Practice English Speaking&Listening with: Shopping | British Expressions and Intonation

hello everybody this is Elliot from ETJ

English and today I'm here to help you

with some useful expressions surrounding

shopping we're talking about shopping

today so how to sound like a native and

use some great expressions with the

right tone when we are shopping now

there are lots of different situations

where we could be shopping and I'm sorry

if I've left some situations out for

example not everybody goes shopping for

a - back a costume or something so but

just for the most common kind of phrases

we might use when we are shopping let's

start let's let's begin and the first

thing really is approaching the

salesperson how do we approach a

salesperson without sounding rude for

example if you're a formal person and

you want to come across as quite formal

and polite simply all you need to say is

excuse me excuse me listen to my tone

here excuse me me excuse me now this

kind of e at the end what Matt does is

it creates an intrigue tone so it makes

us sound like we are asking a question

so we're not just saying hello or making

ourselves known we're doing this

e-excuse me to show that we're going to

say more and that it's probably going to

be a question okay so it's funny how

intonation can display what's coming

next but that it kind of allows the

salesperson to then prepare for what

you're going to say next or that you're

going to ask a polite question so excuse

me me excuse me it's like a wave it's

like riding a wave that's what

intonation is really you could do what I

do which is still kind of formal but

it's not as formal as excuse me

I say sorry all the time it's I'm

British that's that's just what we do we

say sorry for doing something we haven't

done wrong we say sorry when we say

hello we say sorry when we say goodbye

I've said sorry to a lamppost before

because I

walked into it I'm British that's my

excuse I might actually say sorry sorry

and again we're doing this mmm this kind

of tone where we going down earth and

we're kind of riding the wave again so

excuse me sorry so we would have to

follow with something so you would say

for example sorry could you just help me

with something please now you're in a

clothes shop you have some clothes that

you want to try on but you don't know

where the changing rooms are now firstly

there are two words for changing rooms

some people say changing rooms and some

people say fitting rooms two ways you

can ask about trying something on you

could say for example excuse me where

are your fitting rooms where are your

fitting rooms or where are your changing

rooms it doesn't matter which word you

use they're both the same kind of thing

by asking this question it's like saying

I want to try this on can you show me

where to go please or you could use the

much more simple version of a phrasal

verb to try on which means to wear

something temporarily just to see what

it looks like

so you could say sorry can I try this on

please could I try this on please please

and that means can I wear this so I can

see what it looks like

phrasal verbs are fantastic we love

phrasal verbs here on this channel and

remember if it's just one t-shirt we

would say could I try this on but if

it's more than one we would say could I

try these on and that would be if I have

five t-shirts and socks and some jeans

to try on okay and the same with shoes

could I try these on we would say these

even if it's one pair of shoes could I

try these on please and then they would

go and find your size now let's say

you're looking at some clothes but they

don't have your size very easy approach

the sales assistant using those words we

mentioned before hi or something like

that okay

and then all you need to say is do you

have any more sizes out the back do you

have any more sizes out the back again

out the back that means where you could

store all your stuff we call it out the

back so do you have any more sizes out

the back really important and really

useful to know this one because I've

been in a shop so many times where I've

needed a particular size and they don't

have it on show on the shop floor but I

ask them if they have it out the back

and nine times out of ten they do so

it's really good to know this phrase do

you have any more sizes out the back and

then they might say okay what size are

you looking for two things you could do

you could say I need a size up meaning I

need the next size above I need a size

up if you want to use phrasal verbs and

be fancy pants or you could just say the

size you want okay I need a size 10 in a

man's case you could say I need a medium

so we don't need to say I need a size

medium we just say I need a medium

everybody's favorite thing a returns

policy it's very easy to ask this

question I never ask it because I don't

like to be annoying I don't like to be

that guy that asks about returns I'll

just read it on the receipts so there

are there are two ways and this one's

the most common can I bring it back if I

have any problems can I bring it back if

I have any problems and that means if I

don't like it if I decide I don't want

it can I return it to you bring it back

phrasal verb listen to my tone and copy

me can I bring it back if I have any

problems now one more thing which is

it's very very useful to know are you a

student are you living in the UK and do

you want to grab a bargain a deal or a

bit of a percentage off what you buy

don't be afraid to ask do you offer a

student discount

do you offer a student discount you can

add the tea or not at the end discount

discount again we're British

we sometimes drop the tea it's very very

normal and a lot of shots particularly

clothes shops and some electrical

shops they do offer a 10% or sometimes

15% student discount so it is useful to

ask don't be afraid to ask it's becoming

more and more common nowadays being a

person who worked part time in retail

before I was a teacher I really

appreciated it when people said thank

you um we do pride ourselves on saying

thank you here in the UK so I really

recommend that when they finish packing

your clothes up if they've been really

helpful tell them thanks for all your

help or just a simple thank-you or

Cheers have a lovely day have a great

day thanks for all your help

thanks and help are the two important

words there in particular they need some

big stress on them thanks for all your

help now I know I've mainly covered

clothes today clothes shopping but most

of these phrases do apply to electrical

shopping just shopping for normal things

but you'll find that most of the

conversations that you have in the UK in

when it comes to shopping would be for

clothes electricals we don't really talk

to people who are selling food for

example have you ever had any awkward

situations when you're shopping I'd love

to know please write in the comments

loads of us have had awkward or annoying

conversations with salespeople and

sometimes we get convinced into buying

things we don't want to buy so I'd love

to know your stories below it's always

funny

hearing your stories obviously I

explained intonation in a bit of detail

here but not in extensive really

detailed explanations I saved that for

my online course which you can join at

ETJ English comm the description box

below has the link and in this course

you'll learn everything about intonation

all of the sounds connected speech

basically you'll learn how to achieve a

full British accent you'll also have

voice messaging contact with me on

whatsapp so you can become my student

and I can't wait to meet those of you

who join like I said just go to etj

English comp to join the course other

than that I will see you next time

in the next video she is guys by

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