LEARN KOREAN (한국어) [GRAMMAR] #1

HOW MUCH, HOW MANY: 얼마나

The word "얼마나" can be placed before adjectives and adverbs to mean "how." In these cases, the speaker is asking to what extent something occurs. For example:

Adjectives
얼마나 짧다 - how short
얼마나 예쁘다 - how pretty
얼마나 많다 - how much/many

Adverbs
얼마나 자주 - how often
얼마나 빨리 - how quickly
얼마나 잘 - how well

For example:

한국어를 얼마나 자주 공부해요? - How often do you study Korean?
여자 친구는 얼마나 예뻐요? - How pretty is your girlfriend?
축구를 얼마나 잘 해요? - How well do you play soccer?

It can also be used before verbs when the speaker is not making a distinction between countable objects in his/her question. Instead, the speaker's inquiry falls within an uncountable continuum. For example, notice the difference between these two questions:

How many pieces did you eat?
Speaker is making a distinction between countable objects

How much did you eat?
Speaker is not making a distinction between countable objects. Here, the speaker's inquiry falls within an uncountable continuum.

When used like this with a verb, the most common translation for "얼마나" is "how much." For example:

빵을 얼마나 먹었어요? - How much bread did you eat?
그 여자를 얼마나 사랑해요? - How much do you love that girl?
돈을 얼마나 가져갈 거예요? - How much money will you take?

The adverb 많이 is sometimes used in these sentences, and creates essentially the same meaning. In fact, the translation usually would not change when using 많이 in these types of sentences. For example:

빵을 얼마나 많이 먹었어요? - How much bread did you eat?
그 여자를 얼마나 많이 사랑해요? - How much do you love that girl?
돈을 얼마나 많이 가져갈 거예요? - How much money will you take?

Using 많이 in the sentences above just stresses that the speaker knows that the answer is "a lot" (remember, the meaning of 많이 is "a lot" or "many"), and is sort of asking "okay, I know it is a lot, but how much a lot?" (I realize that sentence is grammatically incorrect).

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많이 (the adverb) can also be used as 많다 (the adjective) in these sentences. The meaning is still the same, but the structure of the sentence changes so 많다 describes the noun in question. For example:

얼마나 많은 빵을 먹었어요? - How much bread did you eat?
얼마나 많은 돈을 가져갈 거예요? - How much money will you take?
얼마나 많은 물을 마셨어요? - How much water did you drink?

Although correct and understandable, I highly suggest you refrain from using this style of sentence. It sounds much more natural to say "빵을 얼마나 먹었어요?" or "빵을 얼마나 많이 먹었어요?" instead of "얼마나 많은 빵을 먹었어요?"

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When the speaker is making a distinction between countable objects, the counter should be used as you learned in the previous lesson. For example:

빵을 몇 개 먹었어요? - How many pieces of bread did you eat?
몇 명의 여자를 사랑해요? - How many girls do you love?

Note that although "얼마나" translates to "how" in all of these usages above. This is different from the usage of 어떻게 which also translates to "how" in English.

Notice the difference between the use of "how" in the sentences below:

한국어를 얼마나 자주 공부해요? - How often do you study Korean?
한국어를 어떻게 배웠어요? - How did you learn Korean?

The word "얼마" can be used to ask how much something costs.
얼마나 and 얼마 are technically not the same word. However, I am presenting 얼마 in this form here because it is very common and it is in the form of a question.

For example:

그 로션이 얼마예요? - How much is that lotion?
저 바지가 얼마예요? - How much are those pants?
이게 얼마예요? = How much is this?

Remember, 이게, 그게 and 저게 are contractions of 이것이, 그것이 and 저것이 respectively.

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I just want to point out that it is possible to use most of these question words by themselves to ask for more information about a situation. If somebody is talking, and you want more information about who, what, when, where, why or how something occurs, you can use 누구, 뭐, 언제, 어디, 왜 or 어떻게 by themselves as questions. I don't show this, but you can also add "요" after any of these words if you are speaking in a more formal situation. For example:

왜
You saw that you can use this when somebody calls you, for example:

Person 1: 슬기야! - Seulgi!
Person 2: 왜? - Why/what do you want?

It can also be used by itself to ask "why" something occurs. For example:

Person 1: 저는 내일 캐나다에 갈 거예요 - Tomorrow, I will go to Canada
Person 2: 왜? - Why (will you go to Canada tomorrow)?

언제
Person 1: 저는 캐나다에 갈 거예요 - I will go to Canada
Person 2: 언제? - When (will you go to Canada)?

어디
Person 1: 저는 내일 갈 거예요 - I will go tomorrow
Person 2: 어디? - Where (will you go tomorrow)?

누구
Person 1: 내일 그 사람을 만날 거예요 - I will meet that person tomorrow
Person 2: 누구(를)? - Who(m) (will you meet)?

You can use 누가 by itself when asking about the acting agent of a sentence. For example:

Person 1: 내일 어떤 사람이 여기 올 거예요 - Tomorrow, some person will come here
Person 2: 누가? - Who (will come here)?

어떻게
Person 1: 저는 공항에 갈 거예요 - I will go to the airport
Person 2: 어떻게? - How (will you go to the airport)?

뭐
You saw this already:

Person 1: 저는 많이 먹었어요 - I ate a lot
Person 2: 뭐(를)? - what? (you ate a lot of what?)