Learn more useful phrases and tips for shopping
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| INTRODUCTION |
| In Pakistan, haggling at the markets is very common. These little markets are sometimes temporary street markets where you can find everything from food and clothes to antiquities. In these places, you will be able to use the Survival Phrases you will learn in this lesson. Don't be afraid to use your Urdu when speaking to the merchants. If you don’t use the survival phrases, it is possible that you will end up paying more because merchants will know you have no idea of the markets. Moreover, try to go to more than one of the merchants who are selling the same things just to compare prices. Are you ready to have fun at the baazar or "market"? |
| BODY |
| When you enter a market, or in Urdu, baazar, 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 Urdu, that is Suniye, ye kitnay ka hai? |
| (slow) Suniye, ye kitnay ka hai? |
| Suniye, ye kitnay ka hai? |
| As soon as they tell you, you can start bargaining to lower the price. Please note that this is very common at Pakistani markets, so don't be shy; try to say "Can you lower the price?" you can say Kia app qemat kam kar saktay hain? |
| Let's repeat the whole phrase once more. |
| (slow) Kia app qemat kam kar saktay hain? |
| Kia app qemat kam kar saktay hain? |
| Let's have a look at this phrase. We start the question with Kia app meaning “can you”. Next, we have qeemat, meaning “price”. Then we have kam kar saktay hain, meaning “lower”. |
| Let's repeat the whole phrase once again. "Can you lower the price?" |
| Kia app qemant kam kar saktay hain? |
| (slow) Kia app qemant kam kar saktay hain? |
| Kia app qemant kam kar saktay hain? |
| If you’re speaking to a female merchant, you should say Kia app qemant kam kar sakti hain? |
| Replace the masculine saktay with sakti. Let's hear it one more time: Kia app qemant kam kar sakti hain? |
| 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 Bohat mehanga. It means, "too expensive." Note mehanga is used for masculine and mehangi is used for feminine. |
| (slow) Bohat mehanga |
| Bohat mehanga |
| 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 way, in other words, you want to establish your own price as the one you will bargain for. The merchant has just told you that the bag costs 150 rupees—rupees is the currency used in Pakistan. You desperately want that bag, but it's too expensive and you want to suggest one hundred rupees. |
| In that case, if you are a man, you can say, Mai iske aik soo rupay dunga, which means "I will give you one hundred rupees for this." Let's repeat the whole phrase. |
| (slow)Mai iske aik soo rupay dunga |
| Mai iske aik soo rupay dunga |
| First, we have Mei, which literally means, "I" |
| (slow) Mei |
| Mei |
| Then we have iske meaning “for this”. |
| (slow) iske |
| iske |
| Then we have aik soo rupay which means “one hundred rupees”. |
| (slow) aik soo rupay |
| aik soo rupay |
| We finish with dunga, which means, "will give" |
| (slow) dunga |
| dunga |
| If you are a woman, you need to change dunga to dungi. |
| Let’s hear it for a woman. |
| Mai iske aik soo rupay dungi |
| (slow)Mai iske aik soo rupay dungi |
| Mai iske aik soo rupay dungi |
| If the merchant still refuses you, slowly walk away, and in most cases they will give in. aik soo rupay, aik soo rupay. |
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