目錄
Japanese 「どのくらい／どれくらい」 is extremely common, but in Chinese it cannot always be translated simply as “how long” or “how much.” The same expression can ask about time, money, distance, or weight depending on the sentence, and it can also ask just how difficult something is. For example, 「どのくらいかかりますか」 and 「どのくらい難しいですか」 begin with exactly the same words, but they are asking about different things.
There is also no rigid formal-versus-casual distinction that you need to memorize between 「どのくらい」 and 「どれくらい」. In most situations, the two can be used interchangeably. You will also encounter 「どのぐらい／どれぐらい」, so there may seem to be many different forms, but they all revolve around the idea of asking “to what extent.” This article starts with practical sentences and explains how to identify whether the expression is asking about time, quantity, money, distance, or degree. It also covers useful travel situations in Japan, including asking about journey times and waiting times.
Why doesn’t 「どのくらい／どれくらい」 only mean “how long” or “how much”?
When you see 「どのくらい／どれくらい」, the first Chinese translations that may come to mind are “how long” or “how much,” but these are only common translations, not fixed meanings. What the expression actually asks changes with the rest of the sentence. When followed by 「かかる」, it may ask how long something takes. When used with money, it asks how much money was spent. Before 「遠い」「難しい」「重い」, it asks “how far,” “how difficult,” and “how heavy,” respectively.
In other words, 「どのくらい／どれくらい」 is closer to “to what extent.” Whether the final translation becomes “how long,” “how much,” “how far,” or “how + adjective” depends on whether the sentence is talking about time, quantity, distance, money, or the degree of a particular quality.
For example:
- 「どのくらいかかりますか」 may mean “About how long does it take?”
- 「どれくらいお金を使いましたか」 means “About how much money did you spend?”
- 「どのくらい遠いですか」 means “How far is it?”
- 「どれくらい難しいですか」 means “How difficult is it?”
The 「くらい／ぐらい」 that appears in answers is a different usage. In expressions such as 「30分くらい」「3回ぐらい」「1万円くらい」, it follows a number and means “about” or “approximately”; it is not asking a question. The 「どのくらい」 in the question asks about an unknown degree, while 「30分くらい」 in the answer gives an approximate range. Both contain 「くらい」, but they play different roles in the sentence.
How do you use Japanese 「どのくらい／どれくらい」? Time, quantity, and degree
Usage ① of 「どのくらい／どれくらい」｜Asking about time and duration
Travel time, waiting time, and duration of stay can all be asked with 「どのくらい／どれくらい」. When the context already makes it clear that time is being discussed, you do not need to add 「時間」 for the sentence to work.
- Example: ここから東京までどのくらいかかりますか。
Kana: ここからとうきょうまでどのくらいかかりますか。
Translation: About how long does it take to get from here to Tokyo?
In a transportation context, 「かかる」 refers to the time required. - Example: 日本にどれくらい滞在しますか。
Kana: にほんにどれくらいたいざいしますか。
Translation: How long will you stay in Japan?
The answer can be given in days, weeks, or months. - Example: ここでどのくらい待てばいいですか。
Kana: ここでどのくらいまてばいいですか。
Translation: About how long should I wait here?
This asks about the length of time you need to wait.
Usage ② of 「どのくらい／どれくらい」｜Asking about quantity, frequency, and money
When you only want to know an approximate amount without specifying a unit in advance, you can also use 「どのくらい／どれくらい」 directly. The person answering then gives an appropriate unit, such as frequency, volume, or money, depending on the context.
- Example: 一週間にどれくらい運動しますか。
Kana: いっしゅうかんにどれくらいうんどうしますか。
Translation: About how much do you exercise in a week?
You can answer with something like 「3回くらい」 or with a length of time. - Example: 水はどのくらい必要ですか。
Kana: みずはどのくらいひつようですか。
Translation: About how much water do you need?
The answer can be given in milliliters, liters, or number of containers. - Example: 旅行でどれくらいお金を使いましたか。
Kana: りょこうでどれくらいおかねをつかいましたか。
Translation: About how much money did you spend on the trip?
The same expression can be used directly for amounts of money.
Usage ③ of 「どのくらい／どれくらい」｜Asking about difficulty, distance, and degree
When an adjective can vary by degree, 「どのくらい／どれくらい」 is close to English “how + adjective.” It can be used with difficulty, distance, weight, and other qualities.
- Example: この試験はどのくらい難しいですか。
Kana: このしけんはどのくらいむずかしいですか。
Translation: About how difficult is this exam?
This asks about the degree of 「難しい」. - Example: 駅はここからどれくらい遠いですか。
Kana: えきはここからどれくらいとおいですか。
Translation: About how far is the station from here?
You can answer with a distance or walking time. - Example: この荷物はどのくらい重いですか。
Kana: このにもつはどのくらいおもいですか。
Translation: About how heavy is this luggage?
You can then answer with the weight in kilograms.
What is the difference between 「どのくらい」 and 「どれくらい」? They are interchangeable in most situations
Both 「どのくらい」 and 「どれくらい」 can ask about time, quantity, money, distance, or degree, and in most sentences, replacing one with the other does not change the meaning. For example, both 「日本にどのくらい滞在しますか」 and 「日本にどれくらい滞在しますか」 mean “How long will you stay in Japan?” Both can also be followed by 「の＋noun」, as in 「どのくらいの大きさ」 and 「どれくらいの大きさ」. Therefore, when you encounter these two forms, you do not need to memorize a separate set of rules for each one, and you cannot simply say that one is formal while the other is casual.
| Comparison | 「どのくらい」 | 「どれくらい」 |
| Basic meaning | To what extent / approximately how much | To what extent / approximately how much |
| Asking about time or duration | Yes | Yes |
| Asking about quantity or frequency | Yes | Yes |
| Asking about money | Yes | Yes |
| Asking about distance, size, weight, and other degrees | Yes | Yes |
| Followed by 「の＋noun」 | Yes, e.g. 「どのくらいの大きさ」 | Yes, e.g. 「どれくらいの大きさ」 |
| Interchangeable? | In most situations | In most situations |
| Fixed difference in formality? | No fixed rule | No fixed rule |
| Can 「くらい」 become 「ぐらい」? | Yes → 「どのぐらい」 | Yes → 「どれぐらい」 |
| Common Chinese translations | How long / how much / how far / how + adjective | How long / how much / how far / how + adjective |
▌Difference between 「どのくらい」 and 「どれくらい」｜Switching them usually does not change the meaning
One of the easiest misunderstandings about 「どのくらい」 and 「どれくらい」 is to see the difference between 「どの」 and 「どれ」 and assume that the rest of their usage must therefore be different as well. In practice, once they form 「どのくらい／どれくらい」, both expressions can ask about an unknown quantity or degree. Whether you are asking how long someone will stay, how much is needed, how far away something is, or even how heavy something is, the direction of the question does not change simply because you chose 「どのくらい」 rather than 「どれくらい」.
- Example: 日本にどのくらい滞在しますか。
Kana: にほんにどのくらいたいざいしますか。
Translation: How long will you stay in Japan?
This sentence asks about the length of the stay. 「どのくらい」 refers to a period whose length is not yet known. - Example: 日本にどれくらい滞在しますか。
Kana: にほんにどれくらいたいざいしますか。
Translation: How long will you stay in Japan?
Even after changing it to 「どれくらい」, the sentence is still asking about the duration of the stay. The two sentences do not need different English translations.
▌Using 「どのくらい」 and 「どれくらい」 for time｜Both can ask “how long”
Travel time, waiting time, duration of stay, and the length of time that something continues can all be asked with either 「どのくらい」 or 「どれくらい」. There is no rule saying that transportation questions must use one and waiting-time questions must use the other. What determines the content of the question is the following verb and the overall context. For example, 「かかる」 in a transportation context is usually understood as asking how much time is required, while 「待つ」 asks how long someone needs to wait.
- Example: 空港までどのくらいかかりますか。
Kana: くうこうまでどのくらいかかりますか。
Translation: About how long does it take to get to the airport?
「どのくらい＋かかる」 asks how much time is needed to reach the airport. You can answer with a duration such as 「30分くらいです」. - Example: 空港までどれくらいかかりますか。
Kana: くうこうまでどれくらいかかりますか。
Translation: About how long does it take to get to the airport?
Replacing 「どのくらい」 with 「どれくらい」 does not change the question. It does not become a different way of asking about time.
▌Using 「どのくらい」 and 「どれくらい」 for quantity or money｜Both ask “about how much”
Besides time, 「どのくらい／どれくらい」 is also commonly used to ask about quantities, frequency, and money. These sentences do not necessarily contain units such as 「個、回、円」 directly. Instead, the speaker answering adds an appropriate number and unit. For example, 「旅行でどのくらいお金を使いましたか」 can be answered with an amount of money, while 「一週間にどれくらい運動しますか」 may be answered with a frequency or with the amount of time spent exercising per session or per week.
- Example: 旅行でどのくらいお金を使いましたか。
Kana: りょこうでどのくらいおかねをつかいましたか。
Translation: About how much money did you spend on the trip?
This sentence asks about the amount spent. You can answer with a specific figure such as 「5万円くらい使いました」. - Example: 旅行でどれくらいお金を使いましたか。
Kana: りょこうでどれくらいおかねをつかいましたか。
Translation: About how much money did you spend on the trip?
Changing it to 「どれくらい」 still asks about money. It does not create a separate nuance used specifically for monetary amounts.
▌Using 「どのくらい」 and 「どれくらい」 for degree｜They can ask how far, how difficult, or how heavy
「どのくらい／どれくらい」 can also appear before adjectives to ask to what degree a certain quality applies. With 「遠い」, it asks how far something is; with 「難しい」, how difficult; and with 「重い」, how heavy. This is why the Chinese translation changes according to what follows. 「どのくらい」 itself does not have a fixed meaning of “how long” or “how much.”
- Example: この試験はどのくらい難しいですか。
Kana: このしけんはどのくらいむずかしいですか。
Translation: How difficult is this exam?
「どのくらい」 modifies 「難しい」 and asks about difficulty rather than quantity or time. - Example: この試験はどれくらい難しいですか。
Kana: このしけんはどれくらいむずかしいですか。
Translation: How difficult is this exam?
Changing it to 「どれくらい」 still asks about difficulty, and both sentences can be used in the same situations.
▌Difference between 「どのくらいの」 and 「どれくらいの」｜Both can be followed directly by a noun
「どのくらい／どれくらい」 can modify not only verbs and adjectives but also nouns in the forms 「どのくらいの＋noun」 and 「どれくらいの＋noun」. These forms are commonly used to ask about size, length, height, quantity, and similar measurements, as in 「どのくらいの大きさ」 or 「どれくらいの長さ」. You should not assume that only 「どのくらい」 can be followed by 「の＋noun」 simply because the standalone 「どの」 can directly precede a noun. 「どれくらいの＋noun」 is also a normal expression.
- Example: どのくらいの大きさがいいですか。
Kana: どのくらいのおおきさがいいですか。
Translation: About what size would be appropriate?
「どのくらいの」 directly precedes 「大きさ」 and asks what degree of size is needed. - Example: どれくらいの大きさがいいですか。
Kana: どれくらいのおおきさがいいですか。
Translation: About what size would be appropriate?
「どれくらいの大きさ」 is equally valid. You do not need to change it to 「どのくらい」 simply because a noun follows.
▌Difference between 「どのくらい／どれくらい」 and 「どのぐらい／どれぐらい」｜All four forms occur
Besides 「どのくらい」 and 「どれくらい」, you will also encounter 「どのぐらい」 and 「どれぐらい」 in actual Japanese. In this type of question, both 「くらい／ぐらい」 can express an approximate quantity or degree, producing four common forms: 「どのくらい」「どれくらい」「どのぐらい」「どれぐらい」. When you see different forms in writing or conversation, you do not need to treat them as four separate grammatical patterns.
- Example: 駅までどのくらいかかりますか。
Kana: えきまでどのくらいかかりますか。
Translation: About how long does it take to get to the station? - Example: 駅までどのぐらいかかりますか。
Kana: えきまでどのぐらいかかりますか。
Translation: About how long does it take to get to the station? - Example: 駅までどれくらいかかりますか。
Kana: えきまでどれくらいかかりますか。
Translation: About how long does it take to get to the station? - Example: 駅までどれぐらいかかりますか。
Kana: えきまでどれぐらいかかりますか。
Translation: About how long does it take to get to the station?
All four sentences ask how much time is needed to get from the current location to the station. When 「どの／どれ」 or 「くらい／ぐらい」 changes form, you do not need to change your interpretation of the entire sentence.
▌“How long does it take to get to Tokyo?”｜The nuance of 「どのくらい／どれくらい」 in the same situation
Putting the two expressions into exactly the same transportation situation makes the difference easier to see: both sentences are valid, and both ask the same thing. This is also why it is not useful to force 「どのくらい」 and 「どれくらい」 into separate usage categories. In actual conversation, you can simply use either one; there is no need to decide before speaking whether the situation specifically calls for 「どのくらい」 or 「どれくらい」.
- Example: ここから東京までどのくらいかかりますか。
Kana: ここからとうきょうまでどのくらいかかりますか。
Translation: About how long does it take to get from here to Tokyo?
「どのくらい」 asks about the time required to get from here to Tokyo. You can answer directly with 「2時間くらいです」. - Example: ここから東京までどれくらいかかりますか。
Kana: ここからとうきょうまでどれくらいかかりますか。
Translation: About how long does it take to get from here to Tokyo?
Changing it to 「どれくらい」 does not change what is being asked, nor does the sentence suddenly become more casual or more formal.
Useful Japanese for travel: 「どのくらい／どれくらい」 for journey times and waiting times
When traveling in Japan, 「どのくらい／どれくらい」 often appears when asking about transportation time, queueing time, or how much longer you need to wait. At a station, you can combine it with 「かかる」 to ask how long it takes to reach a destination. When waiting for a table at a restaurant, you can ask 「どのくらい待ちますか」 directly, or ask 「待ち時間はどれくらいですか」 to find out the current waiting time. Answers usually do not need to give an exact number of minutes. Approximate times such as 「20分くらいです」 or 「1時間ぐらいです」 sound natural. Also, 「かかる」 can refer to money as well as time, so when the context is not sufficiently clear, you can add 「時間」 or ask directly about 「料金」 to make the question more explicit.
▌Situation ①｜Asking at a station how long it takes to reach your destination
A：京都駅までどのくらいかかりますか？
きょうとえきまでどのくらいかかりますか？
About how long does it take to get to Kyoto Station?
B：電車で30分くらいです。
でんしゃでさんじゅっぷんくらいです。
About 30 minutes by train.
📌 Grammar Point: 「どのくらい＋かかりますか」 is commonly used to ask how much time is needed to travel from one place to another. Here, 「かかる」 means “to take” or “to require,” and when the surrounding context is about transportation, it is usually understood as referring to time. You can answer simply with 「30分くらいです」 or use the fuller 「30分くらいかかります」. If you do not know which form of transportation is involved, you can include it in the question. For example, 「電車でどのくらいかかりますか」 means “About how long does it take by train?”
▌Situation ②｜Asking how long the current wait is at a restaurant
A：待ち時間はどれくらいですか？
まちじかんはどれくらいですか？
About how long is the wait right now?
B：20分くらいです。
にじゅっぷんくらいです。
About 20 minutes.
📌 Grammar Point: 「待ち時間はどれくらいですか」 directly asks how long the waiting time is and can be used when waiting for a table at a restaurant, lining up for entry, or waiting for a shuttle bus. You can also omit 「待ち時間」 and ask 「どのくらい待ちますか」, which likewise means “About how long do I need to wait?” The two expressions take slightly different perspectives: the first asks directly about the waiting time itself, while the second uses the verb 「待つ」 to ask how long the wait will be. Both are common in real travel conversations.
▌Situation ③｜Asking how much longer it will take while already on the way
A：ホテルまで、あとどのくらいかかりますか？
ホテルまで、あとどのくらいかかりますか？
How much longer does it take to get to the hotel?
B：あと15分くらいです。
あとじゅうごふんくらいです。
About another 15 minutes.
📌 Grammar Point: 「あと＋どのくらい」 asks “how much is left” and is particularly useful when you have already started traveling, have already been waiting, or when something is already in progress. If you are in a taxi and want to know how much longer it will take to reach your hotel, you can say 「あとどのくらいかかりますか」. If you have already been standing in line for a while, you can also ask a staff member 「あとどのくらい待ちますか」. Here, 「あと」 refers to the remaining portion, so compared with simply asking 「どのくらいかかりますか」, the sentence adds the idea that something has already been in progress for a while and you want to know how much longer remains.
Usage notes:
- In transportation contexts, 「どのくらいかかりますか」 often asks about the time required, but 「かかる」 itself can also refer to how much money something costs. Therefore, you cannot automatically translate every instance of 「かかる」 as a question about time. For example, if the conversation is about a taxi fare, the question may be about money instead. To make the meaning clearer, you can ask 「時間はどのくらいかかりますか」 for time, while 「料金はいくらぐらいですか」 is clearer when asking about the fare.
- When asking about waiting time, both 「どのくらい待ちますか」 and 「待ち時間はどれくらいですか」 can be used. 「どのくらい待ちますか」 uses 「待つ」 directly to ask how long you need to wait, while 「待ち時間はどれくらいですか」 asks about the “waiting time” itself. Whether you are waiting for a table at a restaurant, lining up for an attraction, or waiting for an airport shuttle that has not yet arrived, you can choose either expression according to the conversation. There is no need to force 「どのくらい」 and 「どれくらい」 into separate situations.
- If you have already been waiting for a while, or if you are already on your way to a destination, you can add 「あと」 to ask about the remaining time. For example, 「あとどのくらいかかりますか」 means “How much longer will it take?” while 「あとどれくらい待ちますか」 means “How much longer do I need to wait?” Materials from the Japan Foundation also include expressions such as 「あとどのくらいかかりそうですか」, which are used to ask how much more time something is likely to need before completion.
How can you understand Japanese 「どのくらい／どれくらい」 in comparison with Korean 「얼마나」?
Japanese 「どのくらい／どれくらい」 and Korean 「얼마나」 can both be used to ask about an unknown quantity or degree, so they often appear in very similar situations involving time, cost, distance, difficulty, and more. For questions such as “How long does it take?”, “How much money did you spend?”, or “How difficult is it?”, Japanese can use 「どのくらい／どれくらい」 while Korean commonly uses 「얼마나」. However, the two cannot be substituted word for word in every sentence. Japanese has several forms—「どのくらい」「どれくらい」「どのぐらい」「どれぐらい」—whereas Korean 「얼마나」 does not make this distinction. In addition, 「얼마나」 can be used not only to genuinely ask “to what extent” but also to emphasize that the degree is very high. In such cases, the meaning is closer to “how extremely…” or “very…,” which is different from the interrogative use of the Japanese expressions.
◆ Similar expression: 「얼마나」
Korean 「얼마나」 is an adverb, and one of its common uses is to ask “to what extent.” The verb or adjective that follows determines whether the sentence is asking about time, quantity, or some other degree. In this respect, it is very similar to Japanese 「どのくらい／どれくらい」, so there are natural Japanese-Korean correspondences in situations such as asking how long transportation takes, how much money was spent, or how difficult something is. However, actual translation still depends on the whole sentence. You cannot simply replace every 「どのくらい」 with 「얼마나」 or assume that every 「얼마나」 means “how much.”
- Example: ここから駅までどのくらいかかりますか。
Kana: ここから えきまで どのくらい かかりますか。
Translation: About how long does it take to get from here to the station?
In Korean, you can say 「여기서 역까지 얼마나 걸려요?」 - Example: 旅行でどれくらいお金を使いましたか。
Kana: りょこうで どれくらい おかねを つかいましたか。
Translation: About how much money did you spend on the trip?
In Korean, you can say 「여행에서 돈을 얼마나 썼어요?」 - Example: この試験はどのくらい難しいですか。
Kana: この しけんは どのくらい むずかしいですか。
Translation: How difficult is this exam?
In Korean, you can say 「이 시험은 얼마나 어려워요?」
◆ Korean 「얼마나」 can also emphasize “a very high degree”
In addition to asking “to what extent,” Korean 「얼마나」 has another very common usage: the speaker already knows that the degree is high and uses 「얼마나」 to emphasize it. In this case, the sentence may superficially resemble a “how + adjective” question, but its actual function is not to ask the listener to provide an answer about the degree. For example, 「얼마나 예쁜지 몰라요」 literally resembles “You don’t know how pretty it is,” but in actual speech it emphasizes that something is extremely pretty. Korean sentences like this cannot simply be converted mechanically into Japanese 「どのくらい／どれくらい」.
- Example: 그 카페가 얼마나 예쁜지 몰라요.
Romanization: geu ka-pe-ga eol-ma-na ye-ppeun-ji mol-la-yo.
Translation: That café is really beautiful.
/ You have no idea how beautiful that café is.
Here, 「얼마나」 is not asking “exactly how pretty” the café is. Instead, it emphasizes that the degree of prettiness is very high. If you simply want to say naturally in Japanese that the café is very beautiful, you might use 「とてもきれいです」 or 「すごくきれいです」. The appearance of 「얼마나」 in Korean does not mean that it must always become 「どのくらい」 in Japanese. - Example: 어제 얼마나 추웠는지 알아요?
Romanization: eo-je eol-ma-na chu-wot-neun-ji a-ra-yo?
Translation: Do you know how cold it was yesterday?
/ It was unbelievably cold yesterday.
This type of sentence looks like a question on the surface, but the speaker may not simply be asking whether the listener can measure the degree of coldness. Instead, it may be introducing the fact that yesterday was extremely cold. 「얼마나」 clearly emphasizes degree here, so this needs to be distinguished from a straightforward question asking how cold something was. - Example: 그동안 얼마나 바빴는지 몰라요.
Romanization: geu-dong-an eol-ma-na ba-ppat-neun-ji mol-la-yo.
Translation: I’ve been incredibly busy all this time.
「얼마나 바빴는지 몰라요」 does not ask the listener to answer how busy the speaker was. The speaker is describing their own experience of being very busy. If Japanese simply needs to express that this period was extremely busy, you can say something like 「この間、本当に忙しかったです」 without deliberately using 「どのくらい」.
◆ Japanese 「くらい／ぐらい」 and Korean 「얼마나」 cannot be matched by breaking them apart word for word
Although Japanese 「どのくらい／どれくらい」 contains 「くらい」, you should not memorize a fixed equivalence of 「くらい＝얼마나」. In questions, 「얼마나」 asks about an unknown degree. By contrast, when Japanese 「くらい／ぐらい」 follows a number in an answer, it means “about” or “approximately.” For example, 「どのくらいかかりますか」 asks “How long does it take?”, while the answer 「30分くらいです」 means “about 30 minutes.” Korean can ask 「얼마나 걸려요?」, but the answer would normally switch to 「30분 정도 걸려요」 or 「30분쯤 걸려요」 rather than using 「얼마나」 again.
- Japanese: どのくらいかかりますか。
- Japanese: 30分くらいかかります。
In the first sentence, 「どのくらい」 and 「얼마나」 are both interrogative expressions. In the second, however, 「くらい」 has become an approximation marker meaning “about,” so Korean naturally uses 「정도」 or 「쯤」 instead. Even though 「くらい」 appears in both Japanese sentences, its role is different.
◆ Difference from Korean 「얼마나」:
The greatest overlap between Japanese 「どのくらい／どれくらい」 and Korean 「얼마나」 is that both can ask about an unknown quantity or degree. To ask how long something takes, Korean can use 「얼마나 걸려요」. To ask how much money someone spent, it can use 「돈을 얼마나 썼어요」. To ask how difficult something is, it can use 「얼마나 어려워요」. Whether the Chinese translation ultimately becomes “how long,” “how much,” “how far,” or “how + adjective” depends on the following verb, adjective, and context.
However, Korean 「얼마나」 can also emphasize that a degree is very high. For example, 「얼마나 예쁜지 몰라요」 means that something is extremely beautiful, so it cannot simply be converted into Japanese 「どのくらい／どれくらい」. In addition, Japanese 「くらい／ぐらい」 after a number can mean “about,” while Korean usually uses 「정도」 or 「쯤」 for that function, not 「얼마나」. Therefore, in Japanese-Korean comparison, it is useful to understand 「どのくらい／どれくらい」 and 「얼마나」 under the same broad concept of “asking about degree,” but in actual sentences you still need to determine whether the expression is asking a question, giving an approximate quantity, or emphasizing degree.
The easiest mistake with 「どのくらい／どれくらい」 is not confusing the two forms themselves, but deciding too quickly that they always mean “how long” or “how much.” Once they appear in a sentence, what actually changes the meaning is the content that follows. With 「かかる」, the question may concern time or cost. With 「遠い」「難しい」「重い」, it asks about degree. When used with quantity or money, it means approximately how much.
As for 「どのくらい」「どれくらい」「どのぐらい」「どれぐらい」, you do not need to memorize a separate set of rules for all four forms. First look at what the sentence is measuring, then decide whether the Chinese meaning is “how long,” “how much,” “how far,” or “how + adjective.” That approach is closer to how the Japanese expressions actually work.
FAQs
In most situations involving time, quantity, money, and degree, they can be used interchangeably. Both can mean “about how much,” “how long,” or “to what extent.” There is no reliable rule that simply divides them into “「どのくらい」 is more formal” and “「どれくらい」 is more casual.”
Yes, and this is a very common usage. 「どのくらいかかりますか」 can ask how long something takes, while 「どれくらい滞在しますか」 asks about the duration of a stay. Answers commonly use forms such as 「30分くらい」 and 「3日くらい」.
Either is possible because 「かかる」 can refer both to time required and money spent. In actual situations, the meaning is usually clear from context. If there is a risk of ambiguity, adding 「時間」 or 「お金」 makes the question clearer.
When asking about approximate quantity, time, or degree, their basic function is the same. 「どれくらい／どれぐらい」 are also common variations in the same group, and all four forms may be heard in actual conversation.
Yes, but it normally appears in the form 「どれくらいの＋noun」, such as 「どれくらいの大きさ」. Although standalone 「どれ」 and 「どの」 connect to nouns differently, 「どれくらい」 as a complete degree expression can be followed by 「の＋noun」.