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中文
Shopping 100
100
phrases
Looking around
10
我随便看看 is the most useful sentence in any Chinese shop. It means "I'm just looking" and it is what stops an attentive assistant from following you around. Say it with a smile and it is not rude - it is the expected move, and the assistant will step back and wait until you ask 有什么推荐的.
Saying what you want
10
Ordering is done with 要 - to want, plainly, without the softening English wraps around a request. 我要两瓶水 is not blunt; it is the normal register. What does soften things is 帮我 - "help me" - in 帮我拿一下, which is how you ask someone to fetch something down from a shelf.
Size and colour
10
Sizes are 大号 / 中号 / 小号 - large, medium, small number - and the word 号 is doing the same job as "size". 我穿多大的 asks what size you take and is worth having ready, because Chinese sizing rarely matches what you are used to. 有深一点的吗 - anything darker - uses 一点 to soften a request into a suggestion.
Trying things on
10
可以试试吗 covers clothes, and the doubled verb 试试 is what makes it casual - repeating a verb in Chinese means "give it a quick go". For food the word changes to 尝, taste: 可以尝一下吗. Both are expected questions in a Chinese market, where sampling before buying is normal rather than cheeky.
Paying
10
可以微信支付吗 is now the first question, not the last. Cash has become genuinely awkward in Chinese cities - 我用现金 sometimes gets a pause while the shop finds change - and 我没带钱包 has stopped meaning you cannot pay. 请给我发票 asks for the official tax receipt, which is a different document from the till slip.
Haggling
10
Haggling belongs to markets and tourist streets, not to shops with price tags. The sequence is fixed: 太贵了吧 opens, 最低多少 asks for the floor, 那我不要了 is the walk-away that produces the real price, and 好吧，成交 closes. 送我一个吧 - throw one in - is the move to make once the number is settled.
Bags and wrapping
10
这是送人的 - "it's a gift" - changes what happens next: gift wrapping in China is often free and always more elaborate than you expect. 请分开装 asks for separate bags, which matters more than it sounds when you are carrying food and clothes together. 小心易碎 is printed on boxes and also said aloud.
Returns and exchanges
10
Returns hinge on 小票 - the till receipt - and 小票还在 is the sentence that makes the rest possible. Note the structure of 昨天买的: the 的 at the end turns it into "it's one bought yesterday", which is how Chinese states the relevant fact about an object rather than a full sentence about yourself.
In stock or not
10
还有货吗 asks whether stock remains; 卖完了 is the answer you will get at the end of a good day. 能帮我留着吗 asks the shop to hold something for you, which small shops will often do on nothing more than a phone number. 只剩最后一个 is a fact and a sales technique at the same time.
Markets and convenience stores
10
Markets weigh in 斤, half a kilo, and 一斤多少钱 is the question that opens every transaction. 来两斤 - "bring two catties" - uses 来 as a casual verb of ordering, the same one you meet in restaurants. 帮我称一下 asks for it to be weighed, which is the moment to watch the scale.
Related categories
Greetings 100
Introductions 100
Numbers & time 100
Places & directions 100
Eating & drinking 100
Getting around 100
Requests & offers 100
Feelings & opinions 100
中文