Learn some more useful English phrases and tips for shopping in the UK
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Lower the Price in English |
| As we mentioned in a previous lesson, haggling isn’t common in the UK. However, it does exist, especially at casual markets. So in this lesson, we’ll go over some ways you can ask for a lower price. Hopefully these phrases will help you find some bargains while shopping in the UK! |
| SURVIVAL PHRASES |
| If you want to be polite about asking, you can say: “Could you lower the price a little?” |
| Slowly: Could you lower the price a little? |
| This doesn’t sound too pushy, and is a polite request. |
| ‘Could you’ is the question starter, and ‘lower’ is the adjective for ‘the price’, which is the cost. Finally we have ‘a little’, which makes the sentence sound less forceful. |
| Now here’s another bargaining tactic. You can set a price for an item and then tell the market trader how much you’re willing to pay. Let’s use £20 as an example. So, you can say: “I’ll give you £20 for it.” |
| Slowly: I’ll give you £20 for it. |
| Let’s break this down: ‘I’ll give you’ tells the person how much you want to spend. Next you say the price, which in this case is ‘£20’, followed by ‘for it’, which means the item. |
| Remember to set a reasonable price when using this tactic. If you start too low, then the market trader may not take you seriously and will turn away. A good thing to do is to start at a price that’s not too low, and then meet halfway with the trader. |
| Here are some expressions that might help you show your feelings about an expensive price, which could lead the trader to lowering the cost. You can say, ‘Really?’, and raise your eyebrows. The trick is to put a little softness in your voice to give the impression that you can’t believe the price. ‘Really?’ |
| Another useful expression is: ”That much?” Again, use a little softness in your voice, and raise the intonation at the end of the word ‘much’. This will suggest that you’re shocked at the price. |
| Slowly: That much? |
| If you are really stunned by the price, you could use the word ‘ouch’. This word is usually used when someone is hurting you, so it suggests that the price is painfully high. ‘Ouch’. |
| Okay, to close out this lesson we’d like you to practice what you’ve just learned. I’ll provide you with the phrase, and you’re responsible for shouting it out loud. You have a few seconds before I give you the answer. So good luck! |
| - Could you lower the price a little? |
| - I’ll give you twenty pounds for it |
| - Really? |
| - That much? |
| - Ouch! |
Outro |
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| Alright! That’s going to do it for this lesson. Bye! |
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