Learn how to bargain when you're shopping at a market
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Michael: Hi everyone, and welcome back to FinnishPod101.com. This is Beginner Season 1 Lesson 10 - Getting a Bargain in Finland. Michael Here. |
| Nico: Hei. I'm Nico. |
| Michael: In this lesson, you’ll master fundamental expressions to bargain successfully. The conversation takes place at a market square. |
| Nico: It's between Heikki and a person working at a stall. |
| Michael: The speakers are in an informal customer service situation, so they’ll be using informal Finnish. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Heikki:Päivää! Onpa teillä hyvän näköisiä silakoita myytävänä. |
| Stallholder: No päivää päivää! Kyllä, siinä olisi silakkaa poikineen. Mitä laitetaan kassiin ja kuinka paljon? |
| Heikki: Minkä verran nuo sinappisilakat maksavat? |
| Stallholder: No, sovitaan että saat kilon kuudella (6) eurolla. |
| Heikki: Hieman on kallista.. Saisinko yhtään alennusta? Minulla ei ole kovin paljoa käteistä. |
| Stallholder: Vai niin, no voimme toki neuvotella! Jos ostat kolme (3) kiloa, saat ne viidellätoista (15) eurolla. Ja saat vielä saaristolaisleivän kaupan päälle! |
| Heikki: Kaupat tuli! |
| Michael: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| Heikki:Päivää! Onpa teillä hyvän näköisiä silakoita myytävänä. |
| Stallholder: No päivää päivää! Kyllä, siinä olisi silakkaa poikineen. Mitä laitetaan kassiin ja kuinka paljon? |
| Heikki: Minkä verran nuo sinappisilakat maksavat? |
| Stallholder: No, sovitaan että saat kilon kuudella (6) eurolla. |
| Heikki: Hieman on kallista.. Saisinko yhtään alennusta? Minulla ei ole kovin paljoa käteistä. |
| Stallholder: Vai niin, no voimme toki neuvotella! Jos ostat kolme (3) kiloa, saat ne viidellätoista (15) eurolla. Ja saat vielä saaristolaisleivän kaupan päälle! |
| Heikki: Kaupat tuli! |
| Michael: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Heikki: Good afternoon! My, you have some fine looking herring here for sale. |
| Stallholder: Well, hello hello! Yes, there’s some herring and a few more things! What shall I pack up for you and how much? |
| Heikki: Well, how much do those mustard herring cost? |
| Stallholder: Well, let's agree that you can have a kilo for six euro. |
| Heikki: That’s a little bit expensive... Could I get any discount at all? I don't have that much cash with me. |
| Stallholder: Is that so? Well, we can definitely negotiate! If you buy three kilos, you can get them for fifteen euro. I’ll even throw in some islander bread! |
| Heikki: It's a deal! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Michael: Nico, are market squares common in Finland? |
| Nico: Usually each city or town has their own specific day when a regular market shopping event is held. Frequent events are also organized in market squares around Finland. |
| Michael: What kinds of special events are there? |
| Nico: You’ll find things like the Baltic Herring Fair in Helsinki, or the Christmas markets. |
| Michael: Are the markets held in the open air? |
| Nico: Yes, they are held outdoors, and vendors usually start selling from early morning and finish in the afternoon. |
| Michael: What are the most popular products? |
| Nico: Things like fresh vegetables, fish products such as baltic herring and flame-grilled salmon, handmade crafts such as birch bark baskets or wool socks, and all kinds of other products. Usually the elderly enjoy meeting their friends at the markets and having a cup of hot coffee at the coffee tents. |
| Michael: That sounds nice. What’s a useful word here? |
| Nico: One useful word is markkinat |
| Michael: Which means "market,” or “fair." Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Michael: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Nico: silakka [natural native speed] |
| Michael: herring |
| Nico: silakka [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nico: silakka [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Nico: kilo [natural native speed] |
| Michael: kilo, kilogram |
| Nico: kilo [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nico: kilo [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Nico: kallis [natural native speed] |
| Michael: expensive |
| Nico: kallis[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nico: kallis [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Nico: alennus [natural native speed] |
| Michael: discount |
| Nico: alennus [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nico: alennus [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Nico: käteinen [natural native speed] |
| Michael: cash |
| Nico: käteinen [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nico: käteinen [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Nico: neuvotella [natural native speed] |
| Michael: to negotiate |
| Nico: neuvotella[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nico: neuvotella [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Nico: saaristolaisleipä [natural native speed] |
| Michael: islander bread |
| Nico: saaristolaisleipä [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nico: saaristolaisleipä [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Nico: kaupan päälle [natural native speed] |
| Michael: on the house |
| Nico: kaupan päälle[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nico: kaupan päälle [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Michael: Let's have a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first phrase is.. |
| Nico: Kilo kuudella eurolla, |
| Michael: meaning "a kilo for six euros." |
| Nico: As the translation says, you can use this phrase to get a kilogram of something for six euros. |
| Michael: That’s pretty specific, so can we replace the numbers to make different quantities? |
| Nico: Of course. By replacing the number “six,” kuusi, with any other number, you can change the meaning of the sentence. You might see similar sentences in shops, markets, or even newspaper ads. |
| Michael: Can you give us an example using this phrase? |
| Nico: Sure. For example, you can say.. Ostin omenoita kilon kuudella eurolla. |
| Michael: ..which means "I bought a kilo of apples for six euros." Okay, what's the next word? |
| Nico: Kaupan päälle, |
| Michael: meaning "on the house." |
| Nico: Be careful, because this is made up of two words- kauppa, "deal," and päällä, "on" or "atop." |
| Michael: It literally means"on top of the deal." This means a product or a service is being offered for free, in addition to the deal or purchase made before, right? |
| Nico: Yes, you can use this phrase when you’re offering or asking to get something for free in addition to something being bought. |
| Michael: Can you give us an example of how to use it? |
| Nico: Sure. For example, you can say.. Jos ostan nämä kolme pukua, saanko solmion kaupan päälle? |
| Michael: .. which means "If I buy these three suits, can I get the necktie on the house?" Okay, now onto the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Michael: In this lesson you'll learn how to ask the price of something and how to try to negotiate. Nico, is it common to bargain in Finland? |
| Nico: In Finland, haggling is not very common anymore, and is often even considered rude. The only places you can haggle a bit are flea markets, called kirpputori, and sometimes open air markets called markkinat. |
| Michael: In the lesson, Heikki was in a market square buying some delicious herring. What did he ask the vendor? |
| Nico: Minkä verran nuo sinappisilakat maksavat? |
| Michael: “How much are those mustard herring?” Is there a general question that can be used in different situations? Something like,"Excuse me, how much is this?" |
| Nico: That literally is Anteeksi, kuinka paljon tämä maksaa? Otherwise, you can also point at an item, like Heikki did, and say minkä verran nuo, [the item name], and maksavat? |
| Michael: “How much are those...?” with “those” followed by the name of what you want. |
| Nico: Or you can say minkä verran tuo maksaa? |
| Michael: “How much is that?” |
| Nico: It’s always polite to add the word anteeksi, meaning “excuse me,” in front of the sentence. |
| Michael: Ok. So if you want to try to haggle, what can you say? |
| Nico: You can say se on hieman kallis, |
| Michael: “It’s a little bit expensive.” |
| Nico: In the lesson, Heikki said this in another way, hieman on kallista, which also means “it is a little bit expensive.” The difference is that here the phrase is in passive form, on kallista, meaning “is expensive.” |
| Michael: This means that Heikki is expressing that the prices in the stall are generally expensive in his opinion. |
| Nico: That’s right! |
| Michael: What can you say to ask for a discount? |
| Nico: Saisinko yhtään alennusta? |
| Michael: “Could I get any discounts?” |
| Nico: Or you can also say Saisinko sen edullisemmin? or Voisinko saada sen halvemmalla?, |
| Michael: which both mean "Could I get it any cheaper?" |
| Nico: You can also ask a vendor if they’re open to haggling by asking Saanko tinkiä? |
| Michael: “Can I bargain?” At this point, though, it’s up to the merchant to decide if they want to give you a discount. |
| Nico: The vendor might say Voimme neuvotella which means “We can negotiate.” They might also say saa tinkiä, which means "You are allowed to bargain." Saa means "to be allowed" in the third-person singular. Tinkiä means "to bargain." In our lesson Heikki was lucky, as the vendor was willing to give him a good deal, and even toss in a delicious islander bread kaupan päälle, meaning “on the house.” |
| Michael: How can you respond to such a good deal? |
| Nico: Heikki expressed that he was happy with it by announcing kaupat tuli! |
| Michael: Which means “It’s a deal!” |
| Nico: That’s right. Kauppa means “a deal,” and tuli is the verb tulla, meaning “to come,” in the past tense. |
| Michael: Can you give us some other examples? |
| Nico: Sure. Saisinko sen edullisemmin? |
| Michael: "Could I get it any cheaper?" |
| Nico: Se on liian kallis. |
| Michael: "It’s too expensive." |
Outro |
| Michael: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| Nico: Hei hei. |
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