多少
how many; how much
HSK level
- Pinyin
- duōshao
- Part of speech
- pronoun
- Level
- HSK 1
- Strokes
- 10
- Register
- neutral
- In episodes
- 1
Stroke order for 多少
多少 is written with 10 strokes (多: 6, 少: 4). The animation replays automatically.
What does 多少 mean?
多少 (duōshao) is the standard question word for asking 'how many' or 'how much' when the answer could be any number — large or small, countable or uncountable.
Literally 'many-few,' it differs from 几 (jǐ) in one important way: 几 expects a small answer (under ten, usually) and almost always takes a measure word (几个人 'how many people'), while 多少 expects any number and the measure word is optional (多少人 or 多少个人). Use 多少 for prices (多少钱 'how much money'), phone numbers, ages of adults, large quantities, and anything where you have no estimate. Note: the second syllable is the neutral tone shao, NOT shǎo — duōshao together is the question word; duō shǎo as two stressed syllables means 'more or less'.
Character by character
Memory hook: 'Many-few?' — literally asking 'how far on the many-to-few scale?' i.e. how much.
Hear 多少 in real episodes
多少 appears in 1 Fluentide podcast episode at natural native speed. Each sentence plays at the easiest difficulty it exists in — switch it to hear the same moment at your level, with full pinyin and English throughout.
我们每天走多少步好呢？
How many steps should we walk every day?
Must You Walk 10,000 Steps? Research Finds Benefits Around 7,000
Example sentences
这个多少钱？
Zhège duōshao qián?
How much does this cost?
spoken
你的电话是多少？
Nǐ de diànhuà shì duōshao?
What's your phone number?
neutral
今天有多少人？
Jīntiān yǒu duōshao rén?
How many people are there today?
neutral
你多少岁？
Nǐ duōshao suì?
How old are you? (for adults)
spoken
Common phrases with 多少
Synonyms
Don't confuse 多少 with
Frequently asked questions
Related words from the same episodes
Acquire it by listening
Meet 多少 again — in real Chinese, at your level.
You just saw 多少 in 1 episode. Fluentide keeps feeding you news episodes at your level, so this word — and thousands like it — resurface in real sentences until they stick. Full pinyin and translation every time. Free to start.