Alice walks around the Beijing market and finds the perfect unique oriental painting. She really loves the painting and back home she thinks it could be worth a lot more. But it all depends on how much it costs. So she decides to ask how much the painting cost. Luckily before coming to China she was smart enough to learn some basic chinese. And one of the things she learned was how to ask “how much?” in chinese. So after filling her lungs with air and excitement and after pointing at what she wanted, she asks “多少钱？”. The shop owner with a big smile on her face replies: 一千快(1000 yuan). Alice thinking it was cheap but knowing that in China you can bargain said 太贵, too expensive！ Can you make it cheaper? 能不能便宜一点儿？ The shop owner said 八百块. This made Alice very happy not only because she managed to say something in Chinese but also because she managed to buy a unique painting for a paltry 800yuan. If you want to know whether Alice really got a good bargain and what other words she could have used to get a cheaper price, please tune in to this podcast with Teresa Wu.

If you listened to this podcast then try our chinese test to see whether you really did understand our lesson!