Learn to ask, "How much?"
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| Salut, je m'appelle Ingrid. Hi everybody! I’m Ingrid. |
| Welcome to FrenchPod101.com’s “Le français en 3 minutes”. The fastest, easiest, and most fun way to learn French. |
| In the last lesson we learned how to count in French. I hope you spent some time practicing the numbers, because they will come in handy today. We’re going to learn how to go shopping in France! |
| Before we go, you need to know how to say “How much is it?” |
| Combien ça coûte? |
| [slowly] Combien ça coûte? |
| Are you ready to go shopping in France? Let’s go! |
| You see something you like and want to ask the shop clerk how much it costs. The first thing to say to a shop clerk is…excusez-moi, do you remember what that means? "Excuse me!" |
| Excusez-moi, Combien ça coûte? |
| [slowly] Excusez-moi, Combien ça coûte? |
| If we want to be more specific when asking "how much is this?" and refer to a certain type of object, we first need to drop the word ça. Next, we need to know if the object is a feminine or masculine object. If it is masculine add ce when referring to it, or cette for a feminine object. And then say the noun. |
| For example, "hat" is a masculine. Chapeau. |
| Excusez-moi, Combien coûte ce chapeau? "Excuse me, how much is this hat?" |
| [slowly] Excusez-moi, Combien coûte ce chapeau? |
| And “skirt” is a feminine noun. Jupe. |
| Excusez-moi, Combien coûte cette jupe? |
| "Excuse me, how much is this skirt?" |
| [slowly] Excusez-moi, Combien coûte cette jupe? |
| [E screen-ws] |
| At this point the shop clerk can answer by saying: |
| Ça coûte … |
| Ça fait… |
| or C’est… |
| For example: |
| Ça coûte trente-neuf euros! |
| Ça fait trente-neuf euros ! |
| or |
| C’est trente-neuf euros! |
| What number is trente-neuf ? I’m not telling you! Okay, okay, it’s "thirty-nine"! "It costs thirty-nine euros." |
| Now it’s time for Ingrid’s Insights. |
| A quicker way to ask “How much?” is C’est combien? Which literally means “How much?” Even when you ask for a café at the counter of an French bar, you can ask the cashier un café c’est combien s’il vous plaiî? “One espresso please, how much is it?” |
| At this point, can you count euros in French? We are going to learn how to do this and much more in the next lesson! |
| Ill be waiting for you in our next Le français en 3 minutes lesson. |
| A bientôt! |
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