Learn how to bargain in a shop or market
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
| INTRODUCTION |
| Victor: 大家好(Dàjiā hǎo)，我是(Wǒ shì) Victor. |
| Amber: Hey, everybody. This is Amber. Welcome back to ChineseClass101.com. This is our Absolute Beginner Series, Season 1, Lesson 22, more about shopping and buying things, Victor. |
| Victor: Right. And today's lesson is called, "Get a Better Price." |
| Amber: Yes, we told you you're on the road to getting good bargains and not getting ripped off if you stick with us. |
| Victor: Right. If anything, you should listen to this lesson very carefully because it has a lot of practical values. |
| Amber: And, I mean, let's face it. We're learning from the experts here, right, Victor? |
| Victor: Yeah. |
| Amber: That's right. So, in this lesson, you're going to learn how to bargain in a shop or a market. |
| Victor: Right. And the conversation takes place in a shop. |
| Amber: Yep, between the clerk and the customer. So let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUES |
| Amber: 二十块钱？太贵了！(Èrshí kuài qián? Tài guìle!) |
| Victor: 不贵。(Bú guì.) |
| Amber: 便宜一点儿吧。(Piányì yìdiǎnr ba.) |
| Victor: 十块怎么样？(Shí kuài zěnmeyàng?) |
| Amber: 好的。(Hǎo de.) |
| Amber: One more time a little slower. |
| Amber: 二十块钱？太贵了！(Ershí kuài qián? Tài guì le!) |
| Victor: 不贵。(Bú guì.) |
| Amber: 便宜一点儿吧。(Piányì yìdiǎnr ba.) |
| Victor: 十块怎么样？(Shí kuài zěnmeyàng?) |
| Amber: 好的。(Hǎo de.) |
| Amber: One more time with the English. |
| Amber: 二十块钱？太贵了！(Ershí kuài qián? Tài guì le!) |
| Amber: 20 Renminbi, that's too expensive. |
| Victor: 不贵。(Bú guì.) |
| Amber: It's not expensive. |
| Amber: 便宜一点儿吧。(Piányì yìdiǎnr ba.) |
| Amber: Could you make it a little cheaper? |
| Victor: 十块怎么样？(Shí kuài zěnmeyàng?) |
| Amber: How about 10 Renminbi? |
| Amber: 好的。(Hǎo de.) |
| Amber: Okay. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Amber: Okay. Well, this person is clearly an expert, Victor, because he got half off just like that. I don’t know if that will happen every day, people. But... |
| Victor: Yeah, I mean, I think so. I mean, for two experts, like a lot of people where you can easily got 80% off. |
| Amber: Really? |
| Victor: Yeah, I think some people will be surprised by just how much price you can easily cut down. |
| Amber: Wow, the master speaks. |
| Victor: The master. |
| Amber: Learn from the master. |
| Victor: We'll share with you in the coming lesson in this lesson, so listen on. |
| Amber: Okay. But for now, we'll take a look at the vocabulary. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Victor: And now, the vocab section. |
| Victor: 二十(èrshí) |
| Amber: Twenty. |
| Victor: 塊(kuài) |
| Amber: Measure word for money. |
| Victor: 錢(qián) |
| Amber: Money. |
| Victor: 太(tài) |
| Amber: Too. |
| Victor: 貴(guì) |
| Amber: Expensive. |
| Victor: 了(le) |
| Amber: Particle. |
| Victor: 不(bù) |
| Amber: Negative prefix. |
| Victor: 便宜(piányì) |
| Amber: Inexpensive. |
| Victor: 一點兒(yìdiǎnr) |
| Amber: A little. |
| Victor: 吧(ba) |
| Amber: Particle denote suggestion. |
| Victor: 十(shí) |
| Amber: Ten. |
| Victor: 怎麼樣(zěnmeyàng) |
| Amber: How about it? |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Amber: Okay. Let's have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases |
| Victor: Okay. So of course, we have some essential shopping vocabulary for China for you. We've learned a word for inexpensive before which is 便宜(piányì). Now, today, we hear the word for expensive, which is 贵(guì). And its fourth tone, 贵(guì) |
| Amber: Right. A great opener for Chinese bargaining, complaining about it being too expensive. |
| Victor: It works every time. |
| Amber: 贵(guì). Great. |
| Victor: Once you've done that, they know that you're not easy to do plead off foreigner hopefully raise. |
| Amber: Yes, hopefully. That's the goal you have in mind. |
| Victor: To bust out some Chinese local phrases. |
| Amber: That will help. So today, we also have a little overview of numbers, which is going to be also very important to make sure that you know the price that you're agreeing to. |
| Victor: Right. |
| Amber: So we learned the numbers up to 20 in some previous lessons. Does everybody remember them? If you did, you would recognize today's price quote which was... |
| Victor: ‘二十’(èrshí) and it was 20. |
| Amber: Yeah. And the final phrase after the successful negotiation, Victor, that he got was... |
| Victor: 十(shí). |
| Amber: Which is the word for 10. |
| Victor: Uh-hmm. |
| Amber: Yeah, and we also heard a great word to use for bargaining and it's actually a great word for a lot of things in Chinese. You'll hear it come up quite often. |
| Victor: Right. And that is the word 怎么样(zěnmeyàng).. |
| Amber: Right, 怎么样(zěnmeyàng).. It basically means how about it or how's that. |
| Victor: Right. 怎(Zěn) is a third tone. 么(Me) is neutral tone. 样(Yàng) is fourth tone. |
| Amber: Right. So the way you can use 怎么样(Zěnme yàng) is kind of like in our dialogue. That shop owner threw out of price and then he wants to know what you think of it. So he says 怎么样?(Zěnme yàng?) |
| Victor: Right. Or in reverse, you could try to, say, after the shopkeeper says the price, you could throw out something cheaper and then say 怎么样？(Zěnme yàng?) |
| Amber: Yeah, so you're basically saying the number and then 怎么样?(Zěnme yàng?) How about it? |
| Victor: Right. |
| Amber: Making your offer. |
| Victor: Yes. |
| Amber: So let's do a little demonstration of how it's done, Victor. |
| Victor: Okay. |
| Amber: Okay. So you'll be the... |
| Victor: I'll be the customer. You can be the shopkeeper. |
| Amber: Okay. So, Victor, you want to buy this Gucci bag. It's 100% authentic. |
| Victor: Okay. |
| Amber: Made in Italy. The price is only 400 Renminbi. So, the word for 400 in Chinese is 四百(Sìbǎi) So I say to you ‘四百块！很便宜！(Sìbǎi kuài! Hěn piányí!), 400, very cheap. |
| Victor: And I can say 很贵！五十块怎么样？(Hěn guì! Wǔshí kuài zěnme yàng?). |
| Amber: So he said, "Very expensive. 50 Renminbi, how about that?" "50 quay, are you kidding me?" |
| Victor: Alright. |
| Amber: I'm insulted as the shopkeeper, Victor. So what do we do in real life at this point. Here's where the coaching comes in. This is beyond language. |
| Victor: Sometimes or scenario number one, you slowly walk away. |
| Amber: Yes. You have to be willing to walk away to get the best price. |
| Victor: Well, of course, you're not really walking away. Just, you know, kind of like playing the game a little bit. |
| Amber: Yes. |
| Victor: Give them enough time to kind of like catch you up and give you a better offer. |
| Amber: That's right. Sometimes you got to play the game if you want to win. |
| Victor: Sometimes, though, you don’t have to do anything. Sometimes they just give in. |
| Amber: Yep. |
| Victor: You know, for example, I bought a wallet and I was telling a friend about this story the other day, I bought a wallet in Beijing and the girl cut out like 200, 300, I was like 30, and she's like 35. I'm like fine. |
| Amber: Yes, sometimes they must get tired. |
| Victor: Right. |
| Amber: Okay. And the other tip is that if you do walk away and they don’t call you back, there's probably like 200 other stalls selling the same thing. So really, you don’t have much to lose. |
| Victor: So sometimes you kind of have to walk around all the market first like come back, come back to the places you really like. |
| Amber: That's right. The insider's guide to bargaining in China. |
| Victor: You'll thank us. |
| Amber: The sellers are going to like put a hit on our heads. |
| Victor: Right. |
| Amber: We ruined it for them. |
| GRAMMAR POINT |
| Amber: Okay. So now, let's look at some grammar before we give away too many of the secrets. |
| Victor: Right. |
| Amber: Okay. So bargaining is the time definitely for the use of emphasis and hyperbole. So, we're going to help you learn a little bit of dramatic speech here. It will help you when you're dealing with the shopkeeper. So here's a phrase that will help you add emphasis to your speech, a sentence pattern. |
| Victor: Right. We heard it in a dialogue when the customer express outrage at the high price of 20 quay. He said 太贵了！(Tài guìle!). 太(Tài) is fourth tone, 贵(Guì) is fourth tone, 了(Le) is the neutral tone. |
| Amber: Right. So this sentence pattern is made up of the word for too, like T-O-O, in Chinese, like too much, which is 太(Tài) fourth tone as he mentioned, then we slot in the adjective that we're trying to emphasize which in this case was expensive. And then the 了(Le) particle to close things off. And what it means basically is too expensive or kind of like so expensive. |
| Victor: So expensive, right. |
| Amber: 太贵了(Tài guìle) |
| Victor: So you can use this structure anytime you want to emphasize an adjective. Just swap out the ‘贵(Guì)’ and substitute in another one. |
| Amber: Right. So maybe the shopkeeper could counter his 太贵了！(Tài guìle!) with a 太便宜了！(Tài piányíle!) It's too cheap, it's too cheap, right? |
| Victor: Yeah, or another one you'll hear a lot is ‘太好了！(Tài hǎole!) |
| Amber: That means like we know the word 好(Hǎo) means good. |
| Victor: Yeah, ‘太好了！(Tài hǎole!) which means “too good.” But generally, its use as an expression for when you're saying something is great. |
| Amber: Yeah, hi, hello, great. |
| Victor: Yeah, it's not like too good, but it's oh, great. |
| Amber: Yeah. And you can also use it when you're describing a person. For example, I could say Victor, 太高了！(Tài gāole!). Victor is so tall. |
| Victor: Yes. 高(Gāo) being the word for tall. |
| Amber: Yeah. |
| Victor: 高(Gāo) first tone. And Amber is, too. |
| Amber: Yes? Oh, thanks, Victor. |
| Victor: Yeah. |
| Amber: Okay. Well, I think most of all this grammar is 太好(Tài hǎo) |
| Victor: Yes. |
| Amber: Because we have another couple really good grammar points that we can still teach from the dialogue. |
| Victor: We heard our next two important points in the sentence 便宜一点儿吧。(Piányí yīdiǎn er ba.) |
| Amber: Right. Now, we know that 便宜(Piányí) means inexpensive. |
| Victor: Uh-hmm. |
| Amber: But tact on, we have 一点儿(Yīdiǎn er) |
| Victor: 一点儿(Yīdiǎn er) |
| Amber: Now, we've heard this word before. We learned another grammar structure, remember? That we use it to express that something is “a little too”.. something. |
| Victor: Right. |
| Amber: Remember in Lesson 18, we heard about the subway stop being a little bit far. Well how, what was that again, Victor? |
| Victor: 点儿远。(Diǎn er yuǎn.) |
| Amber: Right. |
| Victor: But today's use of 一点儿 or 点儿(Yīdiǎn er or diǎn er) is a little different. It is used to make a request suggesting or requesting something to be a little bit more something. |
| Amber: In this case, it was a little bit cheaper. |
| Victor: So 便宜一点儿吧。(Piányí yīdiǎn er ba.). |
| Amber: Right. And the clincher to the suggestion lies actually here in our suggestion particle, which we hear at the end of that sentence being... |
| Victor: 吧(Ba) |
| Amber: Right. |
| Victor: So we've learned a couple other particles. That are used Chinese to add a certain feeling to a sentence. When you have a statement in Chinese and at this 吧(Ba) on to the end, it makes it into a suggestion or substance to tone of the sentence. |
| Amber: Yes. So, in this case, you're not commanding the shopkeeper to give it to you cheaper. You're just making a little suggestion. |
| Victor: Right. |
| Amber: So, let me see like some other comments, suggestions, sentences we could use to structure for. How about, I know this one, Victor. You're in a rush and maybe you want to suggest to the taxi driver that he go a little faster. What would you say? |
| Victor: Oh, I'm not sure that's a good idea. But for the sake of the lesson... |
| Amber: I was late for the airport, and that time, I really needed to suggest it. |
| Victor: Okay. Well, for the sake of the lesson and in case of extreme emergencies, you can say 快一点吧(Kuài yīdiǎn ba). |
| Amber: Right. 快(Kuài) being the word for fast, fourth tone. |
| Victor: Uh-hmm. |
| Amber: And you can also, don’t forget, you can leave out the E, you can just say 快一点吧(Kuài yīdiǎn ba) |
| Victor: Yeah. |
| Amber: And I mean, on that note, as we mentioned maybe you might have the opposite problem. You might actually be wanting to tell the taxi driver to slow down a little. |
| Victor: Slow down. |
| Amber: So why don't we teach them that too, that might be the better phrase. |
| Victor: Yeah, in that case, you can say 慢一点儿吧(Màn yīdiǎn er ba). |
| Amber: 慢(Màn) fourth tone, being the word for slowly. |
| Victor: Yes, 慢一点儿吧(Màn yīdiǎn er ba). |
| Amber: Great. We're fully equipped for any situation now, Victor. |
| Amber: Okay, well, that basically does it for today. Don’t forget, everybody, before we listen to the dialogue one more time, we want to remind you to stop by ChineseClass101.com and get the lesson notes for today's lesson. It has the vocab, sample sentences, grammar explanations, even cultural insights. |
| Victor: And seeing in Chinese really helps you to remember faster. |
| Amber: That's right. So go have a look at that and we will leave you with the dialogue one more time. |
Outro |
|---|
| Amber:再见!(Zàijiàn!) |
| Victor:再见!(Zàijiàn!) |
Easily master this lesson’s grammar points with in-depth explanations and examples. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Comments
Hide