多少钱？ = how + few + money = 'how much money?'

Chinese builds the question out of three plain words. Once you see the parts, you never forget the phrase.

🎒 What you need

cardboard cards
a marker
a friend to play the trader

✋ Do this

Write each of the five words on its own card, character on the front, Pinyin and meaning on the back.
Learn 多少钱 duōshao qián as one unit, not three words. Say it twenty times until it is a single sound.
Set up a market game. Your friend lays out five real objects and plays the trader. You point and ask 多少钱?
They answer with a number in Chinese. You reply either 太贵了 — tài guì le — too expensive — or 好，我买 — hǎo, wǒ mǎi — good, I'll buy.
Swap roles and run it again. Make the prices ridiculous so you have to use 太贵了 often.
Write out the whole exchange on cardboard as a script and hang it up.

💡 Why it works

Role-play with real objects forces you to produce language under a small amount of pressure, which is what makes it available later. And the phrase 多少钱 is high frequency — the words you will use most are the ones worth over-practising.

🔥 Challenge

Run the market game with a sibling who does not speak Chinese and teach them their lines as you go.

📖 New words

钱 qiánmoney

多少钱？ duōshao qián?how much (money)?

贵 guìexpensive

便宜 piányicheap

太贵了 tài guì letoo expensive

💰

Market Haggler

Tap when you have finished this module.