# Mấy + noun: how many (few)? in Vietnamese (A1)

> Mấy before a noun asks how many when you expect a small number: Em có mấy anh chị em? How many brothers and sisters do you have?

Source: https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/may-how-many/ · Updated 2026-11-09

**how many (few)?**

Pattern: `mấy + (classifier) + [noun]?`

Level: A1 (our estimate) · Register: everyday

Typed without accents: may

*Mấy* before a noun asks how many when you expect a small number: *Em có mấy anh chị em?* How many brothers and sisters do you have? There's no fixed cut-off at ten or at twenty; what counts is your guess. If the answer is probably under ten or so, *mấy* is natural. If it could be anything, use *bao nhiêu*.

*Mấy* stands where the number will go, so the answer just swaps in a number: *Hai người.* Like a number, it takes the counting word the noun needs: *mấy con mèo* (how many cats), *mấy trái dừa* (how many coconuts; in Hà Nội *mấy quả dừa*). Nouns that take no counting word after a number take none here either: *mấy người*, *mấy ngày*.

It's for things you count, and for units like *ký* (kilo) or *tiếng* (hour): *Chị lấy mấy ký?* For money, prices and amounts that could be large, use *bao nhiêu*. For an adult's age, *bao nhiêu tuổi* is the polite choice; *mấy tuổi* is mostly for children.

After the noun, *mấy* asks which number instead: *mấy lầu* is how many floors, *lầu mấy* is which floor. And in a statement, with no question, *mấy* means "a few": *Tôi ở đó mấy ngày.* I stayed there a few days. Before people or things you can point to, *mấy* can also just mark more than one: *mấy cái này* (these ones), *mấy bạn* (you guys).

## A common mistake

✗ Nhà chị có mấy mèo?

✓ Nhà chị có mấy con mèo?

*Mấy* takes the same counting word as a number does: *hai con mèo*, so *mấy con mèo*.

## Examples

- Em có mấy anh chị em? — How many brothers and sisters do you have?
- Dạ, em có hai chị gái. — I have two older sisters.
- Anh chị đi mấy người? — How many are in your group? (a waiter asking)
- Saigon: Anh lấy mấy trái dừa? | Hà Nội: Anh lấy mấy quả dừa? — How many coconuts would you like?

## Compare

- [How many, how much: bao nhiêu](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/bao-nhieu-how-many/): how many / how much?
- [Which number: mấy after the noun](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/may-which-number/): which number (date, day, floor)?
- [Ten-something, twenty-something: mười mấy, hai mươi mấy, mấy chục](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/muoi-may-ten-something/): in the teens, twenties; dozens of

Previous in Asking questions: [How long? bao lâu after the verb](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/bao-lau-how-long/)
Next in Asking questions: [How many, how much: bao nhiêu](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/bao-nhieu-how-many/)

---

Add to Vietnamese Buddy: https://app.vietnamesebuddy.com/waitlist?source=grammar%3Au_may_how_many
In the app, the grammar points from your own class material are kept with their status, and any word you meet while reading can go into your lexicon with its audio, ready to study.