How to Say ‘How many?’ in Japanese
何枚ですか。
nan mai desu ka
[nan my dess kah]
💬 Usage Tip: [枚] is the counter for flat things like paper, tickets, and stamps. So [何枚] means "how many pieces/sheets?"
🇯🇵 In Japan: Japanese uses counters constantly. At stores, staff will naturally choose the correct one for the item.
Phrase Breakdown
何
nan
[nan]
how many; what number
Question word asking quantity.
なんまいですかのなんです。
This nan is from nanmai desu ka.
枚
mai
[my]
counter for flat items
Counter used for stamps, sheets of paper, and similar flat objects.
きってはまいでかぞえます。
Stamps are counted with mai.
です
desu
[dess]
is; are
Polite copula used in formal speech.
これはきってです。
This is a stamp.
か
ka
[kah]
question marker
Marks the sentence as a question.
ですかできくとていねいです。
Asking with desu ka is polite.
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