When to use it
Use it at a Chennai metro station to ask the fare.
“How much does this metro ticket cost?” — The sentence in English
In “How much does this metro ticket cost?” ‘cost’ is a verb, so the question needs ‘does’.
- How
- adverbquestion word asking about the way or manner
- much
- adverb"how much" asks about price or quantity
- does
- auxiliary verbdo · tense: present · person: third · number: singular · auxiliary that makes the question
- this
- determinerdemonstrative determiner
- metro
- nounnoun; it says what kind of ticket
- ticket
- nounnoun
- cost
- verbcost · form: base form (infinitive without "to") · after "does" the verb stays in its base form
“இந்த மெட்ரோ டிக்கெட்டின் விலை எவ்வளவு?” — The sentence in Tamil
In “இந்த மெட்ரோ டிக்கெட்டின் விலை எவ்வளவு?” there is no verb at all: ‘விலை எவ்வளவு?’ (price how much?) is enough, and ‘-இன்’ means ‘of the ticket’.
- இந்த
- determiner'this', before the noun
- மெட்ரோ
- noun'metro'
- டிக்கெட்டின்
- noun'ticket' + genitive -iṉ
- விலை
- noun'price'
- எவ்வளவு
- adjective'how much'; a question with no verb
English × Tamil: What changes from one language to the other
English needs two verbs, ‘does’ and ‘cost’; Tamil needs none, just the noun ‘விலை’ (price).
Example conversation
— இந்த மெட்ரோ டிக்கெட்டின் விலை எவ்வளவு?
— How much does this metro ticket cost?
— தூரத்தைப் பொறுத்தது.
— It depends on the distance.