Lesson 5: Buying

Buying

Situation: Mr. Smith wants to buy something at a kiosk.

店員: いらっしゃい。

tenin: irassahi.

スミス: この新聞を下ください。 

kono shinbun wo kudasai.

店員: はい、どうぞ。

hai, douzo.

スミス: いくらですか。

Smith: ikura desu ka?

店員: １３０円です。

130 yen (pronounced en) desu.

ありがとうございました。

arigatougozaimashita.

Sales Assistant: Welcome. 

Smith: This Newspaper, please.

Sales Assistant: Here you go.

Smith: How much is it?

Sales Assistant: 130 Yen.

Thank you.

Description

いらっしゃい irasshai

a more informal way of  いらっしゃい we learned in Lesson 4. Often used in smaller business or to regular customers.

いくらですか。ikura desu ka

also いくら (less formal) and  おいくらですか (more formal). Normally, there are electronical cash registers, but if you don´t understand the price you can also say 紙に書いてください kami ni kaitekudasai, which means "Can you please write it on a paper". Or let them type it into your mobile phone's Calculator (be creative, there is always a way^^).

ありがとうございました。arigatougozaimashita.

in this case you may hear the perfect form of arigatougozaimasu, since the transaction is complete and is also used to say goodbye to the customer. In a Supermarket or a shop you may also here また, お越しください mata okoshikudasai, which means "Please visit us again".

Situation: Mr. want to buy a Ticket to Nagoya.

スミス: 名古屋（まで）一枚いちまい。

Smith: Nagoya (made) ichimai.

駅員: 往復ですか。

ekiin: oufuku desu ka?

スミス: いいえ、片道です。

Smith: iie, katamichi desu.

おいくらですか。

oikura desu ka.

駅員 : ５３００円です。

eikiin: 5300 en desu.

Smith: One Ticket to Nagoya.

Employee: Round Trip?

Smith: No, one-way.

How much is it?

Employee: 5300 Yen.

往復 oufuku

Round Trip. This can become tricky if you can't really speak Japanese and have to say which day you want to come back. With  "~日間" you could state, how many days you will stay. Or you could just buy a one-way Ticket now and do the same again on the other day.

片道 katamichi

means one-way.