the classifier off would make the meaning seem more abstract or refer to very large numbers (which might feel more like a matter of "how much" rather than "how many individual units"), but that was just a hunch, so I'm glad to see a clearer explanation of it. And I always forget about the fact that words like 年 are considered measure words in themselves, and can't have classifiers in front of them. It confuses me particularly because, like, 一年 but 一个月 (I mean, I get that without the classifier it would just say "January," but it's still confusing that months get classifiers but years don't...)

[presumenothing]

一年 but 一个月

brb existential crisis

[nnozomi]

照片 and 朋友 both sound more natural to me with the counter attached, ... On the other hand, to point out the possibly-obvious, you do need to include the counter if you're dropping the noun itself
谢谢！ Very useful to know.

("你等下可以帮忙买些苹果吗？" "好啊，要买几个/多少个？").
and thus Wang Xiangyang's troubles began... /gratuitous Guardian reference