Asking about quantities with “mấy” and “bao nhiêu”

In Vietnamese, we use mấy and bao nhiêu to ask about quantities, like “how many” and “how much” in English.

Asking about small numbers

If the answer is expected to be less than ten, we can (and should) use mấy (which also means “several“).

Structure

Place mấy before the measure word of a noun to ask about a small number (less than ten).

mấy + measure word + noun

When the noun is understood from context, it’s acceptable to drop it.

mấy + measure word

If the noun doesn’t have a measure word, place mấy before the noun.

mấy + noun

Examples

  • mấy cái áo
    how many shirts
  • mấy người
    how many people
  • mấy chai nước
    how many bottles of water

Asking about quantities in general

If the answer is expected to be at least ten, or unsure, we should use bao nhiêu. For example, to ask how old an adult is, you must ask bao nhiêu tuổi, not mấy tuổi.

The special usage of bao nhiêu proves useful when you don’t want to specify a measure word for the noun and leave that responsibility to the one being asked.

For example, you can simply ask bao nhiêu xoài (“how many/much mango(es)?”) and let the one being asked choose the measure word for the answer. It can be quả or trái (dialects), which is the basic measure word for “mango”, or a “container” measure word, like giỏ (“basket”) or túi (“bag”), or a unit of measurement, like cân (“kilogramme”). All options are valid. This contrasts with mấy, which needs to go with a measure word unless the noun doesn’t have one. Of course, using bao nhiêu with a measure word is still perfectly fine, but the answer must match that measure word.

Structure

The structures with bao nhiêu are similar to those with mấy. Simply replace mấy with bao nhiêu.

bao nhiêu + measure word + noun

bao nhiêu + measure word

bao nhiêu + noun

Examples

  • bao nhiêu tiền
    how much (money)
  • bao nhiêu ngày
    how many days
  • bao nhiêu sữa
    how much milk
  • bao nhiêu hộp sữa
    how many cartons of milk
  • bao nhiêu lít sữa
    how many litres of milk
  • bao nhiêu quốc gia
    how many countries

Asking about dates and time

For dates and time, the principle stays the same: mấy for small numbers, and bao nhiêu if unsure.

Structure

Place mấy after thứ, tháng, or mồng to ask about days of the week, months, or “small” days, respectively.

thứ / tháng / mồng + mấy

Place bao nhiêu after ngày or năm to ask about days or years, respectively.

ngày / năm + bao nhiêu

Place mấy before giờ to ask “what time“.

mấy + giờ

Note: bao nhiêu giờ means “how many hours”, and bao giờ means “when”. The two of them and mấy giờ are three different phrases which mean three different things. Be careful not to mix them up.

Examples


Asking about ordinal numbers

For ordinal numbers, the principle stays the same: mấy for small numbers, and bao nhiêu if unsure.

Structure

Place mấy or bao nhiêu after thứ to ask “what number/position”, “how many-th”.

thứ + mấy / bao nhiêu

Examples


Scroll to Top