how much is this, and is it on sale
module: the grocery store
okay. ten lessons in. you can ask where something is, you can count it, now you need to know what it costs you.
this is the lesson. this is the whole reason you're standing in the aisle instead of just pointing and hoping like i used to do with conduit.
the phrase you actually need
¿cuánto cuesta? — how much does it cost.
that's it. that's the one. say it out loud right now, wherever you're reading this. cuánto cuesta. don't sluff the second word, people rush it into "questa" and it comes out mushy.
if you're holding the thing or pointing at it, you can also say:
¿cuánto cuesta esto? — how much does this cost.
and if there's more than one and you want to know the price for all of them, or per pound, or whatever:
¿cuánto cuestan? — how much do these cost. plural. the n at the end matters, say it.
asking if it's on sale
¿está en oferta? — is it on sale.
some places say rebaja instead of oferta. both work. you'll hear both. don't stress about which one, just recognize either when it comes back at you.
if you want to ask straight up whether something's cheap, or if there's a better price somewhere:
¿tiene algo más barato? — do you have something cheaper.
that one's good for the meat counter, honestly, when you want the guy to point you at whatever's not premium-priced this week.
practical steps for this week
- pick five things in your kitchen right now. can of beans, jar of salsa, whatever's on the counter. practice asking cuánto cuesta esto for each one, out loud, pointing at it like a weirdo. your family will look at you. let them.
- next time you're at macey's or costco, actually read a price tag out loud in spanish before you look at the number in english. slows you down enough to actually process it instead of your brain doing the lazy english-number thing.
- pair the price question with the number lesson from last week. cashier says "seis con noventa y nueve" — six ninety-nine — and you should be able to catch at least the six. that's the win this week. not the whole number. just catching a piece of it in real time.
an honest opinion here
vocab lists are mostly a waste. i said this before and i'll keep saying it because people keep making the lists anyway. you don't need forty grocery words memorized cold. you need cuánto cuesta and está en oferta said out loud a hundred times each until they stop feeling like a performance in your mouth. that's the whole method. ten phrases you actually use beat two hundred you'd recognize on a flashcard and freeze on at the register.
a story, since we're on the topic
ryan and i planned a trip a few years back. never happened, life got in the way, you know how that goes. but before we scrapped it i tried to teach him a few useful phrases. figured he'd want to order food, ask directions, the basics.
he learned exactly one thing. una cerveza por favor. a beer, please.
that's it. that's all he retained. i tried the numbers, i tried cuánto cuesta, i tried please and thank you. none of it stuck except the beer line, and he still busts it out sometimes just to make me laugh.
i've made my peace with it. some people are going to learn one phrase and ride it forever, and honestly, right word right second still counts even if it's the only word you've got. but you all are doing better than ryan. you're on lesson ten. keep going.
before next time
next time you're checking out anywhere, try asking cuánto cuesta at least once, even quietly, even if you already know the price. it's not about needing the answer. it's about getting your mouth used to asking it before you need it for real.