Shopping and Money Vocabulary

By the end of this lesson, you will know the essential Japanese words for shopping, asking about prices, and handling money. You'll be able to say how much something costs, ask for the price, and understand basic shopping phrases.

When shopping in Japan, you'll often hear numbers and money words together. The key is to learn the word for "money" (おかね, okane), the word for "price" (ねだん, nedan), and the question word "how much" (いくら, ikura). Once you know these, you can build simple sentences to buy things.

1. Core Shopping Words

2. Asking the Price

To ask "How much is it?" you say:

いくらですか？ (ikura desu ka?)

• いくら (ikura) = how much
• ですか (desu ka) = polite question ending

Example:

• これはいくらですか？ (Kore wa ikura desu ka?) – How much is this?

3. Saying the Price

Prices are said using numbers + えん (en, yen).

• 100 yen = ひゃくえん (hyaku en)
• 500 yen = ごひゃくえん (go hyaku en)
• 1000 yen = せんえん (sen en)

To say "It's ___ yen":
___えんです。 (___ en desu.)

Example:

• 300えんです。 (Sanbyaku en desu.) – It's 300 yen.

4. Useful Shopping Phrases

1. このみせのねだんはやすいです。
   (Kono mise no nedan wa yasui desu.)
   The price at this store is cheap.

2. あのかばんはいくらですか？
   (Ano kaban wa ikura desu ka?)
   How much is that bag?

3. おかねがたりません。
   (Okane ga tarimasen.)
   I don't have enough money.

4. これをください。
   (Kore o kudasai.)
   Please give me this.

❌ Saying "これ いくら ですか？" without the particle は (wa) is not wrong, but it's more natural to say "これはいくらですか？" (Kore wa ikura desu ka?) when pointing at something.

Also, beginners often confuse たかい (takai, expensive) with たかい (takai, high/tall). Context makes it clear – in a shop, it means "expensive."

1. Fill in the blank:
   このみせの___はたかいです。 (price)
   Answer: ねだん (nedan)

2. Translate to Japanese:
   "How much is that pen?"
   Answer: そのペンはいくらですか？ (Sono pen wa ikura desu ka?)

You now know the core shopping vocabulary: おかね (money), ねだん (price), いくら (how much), たかい (expensive), and やすい (cheap). You can ask for prices and say simple shopping phrases.

Next step: Practice counting from 1 to 10,000 in Japanese so you can say any price confidently. Then learn the words for coins (こぜに, kozeni) and bills (さつ, satsu).