Learn more useful phrases and tips for shopping
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| INTRODUCTION |
| In South Africa, haggling is possible at some informal places like at a farmer’s market or at street markets. You can find everything there, from food to clothes. In these places you’ll be able to use the survival phrases from this lesson. Don't be afraid to use your Afrikaans when speaking to the merchants. Are you ready to have fun at the market? |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Upon entering a market, or in Afrikaans, mark, you will find a variety of colorful stalls and will no doubt immediately find something that interests you. |
| Normally, if you are interested in buying something you’d say "Excuse me, how much is this?" In Afrikaans, that is Verskoon my, hoeveel kos dit? |
| (slow) Verskoon my, hoeveel kos dit? |
| Verskoon my, hoeveel kos dit? |
| As soon as they tell you, you can start bargaining to lower the price. We can't guarantee that the seller will lower the price, but it's worth a try. To ask "Can you lower the price ?" you can say Kan jy die prys verlaag? |
| Let's repeat the whole phrase once more. |
| (slow) Kan jy die prys verlaag? |
| Kan jy die prys verlaag? |
| Let's have a look at this phrase. We start the question with Kan, which we’ll get into in a minute. Next, we have jy, meaning “you.” Then we have die prys, meaning “the price.” |
| The last word of the sentence is verlaag which means "to lower." Let's repeat the whole phrase once again. "Can you lower the price?" |
| Kan jy die prys verlaag? |
| (slow) Kan jy die prys verlaag? |
| Kan jy die prys verlaag? |
| If you’re speaking to a male merchant, add the word meneer at the end, which means “sir.” Kan jy die prys verlaag, meneer ? "Can you lower the price, sir?" |
| (slow) Kan jy die prys verlaag, meneer ? |
| Kan jy die prys verlaag, meneer ? |
| At this point, the merchant will start haggling and the final result is in your hands! |
| Another way to express the feeling that something is too expensive and that you want to start haggling, is with Te duur. It means, "too expensive." |
| (slow) Te duur |
| Te duur |
| Let's imagine that you are at a market and you want to buy a bag. You want to suggest your price to the merchant in a straightforward fashion, establishing your own price as the one you will bargain for. The merchant has just told you that the bag costs two hundred rand. You desperately want that bag, but it's too expensive and you want to suggest one hundred and fifty rand. |
| In that case, you can say, Ek sal jou een honderd en vyftig rand daarvoor gee, which means "I will give you one hundred and fifty rand for this." Let's repeat the whole phrase. |
| (slow)Ek sal jou een honderd en vyftig rand daarvoor gee. |
| Ek sal jou een honderd en vyftig rand daarvoor gee. |
| First, we have Ek sal jou, which literally means, "I will you." |
| (slow) Ek sal jou |
| Ek sal jou |
| Then we have een honderd en vyftig rand which means “one hundred and fifty rand.” |
| (slow) een honderd en vyftig rand |
| een honderd en vyftig rand |
| We finish with daarvoor gee, which means, "to give for this." |
| (slow) daarvoor gee |
| daarvoor gee |
| If you can’t make a deal at first keep suggesting the lower number until you finally get your bargain. |
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