Buy something and ask the price
I can ask the price, understand the answer and say a number up to a thousand.
Declared core time. Two of the core blocks carry no figure at all, so the real lesson is longer than this sum.
Grammar
4 minHow much and How many are two different questions, and what you count decides which one.
| used with | example | |
|---|---|---|
| How many | things we count one by one | How many apples? |
| How much | things we don't count | How much bread? |
| How much | a price — always | How much is it? |
This follows straight on from lesson 15: countable — many, uncountable — much.
Asking the price:
| How much is it? | you ask the price of one thing |
| How much are they? | you ask the price of two or more things |
| It's five pounds. | the price is £5 |
| That's twelve euros fifty. | the price is €12.50 |
Numbers up to a thousand. Hundreds are made with hundred, and it does not take -s: two hundred, not two hundreds. Between the hundreds and the tens you put and: two hundred and fifty.
Common learner errors
written for your languageHow much with things you count
✗ How much apples?
✓ How many apples?
In many languages one question word works for both, for example French combien or German wie viel. English has two, so you have to choose each time: can you count it one by one?
-s on hundred
✗ two hundreds
✓ two hundred
In some languages the word for a hundred takes a plural ending after a number: French deux cents, Spanish doscientos, Portuguese duzentos. In English, after a number this word stays singular.
Asking about the thing, not about money
✗ How much money is this bag?
✓ How much is this bag?
How much already means "what is the price", so money is not needed.
Pronunciation
3 minHow numbers are read — back to lesson 3 and the reading work. Two places where people make mistakes:
- -teen against -ty: the stress and the final n — thirteen /ˌθɜːˈtiːn/ against thirty /ˈθɜːti/;
- hundred /ˈhʌndrəd/ — the second syllable is unstressed and almost swallowed.
Say a price as one piece: five pounds fifty — with no pause in the middle.
Text
3 minHow much is this bag?
It's twenty-five pounds.
And how much are these books?
Three pounds fifty each. How many books do you want?
Two, please.
That's thirty-two pounds.
Exercises
8–10 min1. Gap fill.
- is this bag?
- apples do you want?
- bread do you eat?
- are these books?
Show the answers
2. Write in words.
15, 50, 130, 250, 900
Show the answers
3. Error correction.
- How much apples?
- It's two hundreds pounds.
- How much money is this bag?
Show the answers
4. Matching.
- How much is it?
- How many books?
- Anything else?
Show the answers
Summary
Covered
- How much against How many
- asking the price
- numbers up to a thousand
Next — lesson 18: review of lessons 13–17.
End of the core
The lesson counts as done once the exercises are done. Everything after this is optional.
optional
Vocabulary for your deck
12 words- price /praɪs/ how much money you pay for something
- money /ˈmʌni/ what you pay with: coins and notes
- pound /paʊnd/ the money of the UK (£)
- euro /ˈjʊərəʊ/ the money of many countries in Europe (€)
- cheap /tʃiːp/ not expensive; you pay little for it
- receipt /rɪˈsiːt/ a paper from a shop that shows what you paid
- shoes /ʃuːz/ things you wear on your feet
- size /saɪz/ how big something is (shoes, clothes)
- each /iːtʃ/ every one; for one thing (three pounds each)
- want /wɒnt/ to wish to have or do something
- buy /baɪ/ to get something by paying money for it
- change /tʃeɪndʒ/ the money you get back when you pay more than the price
Writing
A dialogue of four lines in a shop: you ask the price of two things.
Example
— How much is this bag? — It's twenty pounds. — And how much are these shoes? — Fifty-five pounds.
Checklist
Practise this lesson in the other sections
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