Japanese Learning: Numbers for prices “Koko [Noun] wa [Number ] en desu.”

I hope you remember the sentence construction that describes ownership as below;

1. Kono hon wa watashi no desu. (This book is mine.)

Today’s sentence is similar to 1. And it uses numbers for predicate. But let’s at first review a little as preparation for today’s sentence.

From the simplest point of view, a Japanese sentence has the following structure:

2. [Subject] [Predicate].

We are still learning “Noun predicate sentences” only. In the case of a noun predicate sentence, 2 can be as follows;

3. [Noun1] wa [Noun2] desu.

where;

“wa” is the topic marker, and in a simple sentence like 3, usually “wa” is also the subject marker.

“desu” is the ending of a sentence that indicates present-positive with some extent of politeness.

Either or both of Noun1 and Noun2 can be modified;

4. Kono hon wa watashi no hon desu. (This book is my book.)

“Kono” modifies “hon” that is Noun1 and the subject, and “Watashi no” modifies “hon” that is Noun2 and the predicate. But you could feel two “hon”s are repetitive in 4, then you will get the sentence 1. by giving “no” a function as a noun.

1. Kono hon wa watashi no desu. (This book is mine.)

In today’s sentence, we will put a price into the predicate in order to describe how much a thing costs. And it needs another interrogative word “Ikura” that means how much.

Actually, Japanese has so many patterns as for counting numbers. It is too much to learn in one time. So for today, just practice and remember the following conversation;

A : Kono Jisho wa Ikura desuka. (How much is this dictionary?)

B : Kono Jisho wa 1800 en desu. (This dictionary is 1800 yen.)

1800 => Sen Happyaku