Do you like shopping?
Well, in today's episode of the Easy English Podcast, we are going to learn useful everyday English for shopping.
Phrases that you can use to help you ask for help, buy things correctly and so much more.
I'm your host, Oliver, and today we talk about shopping.
To be honest, shopping is not my favorite topic, because I don't like shopping very much, especially clothes shopping.
I don't like going to shops and looking around and trying to find something to buy.
It's not really for me.
But it is an important part of everyday life for all of us, whether you're buying clothing, groceries or even souvenirs like gifts when you're on holiday.
Knowing the right English phrases to help guide you with your shopping can really help make the experience so much more comfortable.
So today we are going to explore some common phrases for different types of shops.
We'll look at asking for help and talking about price and size as well.
So get ready to come on a journey with some shopping in English and to talk about shopping with confidence.
As always, we are going to look at some key vocabulary first.
If you're new here.
What we do is we look at five new pieces of vocabulary or keywords that I want you to actively listen to throughout the podcast episode.
Don't worry if you know them already.
Just try to listen and focus on these words, whether it's the pronunciation, the meaning or simply the context or listening practice.
But first before we read these.
If you are listening to this podcast and you have not followed or subscribed, what are you doing?
I can see from the statistics, from the information on my site, that over 60 of listeners are not following or subscribed to the Easy English Podcast.
But you guys still listen to almost every episode.
So please do subscribe or follow.
It really helps to grow and boost and support this podcast.
Let's look at our key vocabulary.
The first word is a very easy one, but it's used in two different ways.
And maybe you've only heard it in one of these ways.
This word is shop.
Shop.
Very simple, right?
So shop can be a noun or a verb.
So as a noun, it is a place where you can buy things.
And as a verb, it means to buy, to buy things.
Which brings us to our second verb, to buy.
So the reason I want to include both is you'll hear them interchangeably.
So you'll hear me use both of these words for the same meaning.
To shop, to buy, to shop, to buy.
And to buy, of course, means to get something by paying money for it.
With the verb to shop, this is more general as well.
So when we say, for example, i am shopping for groceries or i am shopping for a new tv, i am going to shop for a new tv, it's more general, whereas when we say buy, it can talk specifically about the process of buying that item.
So I bought a new TV or I am buying a new TV.
It's more that specific purchase of buying rather than the general activity looking for the item, if that makes sense.
The next word is price, price.
And this is a noun and it means how much something costs.
So we talk about the price or the cost of an item.
Then we have the size.
You've definitely heard this word before.
The size is how big or small an item is, whether it's clothing or another type of item.
The size.
So if you need a larger size of shoes, for example if they're too small, you might say I need a larger size in these shoes.
And finally, help, help.
This is either a noun or a verb and it means assistance.
If it's a noun, so help assistance, or to give assistance to help someone.
Can I help you find anything? is something a shop assistant might say to you.
Okay, so those are our key vocabulary for this episode, what I would like you to focus on.
So, get ready, get your wallet, your credit card, your money ready, because we are about to go shopping.
But first I would like to remind you that if you want to get the full transcripts and high quality ad free episodes, you can check out the Patreon.
The link is in the description below.
There's also the link to my new book, Frizzle Verbs Are Easy.
It's an e-book and it teaches you English phrasal verbs through short stories.
So if you're interested in either of those, so maybe the bonus episodes on the Patreon or the transcripts, you can check out the Patreon link.
And if you want the book, you can check out the book link.
Both are in the description below and both help support this podcast and me.
So thank you so much to everyone who supports and helps keep this podcast going.
That's enough ads and promotion.
Let's get to the main episode.
So I hope you're ready for some shopping.
And to start with, we are going to look at some phrases that you can use generally in any shop.
So if you're going to a grocery store, a supermarket, a clothing store, some things that maybe the assistant might say,
Probably not in a grocery store or a supermarket, but more specifically actually like clothing shops or specialist shops where they're selling a certain type of item.
So when you enter a shop, an assistant, maybe a sales assistant, or the owner they might say to you can I help you?
Can I help you or may I help you?
And, of course, if you have an answer, if you have something specific that you want them to help you with, you can reply.
Yes, please.
I am looking for and then say what you need.
Let's do an example dialogue.
OK, so I will be both characters, the shopkeeper and the person.
So I enter the shop.
The shopkeeper says, hey, can I help you?
Yes, I'm looking for a new pair of shoes.
No problem.
Let's have a look.
I'll show you where the shoes are.
Great.
Thank you.
There's an example of an interaction in a shoe shop or a clothing store.
The assistant or the shop assistant may say another phrase which is a little bit more local.
Let's say
They could say, are you looking for something?
Or they could simply say, just looking.
It means exactly the same thing.
It means, can I help you?
Is there anything I can do, basically?
And your answer can be exactly the same.
Yes, please, I'm looking for, and then your item.
But if you don't want help, if you would like to just be left alone, you would like to just look for items and pick them without help which, to be honest, I do most of the time, especially if I'm on holiday and I'm relaxing.
I don't want to be bothered by the staff asking me questions.
You can say, no, thank you.
I'm just looking.
And this means that you don't need help right now.
You are just browsing, which means you're just looking.
That's another word for looking.
You're browsing.
You're looking at the items.
Let's say you have a scenario where you enter a shop and no one has asked you anything, but you need help.
What can you say?
Well, the easiest, most simple phrase that you can say is help.
Excuse me, could you help me?
That's the perfect way to ask.
And honestly, if you learn that one phrase when you need to ask for help, you will never go wrong.
Excuse me, could you please help me?
That's it.
That's all you need to remember when asking for help.
And these basic phrases are enough to get you to a stage where you can start to talk about details.
At that point, I wouldn't worry too much about how polite you sound.
Just try to describe to the best of your ability what you would like.
So don't worry too much about phrases or exactly what you're saying at that point.
You can point at items.
You can do whatever as long as they understand the general idea.
It's fine.
Don't worry.
So let's continue to assume that we are shopping for clothing.
One of my least favorite activities.
But it's important, of course.
So when we are looking for clothing, what is one thing that's important?
The size, right?
So you find something that you like, but you don't have the correct size.
You can ask them, do you have this in a different size?
Or you can ask and say directly, do you have this in small size or a smaller size or a larger size?
Or even tell them the exact size.
Often, like in the UK, we will have sizes like XS extra small, S small, M medium, L large or XL extra large.
Or maybe numbers in terms of size.
So to ask for a specific size, we usually say, do you have this in...
Then the name or the number, like small or eight, so small size.
Do you have this in medium size?
Do you have this in size eight?
Interestingly, when we use a number with the size, we put it after the word size.
So do you have this in size it?
Whereas if we say small, medium or large, we say, do you have this in large size?
Then they get you the correct clothing with the correct size.
And what do you do?
You think, hmm.
This looks great.
I would like to see what it looks like on me.
And how can you ask?
You can say, can I try this on?
Can I try this on?
To try something on means to put the clothing on your body and look at how it is, to see if you like it, if it looks good on you, and you do this in something called a fitting room a fitting room or a changing room they both mean the same thing.
So if you see that on the sign, if it says fitting room or changing room, you know that that is where you go to try on clothing.
Excellent.
So let's leave the clothing shop and go to one that I like a lot more, because I enjoy shopping for food.
And that is the supermarket.
And what is the thing that we often struggle the most with in a big supermarket?
Finding items.
The rest of the process is quite easy.
Even nowadays in the UK, most supermarkets will have self-checkout machines where you can change the language and pay for items without even talking to someone.
So usually the only advice that you will need help with is asking people where an item is or for help to find an item.
And the phrases for this are so easy.
The first is where can I find and then the item.
So where can I find the fruit?
Where can I find the potatoes?
Or where can I find potatoes?
You don't need to put the before that.
And you can say specifically.
So where can I find the Cadbury's chocolate bars, for example?
Or if you're looking for a specific section of the supermarket, you can say where is the fruit section.
Where is the vegetable section?
Where is the dairy section?
Like milk products, right?
Dairy milk products.
And that's really it for the supermarket in terms of the advice that I would give you for phrases.
The rest is pretty easy.
You will go to something we call a checkout at any shop, right?
The checkout is where you pay.
And in supermarkets you will often have a self checkout where you don't even need to talk to anyone.
You do it yourself and you can even change the language as I mentioned.
So we're going to look at the last section, which is paying for items at the checkout.
If you're in a smaller shop and you might be talking to a staff member.
But first I just want to mention very quickly.
If you're enjoying this podcast and you enjoy the Easy English podcast, make sure that you have rated the podcast five stars on either Spotify or an Apple podcast.
You can leave a review.
It takes two seconds and it really really helps to promote the podcast as around the world and help other people to find this podcast, to help improve their English listening skills and vocabulary as well.
Thank you.
So finally, you have your items and it is time to pay for them and get out of there, get out of the shops and finally go home.
This is called the checkout.
And at the checkout the cashier might ask you some questions.
When i lived abroad, when i lived in russia, i was always scared of this moment and i think if you live in another country you can relate to this.
You're worried about what they're going to ask you, about not understanding, and sometimes they will ask simple questions.
Especially in the uk, i think they like to sometimes small talk and ask questions like oh, and it's a nice day outside or pause your day, like simple questions like that.
But generally they might ask you some of the following questions.
They could ask you is that all, which means, have you got everything you need?
They might ask you if you have a loyalty card, so some kind of a card, a membership card for a discount.
Finally, they may ask you how actually not.
Finally, they may ask you if you need a bag, if you need a plastic bag, because in the uk this costs money.
They used to be free, but the government introduced a charge to try and make people reuse bags so it's better for the environment.
So they might ask you do you need a bag?
And finally, they might ask you, are you paying by card or cash?
And you can simply answer card or cash, whichever you prefer.
And actually, I thought of one more.
They could ask you at the very end, do you need a receipt?
And the receipt is the piece of paper that tells you how much you paid and that you've paid for it.
It proves that you paid for the item.
So you can say at that point, yes please or no thank you.
And most of these questions are yes or no questions.
So you can usually reply yes please or no thank you and you'll be fine.
Knowing these phrases will help you finally finish your shopping processes smoothly.
It's done.
You've got the items and you're going home.
Congratulations.
So that was our little shopping trip together.
Our easy English shopping trip.
I hope that this podcast was useful for you and that you learnt a couple of phrases that you can use the next time you're on holiday or you're going to the local shops.
Thank you so much for listening and remember, if you want to support the podcast, you can join the Easy English Patreon today and get access to all of these phrases with the full transcript and vocabulary on the patreon, as well as add free episodes with video, of course, and subtitles.
So check out the links in the description.
The new book is there as well if you'd like to pick up a copy of that ebook and improve your phrasal verbs.
Thank you so much for your support and thank you for listening to easy english.
I will see you in the next episode goodbye.
