Ikura desu ka – how to say “how much” in Japanese

Japanese native speakers say “ikura desu ka” quite often, meaning ‘how much’ in Japanese. In this blog, I will explain it in detail and also some related expressions. Let’s get started!

Contents

• Ikura desu ka – “how much” in Japanese
  • Example conversation
• Kore wa ikura desu ka
• More polite expression
• Kanji expression
• Summary

Ikura desu ka – “how much” in Japanese

First of all, let me explain a very basic of the expression, “ikura desu ka”.

• ikura desu ka – いくらですか : a Japanese expression for “how much”.

As you may know, Japanese people often omit the subject word in sentence. The expression, “ikura desu ka”, is literally translated to “how much”. This means, it does not contain any subject word. However, usually, people can understand its meaning from context and other words used together.

Basically, this expression is polite enough. So, it can fit with various situations including formal ones. In reality, however, people rarely ask the price in formal situations. Asking the price itself could be rude. Of course, we can use this expression when we go shopping though.

Example conversation

Below is an example conversation between two Japanese, Haru and Aki.

Below are detailed explanations of new words.

• ikura – いくら : a noun widely used to mean ‘how much’ in Japanese. Depending on the situation, we can just say “ikura”. Yet, it can sound rude.
• desu – です : an auxiliary verb widely used after a noun or adjective to make it more polite. Probably, this auxiliary verb is well known for a part of Japanese desu form.
• ka – か : a sentence ending particle widely used to make simple interrogative sentences, namely, questions. In the example, it is put after the auxiliary verb, “desu”, to change the whole sentence to a question.
• sen – 千 (せん) : a numeral meaning ‘thousand’. Depending on numerals used together, it can also mean ‘thousands’. Learn more about Japanese singular and plural.
• en – 円 (えん) : a unit of Japanese currency, yen. In Japanese, yen is pronounced as “en”. When it isn’t used together with a numeral, most probably it means ‘a circle’ or ‘circles’.

This example shows exactly how Japanese people use “ikura desu ka” and also how they answer this question. Japanese learners should master it, I think. Even tourists to Japan should learn this simple sentence. It would help them a lot when they go shopping in Japan. Usually, Japanese people are not good at English that much, including me.

This is how Japanese people ask “how much” in Japanese. Depending on the situation, however, the example expression is a bit ambiguous. Sometimes, we need to indicate clearly what we ask. In the next paragraphs, I will explain how to use this expression with a demonstrative pronoun.

Kore wa ikura desu ka

Below is an example conversation showing how to use “ikura desu ka” together with a demonstrative pronoun.

Below are detailed explanations of new words.

• kore – これ : a demonstrative pronoun meaning ‘this’ in Japanese. Actually, it is translated to “this” quite often.
• wa – は : a binding particle working as a case maker or topic maker. In the example, it is put just after the pronoun, “kore”, to make the subject word in the sentence.
• ni – 二 (に) : a numeral meaning ‘two’ in Japanese. We can express ‘two thousands’ in the same way as we do in English. The Japanese phrase, “二千 (にせん)”, can be literally translated to “two thousands”. “千 (せん)” doesn’t have its plural form though.

Thanks to the phrase, “kore wa”, everything is clear. We can understand the price of ‘this’ is asked now.

Usually, additional information is put before the expression, “ikura desu ka”, like the above example shows. If we know a name of ‘this’, we can use it instead to make the meaning more clear.

The auxiliary adverb, “desu”, makes the whole sentence polite. So, it gives us a polite impression basically. Nevertheless, sometimes we need to use more polite expressions. One of them can be easily made by using a prefix, “o”.

More polite expression

Below is a new word.

• o – お : a prefix widely used to make the following word more polite. In the example, it is put just before the noun, “ikura”, to make its polite expression. Learn more about it through the word, “omotenashi”.

Honestly, I haven’t succeeded in translating this polite expression to English well. But, this Japanese expression is definitely more polite than previous ones. It would fit with almost all situations. Sometimes, being too polite could be rude. It happens not only in Japanese, but in other languages as well, I think. Yet, when we ask the price, we try to be polite as much as possible. So, this expression is worth learning, remembering and using.

Kanji expression

So far, I’ve explained Japanese expressions for ‘how much’ only in hiragana. To tell the truth, there is a kanji expression as well. Below is it.

• ikura desu ka – 幾らですか (いくらですか) : a kanji expression for “いくらですか” meaning “how much”.

As you may know, in Japanese, there are a lot of homonyms. The noun, “ikura”, is one of them. When it is written in hiragana, it can also mean ‘salmon roe’. It would be surprising, but unfortunately, it’s true. Therefore the kanji expression is very helpful to avoid confusion between these two homonyms. However, actually, it’s rarely used. Situations in which they are used are very different. So, usually, people can understand a meaning of “ikura” correctly without the kanji expression.

Summary

I’ve explained the expression, “ikura desu ka”, and its related expressions in this blog post. Let me summarize them as follows.

• ikura desu ka – いくらですか : a Japanese expression for “how much?”
• kore wa ikura desu ka – これはいくらですか : a Japanese expression for “how much is this?” Sometimes, we need to indicate clearly what we ask. A demonstrative pronoun helps us a lot in this regard. Additional information is usually put before “ikura”.
• ikura desu ka – 幾らですか (いくらですか) : a kanji expression for “いくらですか”. It would be helpful to avoid misunderstanding between two homonyms, but is rarely used. Usually, situations in which homonyms are used are very different.

This is almost all I wanted to say in this post. Hope my explanations are helpful for Japanese learners.