Shopping for Deals: Asking About Prices

1. How to Ask for the Price

There isn't just one way to ask "how much is it?". The phrase you use depends on the context: are you asking about a specific item on a shelf, or are you ready to pay for everything at the checkout?

A. Asking for the Price of a Specific Item: Quanto costa?

The most direct way to ask for the price of a single item is Quanto costa?. This literally means "How much does it cost?".

To get a feel for this phrase in a real context, let's watch a short video.

As you saw, you can simply point to an object and ask:

• Quanto costa questo? (How much does this cost?)

If you know the name of the item, you can be more specific:

• Quanto costa un caffè? (How much does a coffee cost?)
• Quanto costa il biglietto? (How much does the ticket cost?)

What if you're asking about multiple items, like a pair of shoes? The verb costare (to cost) changes to its plural form, costano.

• Quanto costano queste scarpe? (How much do these shoes cost?)

B. Asking for the Total Bill: Quant'è?

Now, imagine you've had your coffee and a pastry, and you're at the counter ready to pay. It would sound a bit unnatural to ask Quanto costa? here. Instead, you'll use a different phrase to ask for the total.

Quant'è? is a contraction of Quanto è? and it means "How much is it (in total)?". This is what you use when you're asking for the final bill.

This distinction is a key part of sounding natural when you speak. The following article explains this difference perfectly.

To summarize the key distinction:

• Use Quanto costa / costano? when asking for the price of a specific item or items.
• Use Quant'è? when asking for the total amount or bill at the point of payment. You can also say Quant'è tutto? (How much is everything?).

C. A Quick Grammatical Note on Quanto

You might have noticed that in Quanto costa? and Quanto costano?, the word quanto doesn't change. Here, it's acting as an adverb modifying the verb ("How much does it cost?").

However, when quanto is used as an adjective to ask "how many" of a specific noun, it must agree in gender and number with that noun. Your experience with computer science might make you think of this as a variable type that has to match what it describes.

For example:

• Quanti libri? (How many books?) - libri is masculine plural.
• Quante persone? (How many people?) - persone is feminine plural.

We won't go deep into this now, but it's useful to recognize why you see these different forms.

2. Understanding the Answer: Decoding Prices

You've asked the question, now comes the answer. Thanks to our last lesson, you know the numbers. Now let's look at the structure of how prices are said.

First, let's nail the pronunciation of the key words.

Now that you can say euro and centesimi like a native, let's see how they're combined with numbers. There's the "long form" and, more importantly for casual conversation, the "short form".

Let's say something costs €12.30.

• Formal/Long Form: Dodici euro e trenta centesimi. (Twelve euros and thirty cents.)
• Common Form 1: Dodici euro e trenta. (Twelve euros and thirty.)
• Common Form 2 (most frequent): Dodici e trenta. (Twelve and thirty.)

In a shop or café, you will almost always hear one of the shorter forms. The context makes it clear you're talking about money.

This next video explains these different forms very clearly.

For example, the price for a coffee, €1.10, is almost always said as:

• Uno e dieci (One and ten).

3. Putting it all together: A Dialogue

Let's see these phrases in a natural conversation. The italki article you read earlier has two perfect examples.

Scenario 1: At the Café

• You: Buongiorno! Quanto costa un cappuccino? (Good morning! How much does a cappuccino cost?)
• Barista: Costa un euro e cinquanta. (It costs €1.50.)
• You: Bene. Allora prendo un cappuccino e una brioche. (Great. Then I'll have a cappuccino and a croissant.)
• (After you finish, at the counter...)
• You: Quant'è, per favore? (How much is it, please?)
• Barista: In totale sono tre euro. (In total it's €3.)

Notice the smooth transition from asking about a specific item (Quanto costa...) to asking for the total bill (Quant'è...). This is exactly how you'll use it in Italy.

Conclusion

Eccellente! You are now equipped with one of the most practical skills for any traveler. You know not only how to ask for a price but also which question to use in the right context, and you can understand the answer even when it's said in a colloquial way.

Key Takeaways:

• Ask for a specific item's price with Quanto costa? (singular) or Quanto costano? (plural).
• Ask for the total bill with Quant'è?.
• Prices are usually stated in a shortened form: [euro number] e [cent number], for example, due e cinquanta for €2.50.
• The pronunciation of euro is key: EH-oo-ro.

In our next lesson, we will continue using your knowledge of numbers as we learn to tell and ask for the time. You'll see that the patterns you learned today will be very helpful.

A presto