How to Ask How Much Something Is

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Vocabulary (Review)

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Lesson Transcript

Welcome to Can-Do Russian by RussianPod101.com.

In this lesson, you’ll learn how to ask how much something is in Russian.

For example, "How much [does] coffee cost?" is

Сколько стоит кофе? (Skol'ko stoit kofe?)

Mikhail Maslov is at a small grocery store.

He sees coffee with no visible price tag, and asks for the price.

Before you hear the conversation, let's preview some of its key components.

кофе (kofe)

"coffee"

кофе

стоит (stoit)

"costs"

стоит

Let’s listen to the conversation.

Сколько стоит кофе? (Skol'ko stoit kofe?)

Сто рублей. (Sto rubley.)

Once more with the English translation.

Сколько стоит кофе? (Skol'ko stoit kofe?)

"How much [does] coffee cost?"

Сто рублей. (Sto rubley.)

"One hundred rubles."

Let's break down the conversation.

Do you remember how Mikhail asks,

"How much [does] coffee cost?"

Сколько стоит кофе? (Skol'ko stoit kofe?)

Let's start with сколько (skol’ko) "how much" in this context. Сколько . Сколько.

Next is стоит (stoit), "costs." Стоит . Стоит.

Стоит is from the verb стоить (stoit’), "to cost." Стоить.

Next is кофе (kofe), "coffee." Кофе . Кофе.

All together, it's,

Сколько стоит кофе? (Skol'ko stoit kofe?)

"How much [does] coffee cost?"

Сколько стоит кофе? (Skol'ko stoit kofe?)

Let’s take a closer look at the response.

Do you remember how the shop clerk says,

"One hundred rubles."

Сто рублей. (Sto rubley.)

First is сто (sto), "one hundred." Сто . Сто.

Next is рублей (rubley), "rubles," the name of the currency. Рублей . Рублей.

Note: рублей (rubley) is from рубль (rubl’), "ruble". Рублей (Rubley) is used as сто (sto), "100" ends in 0.

All together, it's Сто рублей. (Sto rubley). "One hundred rubles."

Сто рублей. (Sto rubley)

Note, the first part of the sentence кофе стоит (kofe stoit), "Coffee costs…" is omitted.

The pattern is

Сколько стоит ITEM ? (Skol’ko stoit ITEM?)

"How much does ITEM cost?"

Сколько стоит ITEM?

To use this pattern, simply replace the {ITEM} placeholder with the thing you’d like to know the price of.

Note: This pattern requires a noun.

For example, imagine you’d like to know the price of a tea, чай (chay).

Чай (Chay), "tea." Чай . Чай.

Ask, "How much does a tea cost?"

Ready?

Сколько стоит чай? (Skol’ko stoit chay?)

"How much does a tea cost?"

Сколько стоит чай? (Skol’ko stoit chay?)

Note: the word order in Russian often is not important, so the phrase Сколько чай стоит? (Skol’ko chay stoit?) is equivalent to Сколько стоит чай? (Skol’ko stoit chay?) and Чай сколько стоит? (Chay sko’ko stoit?). All those phrases mean "How much [does] a tea cost?"

Почём это? (Pochyom eto?), "How much is it?"

First is почём (pochyom), "how much [is]", where "is" is omitted.

Then is the demonstrative pronoun это (eto), "this".

All together it’s Почём это? (Pochyom eto?), literally it means "How much this?," but translates as "How much is it?"

The pattern is:

Почём ITEM? (Pochyom ITEM?)

"How much is ITEM?"

To use this pattern, simply replace the {ITEM} placeholder with the thing you’d like to know the price of.

Again, the pattern is,

Сколько стоит ITEM ? (Skol’ko stoit ITEM?)

"How much does ITEM cost?"

Сколько стоит ITEM ?

Let's look at some examples.

Listen and repeat or speak along with the native speakers.

Сколько стоит кофе? (Skol'ko stoit kofe?)

"How much [does] coffee cost?"

Сколько стоит кофе? (Skol'ko stoit kofe?)

Сколько стоит чай? (Skol'ko stoit chay?)

"How much does a tea cost?"

Сколько стоит чай? (Skol'ko stoit chay?)

Сколько стоит торт? (Skol'ko stoit tort?)

"How much does a cake cost?"

Сколько стоит торт? (Skol'ko stoit tort?)

Почём это? (Pochyom eto?)

"How much is it?"

Почём это? (Pochyom eto?)

Сколько это стоит? (Skol'ko eto stoit?)

"How much does this cost?"

Сколько это стоит? (Skol'ko eto stoit?)

Did you notice how the native speaker used a slightly different pattern?

Сколько это стоит? (Skol'ko eto stoit?), "How much does this cost?"

First is сколько (skol’ko) "how much" in this context. Сколько . Сколько.

Next is это (eto), "this." Это . Это.

You can use this word while pointing at something near you. It’s useful when you want to refer to something you don't know the word for in Russian.

Next is стоит (stoit), "costs." Стоит . Стоит.

Стоит is from the verb стоить (stoit’), "to cost." Стоить.

All together, it's Сколько это стоит? (Skol'ko eto stoit?) This literally translates as, "How much this costs?" But it translates as "How much [does] this cost?"

You should be aware of this shortcut, but for this lesson, we’ll use the pattern

Сколько стоит ITEM? (Skol’ko stoit? ITEM)

"How much does ITEM cost?"

Let’s review the key vocabulary.

кофе (kofe)

"coffee"

кофе

чай (chay)

"tea"

чай

торт (tort)

"cake"

торт

это (eto)

"this"

это

Let's review.

Respond to the prompts by speaking aloud. Then repeat after the native speaker, focusing on pronunciation.

Ready?

Do you remember how to say "coffee?"

кофе (kofe)

And how to say "how much?"

сколько (skol’ko)

And how to say "costs?"

стоит (stoit)

Do you remember how Mikhail Maslov asks,

"How much does coffee cost?"

Сколько стоит кофе? (Skol'ko stoit kofe?)

Do you remember how to say "one hundred?"

сто (sto)

Do you remember how the clerk says,

"One hundred rubles."

Сто рублей. (Sto rubley.)

Do you remember how to say "tea?"

чай (chay)

Do you remember how to say "cake?"

торт (tort)

Do you remember how to say "this"?

это (eto)

Let's practice.

Imagine you’re Mikhail , and you’re at a farmers’ market. Ask for the price of a coffee, or кофе (kofe).

Ready?

Сколько стоит кофе? (Skol'ko stoit kofe?)

Сто рублей. (Sto rubley.)

Listen again and repeat.

Сколько стоит кофе? (Skol'ko stoit kofe?)

Let's try another.

They’re also selling cake, or торт (tort).

Ready?

Сколько стоит торт? (Skol'ko stoit tort?)

Пятьсот рублей. (Pyat'sot rubley.)

Listen again and repeat.

Сколько стоит торт? (Skol'ko stoit tort?)

Let’s try one more.

You'd like to try a snack with no price tag. Ask for the price of "this", or это (eto).

Ready?

Сколько это стоит? (Skol'ko eto stoit?)

Пятьсот рублей. (Pyat'sot rubley.)

Listen again and repeat.

Сколько это стоит? (Skol'ko eto stoit?)

In this lesson, you learned how to ask how much something costs. This plays an essential role in the larger skill of shopping at a grocery store. Let’s review.

Do you remember how to say "please?"

пожалуйста (pozhaluysta)

пожалуйста (pozhaluysta).

And do you remember how to say,

"This, please."

Это, пожалуйста. (Eto, pozhaluysta.)

Do you remember how to say "salt?"

соль (sol’)

Do you remember how to ask,

"Excuse me, do you have salt?"

Извините, у вас есть соль? (Izvinite, u vas yest' sol’?)

Imagine you're Jack Jones , and you're at a grocery store, and you'd like to buy an Item located near you. You point at it and request "this."

Do you remember how to say "this" in Russian?

это (eto)

Request "this" from the clerk.

Это, пожалуйста. (Eto, pozhaluysta.)

Вот, возьмите! (Vot, voz'mite.)

Listen again and repeat.

Это, пожалуйста. (Eto, pozhaluysta.)

You remembered that you wanted to buy milk

Do you remember how to say "milk" in Russian?

молоко (moloko)

Now ask the clerk if the store has milk.

Ready?

Извините, у вас есть молоко? (Izvinite, u vas yest' moloko?)

Да, оно здесь. (Da, ono zdes'.)

Listen again and repeat.

Извините, у вас есть молоко? (Izvinite, u vas yest' moloko?)

In a supermarket nearby you'd like to buy a cake.

Do you remember how to say "cake" in Russian?

торт (tort)

Now ask for the price of a cake.

Сколько стоит торт? (Skol'ko stoit tort?)

Сто рублей. (Sto rubley.)

Listen again and repeat.

Сколько стоит торт? (Skol'ko stoit tort?)

Well done! This is the end of the lesson and the Can Shop at a Grocery Store unit of this course.

Remember, these Can Do lessons are about learning practical language skills.

What's next?

Show us what you can do.

When you're ready, take your assessment.

You can take it again and again, so try anytime you like.

Our teachers will assess it, and give you your results.

Keep practicing — and move on to the next lesson!

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