Meaning and Usage
The Korean word '얼마' is a versatile interrogative used to ask about quantity, price, duration, or degree. It generally means 'how much' or 'how many' and is commonly used in everyday conversation.
Common Contexts
- Asking about price: "이거 얼마예요?" (How much is this?)
- Asking about duration: "얼마 동안?" (For how long?)
- Asking about frequency or degree with related forms like '얼마나'.
Related Forms and Collocations
- 얼마 동안: duration (how long)
- 얼마예요?: asking price politely
- 얼마나: used to ask about degree or extent, often interchangeable with 얼마 but more focused on intensity or frequency
Register and Politeness
'얼마' is neutral and polite when combined with polite sentence endings like '-예요' or '-어요'. It is suitable for both formal and informal contexts.
Common Mistakes
Learners sometimes confuse '얼마' with '얼마나'. '얼마' is often used alone or with nouns to ask about quantity or price, while '얼마나' is more commonly used with verbs or adjectives to ask about extent or degree. For example, '얼마나 자주 운동해요?' (How often do you exercise?) uses '얼마나' to inquire about frequency.