Wednesday, November 6, 2019
Basic Vocabulary Youll Need to Go Shopping in France
Basic Vocabulary You'll Need to Go Shopping in France If you are shopping in France, youll need to know the lingo. You could just stick with one shop or market, go in, pay and get out. But most of us do more than that in our search for the right product and the best bargain. You need to be able to read signs so that youre choosing the right shop, getting the best quality, ferreting out authentic bargains and speak intelligently with salespeople. Keep in mind that France (and most of Europe) may have megastores, but most people still shop at their local small shops in order to find the freshest, highest-quality products. So dont discount the words for specialty stores; you will need to know them. Shopping Vocabulary une à ©picerieà à small grocery storele marchà ©Ã à farmers marketle supermarchà ©Ã à supermarketun hypermarchà ©Ã à superstore, giant supermarketla boucherieà à butcher shopla boulangerieà à bakeryla charcuterieà à pork butchers shop and delicatessenla confiserieà à candy storela crà ©merie, la laiterieà à dairyà shopla fromagerieà à cheese shople magasin de fruits et là ©gumesà à greengrocerle marchand de vinsà à wine shopla pà ¢tisserieà à pastry shopla poissonnerieà à fish storela banqueà à bankla blanchisserieà à laundrylaà laverie automatiqueà laundromatla droguerieà à drugstore / hardware storele grand magasinà à department storele kiosqueà à newsstandle magasin de confectionà femme/homme/enfants clothing storeà for women, men, children;à magasin de và ªtementsà à clothing store in generalla pharmacieà à pharmacyla posteà à post officele pressingà à dry cleanerla q uincaillerieà à hardware storele tabacà à tobacco shopfaire les coursesà à to do theà shopping [for essentials];à aller faire les courses to go shoppingfaire du shoppingà à to go shopping, to shop [for specific items such as shoes];à partir faire les magasins to go on a shopping trip/expedition les soldes the sales; faire les soldes to shop the salesclient /à personne qui faire ses courses shopperà ªtre accro au shoppingà to be a shopaholiccherà (chà ¨re) expensive; coà »ter cher à to be expensiveà a bargain une affaire; a good bargain une bonne affaire;à bargain prices prix avantageuxmarchander to bargain, to haggle;à negocier, traiter avec quelquun to bargain with someoneheuresà douverture business / shop hoursà à à Expressions Related to Shopping Bon marchà ©:à can be translated as either inexpensive or cheap. Bon marchà ©Ã can be both positive, indicating a reasonable price, and negative, insulting the products quality. Bon rapport qualità ©-prix:à The French expressionà un bon rapport qualità ©-prix, sometimes writtenà un bon rapport qualità © / prix, indicates that the price of some product or service (a bottle of wine, car, restaurant, hotel) is more than fair. Youll often see it or a variation in reviews and promotional materials.à To talk about a better value, you can make the comparative or superlative form of bon, as in: un meilleur rapport qualità ©-prixà better valuele meilleur rapport qualità ©-prixà à best value To say that something is not a good value, you can either negate the sentence or use an antonym: Ce nest pas un bon rapport qualità ©-prix. /à à Il na pas un bon rapport qualità ©-prix.à Its not a good valueun mauvais rapport qualità ©-prixà poor valuele pire rapport qualità ©-prixà worst value While less common, its also possible to use a different adjective altogether, such as un rapport qualità ©-prix incroyableà amazing valueun rapport qualità ©-prix intà ©ressantà good valueun faible rapport qualità ©-prixà poor value Cest cadeau: is a casual, informal expression meaningà Its free. Its inexpensive. The underlying meaning is thatà youre getting something extra that you werent expecting, like a freebie. It can be from a store, a boutique or a friend doing you a favor. It doesnt necessarily involve money. Note that Cest un cadeau with the article is a simple non-idiomatic, declarative sentence that means It is a gift. Noà «l malin: The informal French expressionà Noà «l malinà refers to Christmas.à Malin meansà something thatsà shrewd or cunning. But this expression isnââ¬â¢t describing Christmas or the sales, but rather the consumer- the cunning consumer who is far too smart to pass up these amazing bargains. At least thatââ¬â¢s the idea. When a store saysà Noà «l malin, what theyââ¬â¢re really saying isà Noà «l (pour le) malin (Christmas for the clever.) For example, Offres Noà «l malin Christmas offers [for the savvy shopper]à TTC: is an acronym that appears on receipts and it refers to the grand total that you owe for a given purchase. The initials TTC stand forà toutes taxes comprisesà (all taxes included). TTC lets you know what you will actually be paying for a product or service. Most prices are quoted as TTC, but not all, so its essential to pay attention to the fine print. The opposite ofà TTCà isà HT, which stands forà hors taxe; this isà the base price before the addition of the European Union-mandatedà TVAà (value-added tax), which stands at 20 percent in France for most goods and services.
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