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I want to know if there's a grammar structure that can be used when you want to know the extent of an adjective. E.g.

会長は若いね　＞＞　How young is he?

この映画はとっても長いよ！　＞＞　How long is it?

たきくんは遅れてしまいました。　＞＞　How late was he?

I know that there are other ways you can ask these questions (会長は何歳ですか？・映画はどのくらいかかりますか？・たきくんは何時に来ましたか？) but I want to know if there's a structure like "How [adjective] is [noun]?" in English that can be used for any adjective.

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  • どのくらい springs to mind, but I don't feel confident enough to give a full answer. – user3856370 Jan 9 at 17:45
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You can say "どのくらい?" (casual) or "どのくらいですか?" (polite). You do not even need to repeat the adjective.

「この映画はとっても長いよ！」「どのくらい？」

「たきくんは遅れてしまいました。」「どのくらいですか？」

(If 会長は若いね was said referring to the appearance of 会長 ("He looks young, doesn't he?"), asking how young he looks is strange. If the first speaker seems to know the exact age and said 「会長はとても若いんですよ」, it's fine to say 「どのくらいですか？」)

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  • 1
    I see! Can I include the adjective in the sentence, though? Imagine my friend has invited me to see a film (without saying anything about it,) can I ask どのくらい長いですか？ Or if I want to know about how fast the bullet train goes, could I say 新幹線はどのくらい速いですか？etc. – Lou Jan 10 at 8:12
  • For い　adjectives there is a cnominalizing conjugation with い→さ　that makes it into a noun describing the extent: 高さ　height 良さ　goodness 速さ　fastness. These might help be more specific about the quality you are describing. Not sure if something similar is necessary for な adj – katatahito Jun 10 at 3:08

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