How much is it in Italian is Quanto costa? (KWAN-toh KOS-tah) for one thing and Quanto costano? for several. At a till or a café counter, when you want the total, Italians usually say Quant'è? (kwan-TEH), how much is that? The answer comes in euros, and euro never changes: un euro, dieci euro.
- How much is it?
- Quanto costa?
- How much are they?
- Quanto costano?
- How much is that? (total)
- Quant'è?
- It's ten euros
- Costa dieci euro
- Level
- A1
Quanto costa, quanto costano or quant'è?
The verb agrees with what you are buying: Quanto costa questa borsa? (this bag) but Quanto costano queste scarpe? (these shoes). Learners often use costa for everything, and Italians will understand, but costano is correct for plurals.
| Italian | English | When |
|---|---|---|
| Quanto costa? | How much is it? | One item; any register |
| Quanto costano? | How much are they? | Two or more items, or a plural noun |
| Quant'è? | How much is that? | The total, at a till, bar or market stall |
| Quanto viene? | How much does it come to? | The total; informal |
| Quanto Le devo? | How much do I owe you? | Lei: shops, taxis, tradespeople |
| Quanto ti devo? | How much do I owe you? | tu: a friend who paid for you |
| Quanto costa al chilo? | How much is it per kilo? | Markets and delis |
How do Italians say prices?
Italy writes prices with a decimal comma, so €2,50 is two euros fifty, said due euro e cinquanta or just due e cinquanta. Cents are centesimi: cinquanta centesimi is fifty cents.
Costa un euro e venti.
It's one euro twenty.
Sono quindici euro.
That's fifteen euros.
A total is often sono, plural.
Due euro al chilo.
Two euros a kilo.
Un etto di prosciutto, per favore.
A hundred grams of ham, please.
An etto is 100 g, the unit at deli counters.
È gratis.
It's free.
To describe a coin or note by its value, Italian uses da. In a Contos A1 mystery, an elderly woman searching for her lost scarf in the building's laundry room finds something else:
Sul pavimento trova una moneta da due euro.The same pattern gives un biglietto da venti (a twenty-euro note) and un francobollo da un euro (a one-euro stamp).
What else do you need when you pay?
Prices in shops are fixed. At a market you can sometimes ask for a small discount when you buy several things, but it is a request, not haggling.
È troppo caro.
It's too expensive.
Ha qualcosa di meno caro?
Do you have anything cheaper?
Lei
Mi fa uno sconto?
Could you give me a discount?
Lei; markets, small shops
Lo prendo.
I'll take it.
Posso pagare con la carta?
Can I pay by card?
Tenga il resto.
Keep the change.
Lei
In a restaurant the question is different; see how to ask for the bill in Italian.
Read A1 Italian stories set in markets, cafés and flats, and tap any word to see what it means.
Read free in your browserFrequently asked questions
How do you pronounce quanto costa?
"KWAN-toh KOS-tah". Qu sounds like the qu in "quick", and both words are stressed on the first syllable. Quant'è runs together as "kwan-TEH".
What does quant'è mean?
It is quanto è run together: "how much is it?" Italians use it for the total, when the price of each thing doesn't matter, for example after ordering two coffees at a bar.
Is it euro or euros in Italian?
Always euro: un euro, due euro, cento euro. The word does not change in the plural. Centesimo, the cent, does: un centesimo, venti centesimi.
How do you say how much does it cost to get to…?
Quanto costa il biglietto per Firenze? (how much is the ticket to Florence?) at a station, or Quanto costa arrivare in centro? (how much does it cost to get to the centre?) in a taxi.