Wie viel means “how much” and is used with things you cannot count: Wie viel Wasser? Wie viel Zeit? Wie viele means “how many” and is used with countable nouns in the plural: Wie viele Bücher? Wie viele Leute? It works exactly like much/many in English.
The rule in one table
| Wie viel | Wie viele | |
|---|---|---|
| English | How much | How many |
| Noun type | Uncountable (singular) | Countable (plural) |
| Examples | Wie viel Geld hast du? Wie viel Milch brauchen wir? | Wie viele Kinder haben Sie? Wie viele Stunden arbeitest du? |
More examples
- Wie viel kostet das? – How much does it cost? (no noun, asking for an amount)
- Wie viel Uhr ist es? – What time is it?
- Wie viele Äpfel möchten Sie? – How many apples would you like?
- Wie viele Sprachen sprichst du? – How many languages do you speak?
- Wie viel Zucker nimmst du? – How much sugar do you take?
Tricky cases
- Money and time are treated as amounts: Wie viel Geld / Zeit – even though euros and hours can be counted: Wie viele Euro? Wie viele Stunden?
- Food depends on how you see it: Wie viel Obst? (fruit in general) vs Wie viele Bananen?
- Spelling: write wie viel as two words. wieviel is an old spelling. The ordinal form wievielte (which number) is one word: Der Wievielte ist heute?
These rules connect to countable and uncountable nouns and the German question words.
Frequently asked questions
Is it wie viel or wieviel?
Current spelling is wie viel (two words).
How do you say “how many” in German?
Wie viele, followed by a plural noun.
Does wie viele change its ending?
In the dative plural you may see wie vielen: Mit wie vielen Leuten? – but wie viele is by far the most common form.
Practice and go deeper
- Viel vs viele vs vielen
- German question words
- German numbers
