Shopping & Money
Shopping & Money
Shopping phrases put möchte and the accusative case to work again in a new context, plus introduce kosten (to cost) and Euro pricing conventions that differ slightly from English habits.
Grammar Comparison
Grammar Comparison
Prices: comma for decimals, not a period
3,50 Euro (drei Euro fünfzig)
3.50 euros (three euros fifty)
English uses a period/decimal point for cents ("$3.50") and a comma for thousands ("3,500"). German does the exact opposite: a comma separates euros from cents (3,50 €) and a period marks thousands (3.500 €). When reading German prices or numbers written digitally, don't misread 3.500 as "three point five" — it means three thousand five hundred.
kosten (to cost) + accusative
Das kostet zehn Euro. (That costs ten euros.)
That costs ten euros.
kosten behaves just like its English equivalent "to cost" — subject, verb, then the price as the object. Since numbers themselves don't carry gender or case, there's nothing extra to inflect here; this is a comfortably easy verb to start using immediately.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
| German | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| das Geld | dahs gelt | the money |
| der Preis | dair prys | the price |
| Was kostet das? | vahs KOS-tet dahs | How much does this cost? |
| Das kostet zehn Euro. | dahs KOS-tet tsayn OY-roh | That costs ten euros. |
| billig | BIL-likh | cheap |
| teuer | TOY-er | expensive |
| die Kasse | dee KAH-seh | the checkout/register |
| bar bezahlen | bar beh-TSAH-len | to pay cash |
| mit Karte bezahlen | mit KAR-teh beh-TSAH-len | to pay by card |
| Ich hätte gern... | ikh HET-teh gairn | I would like... (polite, shopping) |