bao nhiêu

Vietnamese edit

Etymology edit

bao (“how”) +‎ nhiều (“many; much”). In compounds, bao triggers tonal shift of the following syllable to the ngang tone (A1), compare bao lăm (“how many”) (< lắm (“many”)) and the obsolete bao dai (“how long”) (< dài (“long”)).

Pronunciation edit

(Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [ʔɓaːw˧˧ ɲiəw˧˧]
(Huế) IPA^(key): [ʔɓaːw˧˧ ɲiw˧˧]
(Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA^(key): [ʔɓaːw˧˧ ɲiw˧˧]

Pronoun edit

bao nhiêu

how many?
how much?

Usage notes edit

This phrase is for numbers above ten.