Shopping & Money
Shopping & Money
France uses the euro, and shopping conversations lean on a small set of fixed questions and phrases you'll reuse constantly — from a bakery counter to a clothing shop.
Grammar Comparison
Grammar Comparison
Combien ça coûte ? / Ça coûte...
Combien ça coûte ? (How much does this cost?) — Ça coûte quinze euros. (It costs 15 euros.)
How much does this cost? — It costs 15 euros.
coûter ('to cost') is a regular -er verb, and the question almost always uses the pronoun ça ('this/that') as the subject rather than naming the specific item — Ça coûte combien ? works just as well as Combien ça coûte ?, with the question word simply moved to the end, a common casual-register move that has no direct English equivalent (English can't naturally move 'how much' to the end of the sentence the same way).
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
| French | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| combien ça coûte ? | kohm-bee-ahn sah KOOT | how much does this cost? |
| ça coûte... | sah KOOT | it costs... |
| c'est trop cher | say troh SHAIR | it's too expensive |
| un euro | uhn uh-ROH | one euro |
| un centime | uhn sahn-TEEM | one cent |
| la caisse | lah kes | the checkout/register |
| payer | pay-YAY | to pay |
| la carte bancaire | lah kart bahn-KAIR | the bank/debit card |
| en espèces | ahn nes-PESS | in cash |
| le prix | luh pree | the price |
| une réduction | oon ray-duk-see-OHN | a discount |
| un reçu | uhn ruh-SU | a receipt |