Learn the key pattern to ask the price of something
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| Let's take a closer look at the conversation. |
| Do you remember how Ben asks, |
| "How much is this?" |
| 이거 얼마예요? (I-geo eol-ma-ye-yo?) |
| First is 이거 (i-geo), "this." 이거. 이거. |
| Next is 얼마예요? (eol-ma-ye-yo?), meaning "How much?" 얼마예요?. 얼마예요? |
| The first part is 얼마 (eol-ma), meaning "what amount," or "what price," in this context. 얼마(eol-ma). |
| Next is 이에요 (i-e-yo). Here, it's like the "is" in "is [it]." 이에요. 이에요. |
| 이에요 is from the particle 이다 (i-da), meaning "to be." 이다. |
| Together it's 얼마이에요? (eol-ma-i-e-yo). However, 이에요 (i-e-yo) often gets shortened into 예요 (ye-yo) when it comes after a word that ends in a vowel as in 얼마 (eol-ma). So it sounds more natural to say 얼마예요? (eol-ma-ye-yo?) "How much?" 얼마예요? |
| Notice the rising intonation to indicate a question. |
| All together, it's 이거 얼마예요? This literally means, "As for this, how much is [it]?" but translates as, "How much is this?" |
| 이거 얼마예요? (I-geo eol-ma-ye-yo?) |
| Let's take a closer look at the response. |
| Do you remember how the shop clerk says, |
| "It's one thousand five hundred won." |
| 천오백 원입니다. (Cheon-o-baeg won-im-ni-da.) |
| First is the number 천오백 (cheon-o-baek), "[one] thousand five hundred." 천오백. 천오백. |
| Let's start with 백 (baek), "[one] hundred." 백. 백. |
| Next is 오백 (o-baek), "five hundred." 오백. 오백. |
| Finally, 천 (cheon), "[one] thousand." 천. 천. |
| All together, 천오백 (cheon-o-baek) literally means "[one] thousand five hundred." 천오백. 천오백. |
| After this is 원 (won), "Korean won." 원. 원. |
| Together, it's 천오백 원 (cheon-o-baeg-won) "[one] thousand five hundred won." 천오백 원 (cheon-o-baeg-won) |
| Unless you are dealing with numbers at an official setting like a bank or a real estate office, you normally omit the "one" in one hundred, one thousand, and etc,. |
| For example, instead of saying 일천오백 원 (il-cheon-o-baeg-won), it's more common to say 천오백원 (cheon-o-baeg-won) in everyday conversations. |
| Last is 입니다 (im-ni-da). Here, it's like the "is" in "[it] is." 입-니-다-. 입니다. |
| 입니다 is the formal form of the particle 이다 (i-da), meaning "to be." 이다. |
| All together, it's 천오백 원입니다. This literally means, "(one) thousand five hundred won [it] is," but translates as "It's (one) thousand five hundred won." |
| 천오백 원입니다. (Cheon-o-baeg won-im-ni-da.) |
| Note the "it" is inferred through the context as the speaker is responding to a question about the price of the small snack. |
| Note, at the time of this lesson 1,500 Korean won can buy an ice cream. |
| The pattern is |
| {ITEM} 얼마예요? (eol-ma-ye-yo?) |
| How much is {ITEM}? |
| {ITEM} 얼마예요? (eol-ma-ye-yo?) |
| To use this pattern, simply replace the {ITEM} placeholder with the thing you'd like to know the price of. |
| Imagine you'd like to know the price of a coffee, 커피 (keo-pi). 커피. 커피. |
| Say |
| "How much is a coffee?" |
| Ready? |
| 커피 얼마예요? (Keo-pi eol-ma-ye-yo?) |
| "How much is a coffee?" |
| 커피 얼마예요? (Keo-pi eol-ma-ye-yo?) |
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