Thursday, August 18, 2011

Do you want to buy or sell?

The words for buy and sell have the same pronunciation in Chinese language. Even the characters look similar.

(mǎi): buy

(mài): sell

Thank god the tones are different. So make sure you get the tones right.


If you want to (mǎi) then why not learn some of the words below?

买东西 (mǎi dōngxi): to go shopping

购物中心 (gòuwù zhōngxīn): shopping center

商店 (shāngdiàn): shop/store


Whenever I went shopping in China, one phrase I used a lot was

太贵了 (tài guì le): too expensive

(guì): expensive


Make sure you use it a lot too and always ask for a discount

打折 (dǎzhé): to give a discount

便宜一点儿 (piányi yīdiǎn er): a bit cheaper

便宜 (piányi): cheap

免费 (miǎnfèi): free

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