“Was kostet …?” vs. “Was kosten …?”

Question

How do the following phrases differ from each other?

Was kostet ...?
Was kosten ...?

This is a sample phrase I found in a book:

Was kosten 100 Gramm Käse?
Was kostet ein Kilo Rindfleisch?

I can’t tell the difference between the two.

You might be mistaking the subject as "was", where as the true subjects here are "100 Gramm Käse" and "ein Kilo Rindfleisch". "Was" here simply is the equivalent to "wie viel Geld" — Duc, Apr 9 '17 at 12:31

Kilian Foth · Accepted Answer · 2017-04-08 09:47:57Z

4

This is simple concord of number. It works exactly the same as in English:

A pound [singular] of beef costs $10.

Two pounds [plural] of beef cost $20.

(You're probably surprised because German can often have the subject after the verb. That's not exactly like English.)

answered Apr 8 '17 at 9:47

Kilian Foth

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But in questions, the subject does come after the verb in English: "what does he eat? What do they eat?" – Blavius Apr 9 '17 at 0:44
English uses the singular: "What does 100 grams of cheese cost?", "Two pounds of beef is enough", etc. – TonyK Apr 11 '17 at 22:15

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