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Is there a way to use 何 with the general counter ~つ to ask "how many..." in the same vein as in sentences like "何歳ですか。" or "本は何冊買いましたか。"?

If not, how do you ask something like "How many ideas do you have", where (I think) one would normally use the generic counter? Do you have to resort to 何個?

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Is there a way to use 何 with the general counter ~つ to ask "how many..."

No, we don't say 何つ. We say いくつ (幾つ).

If not, how do you ask something like "How many ideas do you have", where (I think) one would normally use the generic counter?

You could use いくつ, as in 「アイデアはいくつありますか。」「いくつアイデアが浮かびましたか。」 etc...

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  • So you can't say "いくつのアイデア"?
    – Kaskade
    Commented May 15, 2019 at 20:22
  • It's not a noun, it's an adverb. It doesn't need の. You could say いくつかの or いくつもの though of course they mean different things.
    – Fireheart251
    Commented May 15, 2019 at 21:07
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    It's not a noun, it's an adverb. <-- ん？　明鏡国語辞典 categorizes いくつ as a 名詞... noting 副詞的にも使う. @Fire
    – chocolate ♦
    Commented May 16, 2019 at 2:39
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    @Hans 「いくつのアイデア」「みっつのりんご」「何本のペン」「３本のペン」「何匹の犬」「２匹の犬」 etc are all grammatically correct. It's correct to say 「いくつのアイデアがありますか」「３つのアイデアが出ました」「何匹の犬を飼っていますか」「ここに３本の鉛筆があります」 etc. It's more common/natural, at least in daily conversation, to say them as 「XXはいくつありますか」「XXが３つあります/３つXXがあります」「犬は何匹飼っていますか/何匹犬を飼っていますか」「ここにペンが３本あります」etc., using いくつ / n+counter adverbially.
    – chocolate ♦
    Commented May 16, 2019 at 2:56

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