Module 8 of 10
Shopping and prices
Asking what something costs, and understanding the number that comes back.
Prices are where the numbers from LAN-102 get tested under time pressure. A price is said as a plain number of euros, then the cents straight after with nothing in between: douze euros cinquante, quatre-vingt-dix-neuf euros. If you hear quatre-vingt-dix-neuf and have to do the arithmetic, you will still be doing it when the next sentence arrives — this is the argument for having drilled seventy, eighty and ninety until they stopped being sums.
The rest is three questions and two answers. C'est combien ? gets the price. Vous avez quelque chose de moins cher ? gets you an alternative without an argument about money. Je peux payer par carte ? saves a trip to a cash machine. And Je regarde, merci is the sentence that lets you browse in peace. Note je vais prendre — the near future from module six, doing real work in a shop, which is the point of learning it.
Played by your device’s own French voice. It is a synthetic voice, not a recording of a teacher — close enough to learn the shape of a word, not close enough to copy exactly.
- C'est combien ?How much is it?
- Ça coûte combien ?How much does it cost?
- Douze euros cinquanteTwelve euros fifty — the cents follow with no word between
- C'est trop cher pour moiThat is too expensive for me
- Vous avez quelque chose de moins cher ?Do you have anything cheaper?
- Je peux payer par carte ?Can I pay by card?
- Je regarde, merciI am just looking, thanks
- Je vais prendre celui-ciI will take this one
The cents follow the euros with no word between. Drill the numbers until prices stop being arithmetic.