Asking the price. ¿Cuánto o Cuánta?

Question

On this page are listed both Cuánto and Cuánta for asking questions. http://www.spanishdict.com/topics/show/48

I understand that this is for agreement with the gender of the subject as in the following: ¿Con cuánta frecuencia usted ha sido agredido? ¿Con cuánta anticipación debo hacer mis reservaciones? Una caloría es una forma de medir cuánta energía proporciona un alimento al cuerpo.

But I am unclear how this works when asking the price. ¿Cuánto cuesta el vestido? ¿Cuánto cuestan los vestidos?

I thought in the above that el(los) vestido(s) would be the subject thus the verb conjugating accordingly and Cuánto(s) being masculine. But I haven´t seen the feminine equivalent anywhere so am thinking this must be the wrong explanation ie ¿Cuánta cuesta la camisa? ¿Cuánta cuestan las camisas?

Am I wrong in thinking cuesta is the verb in the above sentences? Could someone please explain? thanks

Answer 1

Cuesta is the verb, and as such has to agree with the subject - el vestido. You have this correct. However, cuánto does not have to agree with the subject, but instead with the noun it accompanies. What we find in this case, however, is that there is no accompanying noun. At least, not one we can see.

But, I can tell you that the missing noun is dinero, as in money. In other words, the sentence is: ¿Cuánto (dinero) cuesta el vestido?

The noun dinero is masculine and singular, therefore we use cuánto in its singular masculine form. If the omitted noun was, for example, monedas (coins), we would say ¿Cuántas (monedas) cuesta el vestido?.

:) - ian-hill, Dec 6, 2015

excellent thank you, so assuming that we are always talking about the price as dinero it will always be Cuánto regardless of what or how many I am wanting to buy. - ErikainAndalusia, Dec 6, 2015

Estoy de acuerdo, excelente explicación - 005faa61, Dec 6, 2015

Excellent explanation! - gringojrf, Dec 7, 2015