The phrase "how often" in Chinese can be expressed mainly as "多久一次" (duō jiǔ yī cì), which literally means "how long once" and is used to ask about the frequency of an action over a period of time. Another similar phrase is "多经常" (duō jīngcháng), which also means "how often" or "how frequently." In usage:
- For asking about regular or planned actions, you can say: 你多长时间剪一次头发？(Nǐ duō cháng shíjiān jiǎn yī cì tóufǎ?) meaning "How often do you get a haircut?"
- For less regular activities, a general question pattern with adverbs like "常常" (often) or "经常" (frequently) can be used: 你常常看电影吗？(Nǐ chángcháng kàn diànyǐng ma?) meaning "Do you often watch movies?"
Additionally, "多久" by itself mainly means "how long" (duration), but "多久一次" specifically means "how often," indicating frequency with the added measure word for occurrences.
To summarize common ways to say "how often" in Chinese:
- 多久一次 (duō jiǔ yī cì) — how often (with frequency in time)
- 多经常 (duō jīngcháng) — how often (asking about regularity)
- 多少次 (duōshǎo cì) — how many times (asking about count of occurrences)
These expressions are commonly used depending on the context and nature of the question about frequency.
