എത്ര
etra
In Malayalam, "how much" is expressed as എത്ര (etra).
എത്ര is a determiner used to ask about the cost or price of something.
Meaning: what is the cost/price? (det)
How does it change in a sentence?
To create a more formal version of the word, you can add the suffix -yaanu to എത്ര to form എത്രയാണ്.
How do you pronounce it?
etra
Did you know?
- While എത്ര is used for cost, it is also the standard word for 'how many', meaning Malayalam uses the same term for both uncountable amounts and countable items.
- When asking for the price of gold in Kerala, shoppers often use എത്ര in conjunction with the specific weight unit 'pavan', a local measurement that doesn't exist in English.
- If you use എത്ര in a sentence without a question mark, it can act as an exclamation meaning 'so much' or 'so many', similar to 'how great!' in English.
Examples in context
- ഇതിന് എത്രയാണ്?Ithin-u etra-yaanu?
- ഇത് എത്ര?Ithu etra?
- ഇതിന് എത്രയാണ് വില?ithinu ethrayaanu vila?How much is the price for this?
- ഇപ്പോൾ എത്രയാണ് തരാനുള്ളത്?ippol ethrayaanu tharaanullathu?How much is to be paid now?
Example conversation
Meera and Arjun are at a small fruit stall.
- മീര Meeraഈ മാമ്പഴത്തിന് എത്രയാണ് വില?ee maampazhathinu ethrayaanu vila?How much is the price for these mangoes?
- അർജുൻ Arjunഒരു കിലോയ്ക്ക് നൂറ് രൂപയാണ്.oru kiloykku nooru roopayaanu.It is one hundred rupees per kilo.
- മീര Meeraഎനിക്ക് രണ്ട് കിലോ വേണം.enikku randu kilo venam.I want two kilos.
- അർജുൻ Arjunശരി, മീര.shari, Meera.Okay, Meera.
Sources
- Pronunciation: Wiktionary entry എത്ര, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
