how many

English

Etymology

From Old English hū maniġ.

Pronunciation

Audio (UK): (file)

Determiner

how many

(This entry is a translation hub.)
How many times have I told you not to slam the door?

How many keys we have lost!

I told him how many days the principal said he skipped school.

Usage notes

Used with countable nouns only. The form used with uncountable nouns is how much.

Translations

what number

Afrikaans: hoeveel (af)
Aklanon: pila
American Sign Language: S@InsideChesthigh-PalmUp-S@InsideChesthigh-PalmUp 5@InsideChesthigh-PalmUp-5@InsideChesthigh-PalmUp
Arabic: كَم (ar) (kam)
Aramaic:
Hebrew: כמא (kmā, kmo)

Syriac: ܟܡܐ (kmā, kmo)
Armenian: քանի (hy) (kʻani)
Asturian: cuántos (ast) m pl, cuántas (ast) f pl
Azerbaijani: neçə (az)
Bashkir: нисә (nisə), күпме (küpme)
Basque: zenbat
Belarusian: ко́лькі (be) (kólʹki)
Bhojpuri: केतना (kētᵊnā)
Bikol Central: pira (bcl)
Bulgarian: ко́лко (bg) (kólko)
Burmese: ဘယ်လောက် (my) (bhailauk)
Catalan: quants (ca) m pl, quantes (ca) f pl
Cheyenne: tónesto
Chinese:
Cantonese: 幾／几 (gei²), 幾多／几多 (yue) (gei² do¹)

Dungan: дуәшо (duəšo), җи (ži)

Mandarin: 多少 (zh) (duōshǎo), 幾／几 (zh) (jǐ) (below ten), 幾個／几个 (zh) (jǐgè) (below ten; using "gè" measure word)
Czech: kolik (cs)
Dakota: tonakeca he?
Danish: hvor mange
Dutch: hoeveel (nl)
Esperanto: kiom (eo)
Estonian: kui mitu
Evenki: ады (adi)
Finnish: kuinka monta, montako
French: combien (fr)
Galician: cantos m pl, cantas f pl
Georgian: რამდენი (ka) (ramdeni)
German: wie viele (de)
Greek: πόσοι (el) (pósoi)
Ancient: πόσοι (pósoi)
Guaraní: mboy
Hebrew: כַּמָּה (he) (káma)
Hindi: कितने (kitne)
Hungarian: hány (hu)
Ido: quanta (io)
Indonesian: berapa (id)
Ingrian: monta, paljo
Interlingua: quante
Irish: cé mhéad, cá mhéad
Italian: quanti (it) m pl, quante (it) f pl
Japanese: 幾つ (ja) (いくつ, ikutsu), いくつ (ja) (ikutsu), 何 (ja) (なん, nan) (+ qualifier), 幾- (iku-)
Javanese: pira (jv)
Kapampangan: pilan
Kazakh: қанша (qanşa)
Khmer: ប៉ុន្មាន (km) (ponmaan)
Korean: 얼마 (ko) (eolma), 얼마나 (ko) (eolmana), 몇 (ko) (myeot)
Kurdish:
Central Kurdish: چەن (çen)

Northern Kurdish: çend (ku)
Kyrgyz: канча (ky) (kanca)
Lao: ຈັກ (chak)
Latin: quot
Latvian: cik
Lithuanian: kiek
Macedonian: колку (mk) (kolku)
Malay: berapa (ms)
Maltese: kemm (mt)
Maori: e hia (items), tokohia (people)
Mòcheno: biavle
Mongolian: хэд (mn) (xed), хэдэн (xeden)
Nahuatl: kexki
Nanai: хадо (hado)
Navajo: díkwíí
Norman: combein (Jersey), caombian (Guernsey)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: hvor mange

Nynorsk: kor mange
Occitan: quants (oc), quantes (oc)
Ojibwe: aaniin daswi
Old English: hū fela
Old Javanese: pira
Oromo: meeqa
Palauan: ngtelang
Pashto: څو (ps) (tsu)
Persian: چند (fa) (čand), چند تا (fa) (čand-tâ)
Polish: ile (pl) pl
Portuguese: quantos (pt) m, quantas (pt) f
Quechua: hayk'a (qu)
Romanian: câți m pl, câte (ro) f pl
Russian: ско́лько (ru) (skólʹko)
Scottish Gaelic: cia mheud, cò mheud
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: колико

Roman: koliko (sh)
Sidamo: meʼe
Slovak: koľko
Slovene: kóliko (sl)
Somali: meeqa
Southern Altai: канча (kanča)
Spanish: cuántos (es) m, cuántas f
Swahili: -ngapi
Swedish: hur många
Tagalog: ilan, ilang beses
Tajik: чанд (tg) (čand)
Tamil: please add this translation if you can
Tetum: hira
Thai: เท่าไร (th) (tâo-rai), กี่ (th) (gìi)
Tibetan: ག་ཚོད (ga tshod)
Tok Pisin: hamas
Turkish: kaç (tr)
Turkmen: näçe
Ukrainian: скі́льки (skílʹky), кі́лько (kílʹko) (dialectal)
Urdu: کِتنے (kitne)
Uyghur: نەچچە (nechche), قانچىلىك (qanchilik), قانچە (qanche)
Uzbek: qancha (uz)
Vietnamese: mấy (vi) (below ten), bao nhiêu (vi) (above ten)
Volapük: liomödotik (vo)
Welsh: faint (cy) m, sawl
Wolof: ñaata (wo)
Yakut: хас (qas)
Yiddish: וויפֿל (vifl)
Yoruba: mélòó
Yup'ik: qavcin
Zhuang: geij, geijlai

Pronoun

how many

unspecified number
We've lost quite a few; I don't know exactly how many.
- 1800, George Fox, A Journal Or Historical Account of the Life, Travels, Sufferings, Christian Exsperiences, and Labour of Love, in the work of the Ministry:
  And I saw how many were destroying the simplicity, and betraying the truth.
- 2004, John P. Sutton, Thin White Lines, page 233:
  Biff then stated, “Take how many you want, they're $700 a piece."
- 2012, Charlie Gardner, Rotten Timbers, →ISBN, page 143:
  I'll phone later and confirm how many I want.
- 2016, L. James Dempsey, Blackfoot War Art: Pictographs of the Reservation Period, 1880–2000:
  The sticks are now going around, and take how many you want.
what number
How many of you have full-time jobs?

How many have we lost to disease?
- 2000, Glen C. Cutlip, How to Overcome Death: The Final Victory, →ISBN, page 61:
  The message itself is neither difficult nor simple, but how many will realize this?
- 2005, David B. Spangler, Math for Real Kids, →ISBN:
  You know how many are in one group and how many are in another group.
- 2010, Michael A. Curtis, Notes from My Journey, →ISBN, page 39:
  How many will say I want to be a good example for my children?
- 2011, Ian Angus, Simon Butler, Too Many People?, →ISBN:
  How many people Earth can support depends in part on how many will wear cotton and how many polyester; on how many will eat meat and how many bean sprouts; on how many will want parks and how many will want parking lots.

Derived terms

who-knows-how-many

Translations

unspecified number

Finnish: montako, kuinka monta
Hungarian: valahány (hu), akárhány (hu), ahány csak
Kapampangan: mapilan, mangamapilan
Welsh: faint (cy) m, sawl un m or f

what number

Aragonese: quanto
Chechen: маса (masa)
Finnish: kuinka monta, montako
French: combien (fr)
German: wieviel (de)
Higaonon: pila
Hungarian: hány (hu), (of people) hányan (hu)
Ingush: масса (massa)
Isnag: pixa
Kapampangan: pilan
Kyrgyz: канча (ky) (kanca)
Malay: berapa (ms)
Mansaka: pila
Maranao: pira
Paiwan: pida
Pannonian Rusyn: кельо (kelʹo)
Russian: сколько (ru) (skolʹko)
Tagalog: ilan
Tajik: чанд (tg) (čand)
Tausug: pila
Tetum: hira
Turkish: kaç (tr)
Tuvan: каш (kaş)
Welsh: faint (cy) m, sawl un m or f
Yakut: хас (qas), төһө (töhö)

References

“how many”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.