Shopping and Prices

Vocabulary for Shopping

In this chapter you learn how to handle very simple shopping situations in Persian. You will be able to understand basic price questions, ask how much something costs, and buy everyday items in a store or market. We stay in the present and with short, fixed expressions.

Basic Shopping Words

To shop in Persian, a few nouns appear again and again.

The word for store or shop is مغازه /maghāze/. You also hear فروشگاه /forūshgāh/ for a larger, often more modern shop, such as a supermarket. The word for market, especially a traditional one, is بازار /bāzār/.

The word for money is پول /pul/. The most common everyday word for price is قیمت /gheymat/. Item, thing, or product is چیز /chiz/ or جنس /jens/, depending on context. As a beginner, you can simply say چیز /chiz/ for “thing”.

When you want to refer to a seller, you can say فروشنده /forūshande/ “salesperson, seller”. The buyer or customer is مشتری /moshtarī/.

Memorize these words, because they will appear in many dialogues about shopping.

Asking and Talking About Prices

The central question in any shopping situation is “How much is this?” In Persian, the most practical and common question is:

این چند است؟
/in chand ast?/
“How much is this?”

In everyday speech, people usually drop است /ast/ (the full form of “is”) and say:

این چنده؟
/in chande?/
“How much is this?”

Here این /in/ means “this”. چند /chand/ here means “how much”. The extra ه /-e/ at the end in چنده /chande/ is the spoken form that connects چند and the hidden “is”.

If you want to ask about the price of something specific that you know the name of, you can say:

قیمتِ این چنده؟
/gheymat‑e in chande?/
“What is the price of this?”

The little vowel “e” in قیمتِ /gheymat‑e/ is just a connector sound to join two nouns.

You can also ask about “that” (a bit farther away) by using آن /ān/ or, in informal spoken speech, اون /un/:

اون چنده؟
/un chande?/
“How much is that?”

The short and very useful question:

چنده؟
/chande?/
“how much is it?”

works well when both you and the seller are looking at the same item.

Currency and Saying Prices

In Iran, the official currency unit is ریال /rīāl/, but in daily life people talk in تومان /tomān/. A تومان /tomān/ is commonly used as if it equals ten ریال /rīāl/, but as a beginner you only need تومان /tomān/ to understand and say prices.

The word تومان /tomān/ often appears in speech as تومن /toman/ with a short “o” sound, and many people do not clearly pronounce the “ā”. You should recognize both.

Here are some common patterns:

۱۰۰ تومان
صد تومان
/sad tomān/
“one hundred tomans”

۵۰۰ تومان
پانصد تومان
/pān‑sad tomān/
“five hundred tomans”

۱,۰۰۰ تومان
هزار تومان
/hezār tomān/
“one thousand tomans”

A seller might say:

ده هزار تومن.
/deh hezār toman./
“Ten thousand tomans.”

You can also ask:

چند تومنه؟
/chand tomane?/
“How many tomans is it?” meaning “How much is it in tomans?”

The ending ه /‑e/ in تومنه /tomane/ is the spoken form of “is.”

When you answer, place the number before تومان /tomān/:

بیست تومن.
/bist toman./
“Twenty tomans.”

پنجاه تومن.
/panjāh toman./
“Fifty tomans.”

If you want to be very explicit, you can say:

قیمتش ده هزار تومنه.
/gheymat‑esh deh hezār tomane./
“The price is ten thousand tomans.”

Here قیمتش /gheymat‑esh/ means “its price.” You will learn more about this way of saying “its” in a later chapter, but you can memorize this whole sentence as a useful pattern.

Useful Verbs and Expressions in Shops

A very common verb in shopping is داشتن /dāshtan/ “to have.” You can ask:

دارید ...؟
/dārid ...?/
“Do you have ... ?”

For example:

نان دارید؟
/nān dārid?/
“Do you have bread?”

آب معدنی دارید؟
/āb‑e ma'danī dārid?/
“Do you have mineral water?”

Add ببخشید /bebakhshid/ “excuse me” at the beginning to be polite:

ببخشید، نان دارید؟
/bebakhshid, nān dārid?/
“Excuse me, do you have bread?”

When you want to buy something, a simple and practical phrase is:

... می‌خواهم.
/ ... mikhāham./
“I want ...”

For example:

این رو می‌خواهم.
/in ro mikhāham./
“I want this.”

دو تا نان می‌خواهم.
/do tā nān mikhāham./
“I want two breads.”

In spoken, informal Persian, you very often hear می‌خوام /mikhām/ for “I want” instead of می‌خواهم /mikhāham/. Both are useful to recognize, but at this level you can focus on the full form.

The little word رو /ro/ marks an object that you are talking about. You will study it in detail later, but in this chapter you can simply memorize fixed expressions like این رو می‌خواهم “I want this.”

To accept a price or confirm your wish to buy, you can say:

باشه.
/bāshe./
“Okay.”

قبول است.
/ghabūl ast./
“That is acceptable.” or “Okay, agreed.”
Spoken: قبولِه /ghabūle/.

To say “too expensive,” you can use:

خیلی گرونه.
/kheylī gerūne./
“It is very expensive.”

The formal adjective is گران /gerān/ “expensive,” but in speech people usually say گرون /gerūn/ or گرونه /gerūne/ “it is expensive.”

Simple Dialogues in a Shop

You now have enough expressions to follow simple, slow dialogues in a small shop.

Example 1, buying bread:

مشتری:
ببخشید، نان دارید؟
/bebakhshid, nān dārid?/
“Excuse me, do you have bread?”

فروشنده:
بله، داریم.
/bale, dārim./
“Yes, we have.”

مشتری:
قیمتِ نان چنده؟
/gheymat‑e nān chande?/
“How much is the bread?”

فروشنده:
پنج هزار تومنه.
/panj hezār tomane./
“It is five thousand tomans.”

مشتری:
باشه، دو تا نان می‌خواهم.
/bāshe, do tā nān mikhāham./
“Okay, I want two breads.”

Example 2, asking the price of an item you point at:

مشتری:
ببخشید، این چنده؟
/bebakhshid, in chande?/
“Excuse me, how much is this?”

فروشنده:
ده هزار تومن.
/deh hezār toman./
“Ten thousand tomans.”

مشتری:
خیلی گرونه.
/kheylī gerūne./
“It is very expensive.”

Or, if you accept:

مشتری:
باشه، این رو می‌خواهم.
/bāshe, in ro mikhāham./
“Okay, I want this.”

Example 3, in a market:

مشتری:
سیب دارید؟
/sīb dārid?/
“Do you have apples?”

فروشنده:
بله، داریم.
/bale, dārim./
“Yes, we have.”

مشتری:
یک کیلو سیب چنده؟
/yek kīlo sīb chande?/
“How much is one kilo of apples?”

فروشنده:
بیست هزار تومن.
/bist hezār toman./
“Twenty thousand tomans.”

You will learn numbers systematically in the earlier chapter on numbers, but in this chapter it is important that you recognize at least a few, like ده /deh/ “ten,” بیست /bist/ “twenty,” and هزار /hezār/ “thousand,” when they are used in prices.

Polite Phrases Around Payment

When you pay, some very common expressions appear. If you give your money and want to say “Here you are,” you can say:

بفرمایید.
/befarmāyid./
“Here you are.” (also “please go ahead,” “come in,” etc.)

A typical closing exchange in a shop:

مشتری:
بفرمایید.
/befarmāyid./
“Here you are.” (giving the money)

فروشنده:
مرسی.
/mersī./
“Thanks.” (informal)

or:

متشکرم.
/moteshakkeram./
“Thank you.” (more formal)

At this level you do not need long politeness formulas, but it is good to recognize بفرمایید /befarmāyid/ as a very frequent shop word. You will meet it again in other situations such as being offered food or being invited to enter a room.

Vocabulary Table for “Shopping and Prices”