Learn English Vocabulary: Shopping at the Supermarket

Hi. Welcome to www.engvid.com. I'm Adam. In today's video, we're going to go to the supermarket,

and I'm going to walk you and talk you through all the vocabulary and all the expressions

you're going to need to use in the supermarket. We're going to begin with paying and the basic

things you need to know about a supermarket. Then we're going to look at the different

departments inside a supermarket, and then I'll give you some good expressions if you

want to ask questions, if you want to find things in the supermarket, and who to ask,

how to ask, etc. So, let's begin with the basics, okay? When you go into a supermarket,

you get all your groceries. I forgot to mention that part. I'll put it here. Groceries. Now,

a lot of people think groceries is only food. Groceries includes anything that you buy in

the market. It could be cleaning supplies, it could be food, it could be cooking supplies,

etc. Lots of different things you can buy in the supermarket. All of these together,

all of the things you put in your shopping cart are groceries and you take them home.

So, you have all your groceries, you go up to the cashier to pay, okay? The cashier will

punch everything in on the cash register, and in some places, especially like in Canada

we still use this, and in England, instead of cash register, they say the till. Now,

in some places, the till is just the actual cash drawer inside the machine. For some places,

it's the entire cash register, okay? The cash till. So, this area where you're paying and

you're putting all your things through, this is called the checkout. A little bit different

from a hotel. In a hotel, you check out as a verb. In a supermarket, you go to the checkout

area. That's the place where you pay and get all your things bagged. There are generally

three types. The regular one where you can just line up and get all your groceries, or

the self-checkout. Self-checkout, there's machines that you basically put everything

through yourself. So, every item, every product that you buy has a little barcode. So, it's

like these guys with the... Like a little... All those black lines with the numbers underneath

them, that's called a barcode. So, they have a scanner, so you scan the barcode, the machine

reads it, and starts putting down the prices of everything to add up later. If you go to

the express checkout, that's usually if you only have 10 items or fewer. Some places,

12 items, some places, 8 items. But again, you have a limit of how many actual products

you can use. Now, if you go to the express checkout with a full basket or a full shopping

cart full of products, they will either tell you to leave, or the people behind you will

get very, very angry with you, because they want to go quickly. That's why they only bought

a few things, and they go to the express checkout. If you have many things, go to the regular

checkout or the self-checkout.

Next. So, how are you going to carry all your products around, all your groceries? You can

use a shopping cart, like a big basket on wheels. In England, they still call it a trolley,

or they call it a trolley, I shouldn't say still. And... Or you can just get a basket

and just carry things yourself. Generally, some people bring their own little case on

wheels, but you have to be careful that they can see what's inside of it, so be careful

about that, so they might think you're trying to steal stuff.

Now, when you walk into a supermarket, make sure you look for the flyer. It's usually

near the entrance, and it has all the specials, everything that's on sale, or everything that's

like, two-for-one, etc. And you can also find coupons. Now, a coupon is basically a little

percentage or a little money amount that you can take off a product. So, certain products

will have, like, a 25-cent coupon. You bring the coupon to the checkout, and the cashier

will take it out... Will take it off their price. Sometimes you'll go to a supermarket,

and you'll go to the checkout, and a person bought a whole bunch of stuff, and then from

the wallet, he or she takes out, like, a stack of coupons. And then the cashier has to start

counting them, and it's really a pain, so go to a different checkout if that happens

to you.

Now, so now you know how to go and buy stuff. Now, let's go actually shopping. Okay, so

now we're going to go shopping, and I'm going to walk you through a supermarket and tell

you all the lovely things you can buy there. So, first of all, you'll notice that there

are a lot of different departments in a supermarket. Now, for some of you, this might seem a little

bit strange, because maybe in the country you come from, you can't buy everything in

one place. But if you come to Canada or the U.S., and I'm guessing in England as well,

our supermarkets are... Supermarkets are huge. They're very, very, very big, and they have

everything. Okay? You can even buy tools in some of them, like screwdrivers and hammers,

and in some of them, you can even buy clothes. These are called, like, "megamarkets". "Super"

is big; "mega" is bigger. But even in a supermarket, you can buy all of these things. So, let's

walk through the different departments of the supermarket.

You can buy meat at a supermarket, and the person who will prepare the meat and will

serve you the meat that you ask for is called the "butcher". Now, again, a lot of people

still go to an actual butcher shop. There are many stores that sell only meat. That's

the butcher shop; you can go there, or you can go to the butcher inside the supermarket.

Same with fish; you can go to a fish shop, or you can go to the supermarket and buy fish

there, and the person selling it or preparing the fish for you is called a "fishmonger".

Okay? Some people don't like this word "monger", but that's what a person who sells you fish

is called; a "fishmonger".

Then there's the "produce" section. Now, a lot of people don't realize that this is not

pronounced "produce". "Produce" is a verb; "produce", with the stress on the first syllable,

is fruits and vegetables. Okay? So that's the "produce" department.

Then... Let me stick to food; I'll come back a bit. The "bakery", that's where you buy

your bread, and bagels, and cookies, and whatever other baked goods you liked. And, of course,

the person there is the "baker". Then you have your "dairy" section; milks, cheeses,

all the things that come from milk. And then you have your "deli". "Deli" is short for

"delicatessen". I'm not actually sure if I'm spelling this correctly, but... A "delicatessen".

We just generally say "deli".

This place will serve you processed cheese; for example, sliced cheese and cold cuts.

Cold cuts. These are processed meats that are then cut... Like, they're packaged and

then sliced. So, salami, or prosciutto, or pastrami, or bologna, or ham; these are all

cold cuts, and you can buy these at the "deli". And you can buy olives and other side dishes

and appetizers, etc. Okay?

Then there's the "gardening" section. If you want to buy plants, if you want to buy soil

to grow your own plants at home, or you can... Just a flower shop. Some supermarkets just

have a flower shop; you buy flowers and other household plants in there.

And then there's the "household supplies". Okay? "Household supplies" like cleaning supplies,

and mops, and brooms, and brushes, etc. And then there's "housewares". "Housewares" are

like dishes, and glasses, and cups, and forks, and spoons, and all the things that you need

to use in the house. Okay? Okay, so that's the different departments.

Next, now we're going to walk through the supermarket, and the supermarket is divided

into aisles. Not "aile", not "aisley". "Aisle", that's how we pronounce this word. Many different

aisles; each aisle has its own specific grouping of words. Okay? And in the aisle, you will

see long rows of "shelves". Basically, shelves where all the products are placed on and organized.

And now, another way to say "shelf" is "rack", but a rack can also be vertical and things

are hanging on it, and you can just take things off the... Off the hooks. And usually, at

the ends of each aisle... So, you have your aisles, but at the ends of each aisle, there

are certain displays for specialty products or products that are on sale. Okay? So, all

of these displays are good to look at because they're usually good deals.

Then, each... Like I said, each aisle has its own particular focus of the things that

they include in there. So, some aisles will have all the canned goods, like canned vegetables,

canned fruits, etc. Some aisles will have the spices. Some aisles will have the baking

supplies, like flour and all kinds of sweeteners, etc. Coffee, tea, cereals, jams, etc. Now,

let me just go back a little bit here and just fix this a little bit. I made a mistake

here. One "t", two "s". Okay? And an "e" at the end. Not a word you spell every day. Everybody

just says "deli". Say "deli" too; it's much easier. So, there you go. There are all the

sections and all the departments, and now you know how to walk through the supermarket.

But what happens if you can't find something you want? How do you ask? Well, let's look

at that next.

Okay, so now you're in the supermarket, you've got most of your things. Most of the products

you want are on the shelves; you just grab them yourselves. If you can't find something,

you can always ask a person who works there, a staff member, to help you find it. Okay?

Now, how are you going to ask them? It depends what you want to get, right? So, first, "Can

you tell me where the macaroni is?" "Can you tell me where the pasta is?" So, you can very

specifically say the thing itself. Or, "Where can I find the pasta?" Same idea. Both of

these questions essentially mean the same thing.

Now, if you couldn't find something at all, and you think maybe they don't even have it,

you can just ask, "Do you sell this particular type of pasta?" Okay? Or whatever the product

you're looking for. Or, "You found the pasta..." Again, I'm just going to stick to one item

as an example. "You found the one pasta, but you want a different brand name of the same

thing." So, do you carry? So, do you sell, yes or no? Basically, like, I have it, I don't

have it for the product. But they do have the product, but you want a different brand,

you can ask them, "Do you carry this brand of whatever the item is?" And the person will

say yes or no. If yes, he or she will show you where that is. Okay?

Now, so that's basically to find things on the shelves, and maybe even the produce section.

Now you get to the butcher, the fishmonger, in the bakery, and you want to get a particular

amount of something, or the deli. "Can I get however much you want?" Now, in the States,

you will use ounces and pounds. In Canada, you will use grams or kilograms. Okay? "Can

I get 10 ounces of pastrami?" "Can I get 5 pounds of olives?" "Can I get 400 grams

of cheese slices?" Whatever it is you want. Now, if you're going to go kilograms, that's

fine. If you want to go half a kilogram, say half a kilo. You could say half a kilogram,

but most people just say half a kilo. So, "Can I get a certain amount of whatever it

is that you want to get?" Okay? And they will give it to you.

Now, if you want them to wrap it up nicely for you, "Can you wrap it for me?" Again,

at the end of each of these questions, you can always add "please" if you feel like it.

It's a... It's nice to say. "Can you wrap it for me, please?" And if you're getting cold

cuts or cheese, like sliced cheese, sliced cold cuts, you can ask for different thickness

of the slice. "Can you make the slices thinner or thicker?" Depending on your individual

taste. Okay? And then these... The people there will be more than happy to help you.

So, these people all work behind a counter, all the people here. So, just go to the counter

person and ask them for whatever it is you need. In some places, you will have to take

a number and wait in line... Sorry. In some places, you will have to take a number and

maybe wait in line, wait for your number to be called because it's very busy. Just be

patient, your turn will come, you get what you need, you move on. Okay?

And that's it. That's shopping at a supermarket. It's always fun to do. Personally, I have

traveled to many countries, I've been to a lot of places, and I personally find that

if you really want to get an insight into a place's culture, go to the supermarket.

You'll be amazed at how the setup is, how people act there, how the staff works, the

things you can actually buy. They give you a lot of insight into the culture of a place.

It's actually very interesting, but that's besides the point.

If you have any questions about this, please go to www.engvid.com and ask me below the

video. There's also a quiz to make sure you understand all the different vocabulary and

expressions. And if you like the video, give me a like. Don't forget to subscribe to my

YouTube channel, and come back for more good lessons on vocab and other nice things. Okay?

See you soon. Bye-bye.