cât costă?
The English phrase "how much is it?" is translated into Romanian as cât costă?
This phrase is used to ask for the price of an item. You can also use Vă rog, cât costă? to mean "Please, how much does it cost?"
Which one should you use?
The phrase cât e? is a common, more informal way to ask for the price. For more structured requests, you might say Îmi puteți spune prețul? (formal) or N-ai putea să-mi spui prețul? (informal).
Is it said differently in some regions?
In Transylvania, the expression Cum vine? is used to ask about the price.
Did you know?
- The verb costă comes from the Latin 'constare', meaning 'to stand together', reflecting an ancient view of price as the total value standing against an item.
- In some rural areas, sellers might respond to cât costă? by stating the price in 'bani' (coins) rather than 'lei', even if the total is several euros.
- The word cât is a linguistic hybrid, originating from the Latin 'quantus' but shaped by the influence of 'quotus'.
Examples in context
- Cât costă această carte?How much does this book cost?
- Cât costă această bluză?How much does this blouse cost?
Sources
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries cât, CC BY-SA 4.0.
