Italian · CEFR Band 1 (A1) · Chapter 21
Quanto costa?How much does it cost?
The shop verb, promised since chapter 12: costare. It lives almost entirely in two forms — costa for one thing, costano for many — and the question agrees accordingly: Quanto costa la borsa? Quanto costano le scarpe? It is the usual agreement, applied to money. With it comes comprare, the first purchases — le scarpe, la borsa, il vestito — and Mike asking: quanto costano le scarpe?
Dialogue
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Quanto costano le scarpe?— How much are the shoes?
- MikeGiulia, quanto costano le scarpe?Giulia, how much do the shoes cost?
- GiuliaCostano ottanta euro. E la borsa costa cento!They cost eighty euros. And the bag costs a hundred!
- MikeCento?! Compro… un caffè.A hundred?! I'll buy… a coffee.
Dialogue
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In vetrina— In the shop window
- GiuliaMarco, quanto costa la borsa in vetrina?Marco, how much is the bag in the window?
- MarcoCosta cento euro. Ma il vestito costa sessanta — e le scarpe costano quaranta!It costs a hundred euros. But the dress costs sixty — and the shoes cost forty!
- GiuliaQuaranta? Compro le scarpe! E tu, che cosa compri?Forty? I'm buying the shoes! And you, what are you buying?
- MarcoIo? Niente — guardo! Guardare non costa niente.Me? Nothing — I'm looking! Looking costs nothing.
Vocabulary
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- costare
verbto cost — lives in two forms: costa (one thing), costano (many)
- quanto costa? / quanto costano?
phrasehow much is it? / how much are they? — the shop question, agreeing with the goods
- comprare
verbto buy (io compro — a regular -are citizen)
- la scarpa / le scarpe
n.f.the shoe / the shoes (a CILS-papers word — almost always plural)
- la borsa
n.f.the bag, the handbag (another CILS regular)
- il vestito
n.m.the dress; the outfit (i vestiti = clothes in general)
- la vetrina
n.f.the shop window (in vetrina = on display, article-less)
- niente
adverbnothing (non costa niente = it costs nothing — the double negative is CORRECT Italian)
- guardare
verbto look, to watch (io guardo — the window-shopper's verb)
Grammar
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Costa or costano? Money agrees too
Explanation
Costare is a perfectly normal -are verb, but in shops it works almost only in the third person: costa when the subject is ONE (la borsa costa cento euro), costano when the subjects are MANY (le scarpe costano quaranta). The trap is in the question: many languages freeze it in a single form — Italian does not. Look at the thing you want to buy and agree: Quanto costa il vestito? Quanto costano i cornetti? It is the same logic as c'è/ci sono and è/sono: the verb counts what it talks about. The answer recycles chapters 6 and 12's numbers (costano ottanta euro — and euro, as always, does not change), comprare conjugates like parlare (compro, compri, compra…), and for the grand finale the elegant negation: non costa niente — two negatives that in Italian reinforce each other instead of canceling. Question, price, decision: the shop is open.
Examples
- La borsa costa cento euro. Le scarpe costano quaranta.The bag costs a hundred euros. The shoes cost forty.
- Quanto costa il vestito? Quanto costano i cornetti?How much is the dress? How much are the cornetti?
- Compro le scarpe! Compri la borsa?I'm buying the shoes! Are you buying the bag?
- Guardare non costa niente!Looking costs nothing!
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