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Seems like a very simple question, but Im not sure of the best way to ask this conversationally.My understanding is if your asking over a specific period like a week or month, and taking "buy that" as an example its good to say 月かんかい買う？１週間なんかい買う？

But without that period marker what would be a natural way to ask, how often do you buy that? my guess yesterday in conversation was それは何頻度で買うの？ But it seemed pretty unclear to the native speaker 相手.

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    I can read Japanese much better than speak it. Having said that there are a variety of phrases you could use: どのくらい、いくど、いくたび... I have a feeling that the later two may be more literary and so since I'm a poor judge of the differences between spoken and written Japanese, I'll leave this as a comment and not an answer.
    – A.Ellett
    Jul 8, 2017 at 0:12
  • 月かんかい買う You meant to type 月なんかい買う, right?
    – chocolate ♦
    Jul 8, 2017 at 5:55

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"how often do you" -- the best way to ask this conversationally. if your asking over a specific period like a week or month, and taking "buy that" as an example its good to say 月かんかい買う？１週間なんかい買う？ But without that period marker what would be a natural way to ask, how often do you buy that? my guess yesterday in conversation was それは何頻度で買うの？ But it seemed pretty unclear to the native speaker 相手.

mm.. Maybe we start it by asking それ、よく買うの？, still sounding pretty direct though, a little attenuated than どのくらいの頻度（ひんど）で買うの？

I think if I have a need to ask that, I'd rather directly ask それ、週にどのくらい買う？, and this can mean either the amount or the frequency.

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  • yeah in that specific conversation it eas intended to be quite direct and specific, although in more casual conversation よく買うの sounds much better.
    – Pootan
    Jul 8, 2017 at 0:57

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