kaç

Kaç is a Turkish interrogative determiner and pronoun used to ask about quantity or number. It mainly corresponds to “how many” when the noun it accompanies is countable, and it can function in some contexts as “how much.” It is a common, basic word in Turkish question formation, used for questions about amounts, ages, durations, frequencies and other quantities.

Grammatical notes about kaç:

Kaç is invariable and appears directly before the noun it modifies. The noun may carry Turkish case or possessive suffixes as required by the sentence, but kaç itself does not take suffixes. The number following kaç can be a cardinal numeral or a structure such as kaç tane to emphasize discreteness. When asking about uncountable quantities or ranges, speakers often use related expressions like ne kadar to convey extent or amount, though kaç is still frequently used with items like money, time, or distance (for example, kaç para, kaç dakika, kaç kilometre).

Common constructions and usage:

Kaç kitap var? (How many books are there?)

Kaç yaşındasın? (How old are you?)

Kaç saat sürdü? (How many hours did it take? / How long did it take?)

Kaç para istiyorsun? (How much money do you want?)

Kaç kez gördün? (How many times have you seen it?)

These examples illustrate kaç with countable nouns, discrete events, and measures of time or distance.

Etymology and context:

Kaç is a core Turkish interrogative word used across formal and informal speech. It forms part of broader question-word patterns in Turkish and is often contrasted with ne kadar, which tends to emphasize amount or extent rather than a definite count.