Knowing English can save you money!

Hi. My name is Rebecca, and in today's lesson, I'll show you how knowing English well can

help you save your hard-earned money. How is that? Well, in English, like in all languages,

there are many terms which mean that something is free, and there are many terms that mean

that somebody's going to charge you money. So by knowing these terms well, you'll know exactly

what's what. Let's look at these words. Okay? So on this side, we have the happy face,

and that means that all of the expressions here imply that you don't have to pay money

or you have to pay less money. Let me explain. Okay? So if you see the word "free", that means

you don't have to pay any money. You get it free. It doesn't cost you any money. Sometimes,

a product which is given out... For example, a company may be introducing a new kind of

shampoo, and they may give a small sample for free. That product might be called a "freebie".

Okay? So a "freebie" is a free item that you receive. All right? You can also see the expression

"It's for free." Same thing. You might say... You might see that it says, "Something is free

of charge." "Free of charge", the word "charge" means money, again, means payment. But "free

of charge" means there's no payment necessary. It's free. Now, here's an important one. This

is the word "complementary". If you see, when you go to a hotel, for example, that a basket

of fruit is left there by the management, it usually says, "Complements of the management",

so it's a complementary basket of fruit. That means you can eat that particular basket of

fruit if it says, "Complementary basket of fruit", because the word "complementary" means

free. The same way, at the hotel, you may receive a complementary newspaper in the morning. That

means you don't have to pay for the newspaper. You may receive a complementary breakfast.

A "complementary breakfast" means a free breakfast. So obviously, it's good to know this word

because you don't want to miss a free breakfast. Right? Okay. Also, very commonly used is the

expression "on the house". If someone says that something is on the house, it means that

it's free. Very often, coffee, for example, might be on the house or drinks might be on

the house. That means that the owner of the establishment or the management or the company

is going to pay for the coffee, is going to pay for the drinks. You don't have to pay.

So if somebody tells you, "Would you like some? It's on the house", then say yes if you want,

okay? All right. Now, the next three items, the reason that I put them separately is because

it may mean that you pay something for the item, but you don't pay something extra called

tax. Most of us know what tax is. So tax is something that the government charges, money

that the government charges on certain items. So if you see that it says that you can get

something tax-free, that means you pay for the item, but you don't pay any extra taxes.

"Tax-free" means without tax. Another expression which means exactly the same thing,

"duty-free". For those of you who've traveled abroad, you know that you can do duty-free

shopping, right? At the duty-free shop. That means you can buy those items and you still

have to pay for those items, but you don't have to pay any extra taxes. So usually, it

comes out cheaper for most people. Sometimes, the expression "tariff-free" is used. That's

not used so much with consumers or with regular shoppers. It's used more between countries

when they trade. There are certain tariff-free zones, zones where they don't charge extra

taxes or tariffs on the import of certain goods. All right? That's slightly different.

Let's get back to when it means that you don't have to pay any money. No charge, no fee,

no cost. All of this means that it's free. Okay? So that's the good news. Let's look

at the other side of the story. Sometimes, you do have to pay and it's important to know

when you need to pay. So what are some of these... What are some of the words that you'll

see when you do need to pay for items? It might say, "It costs so much.", "This item

costs $25.", or "The price of this item is $200.", "There is a charge for making this

telephone call." Okay? All of these words means it's going to cost you money. "There

is a payment due on your account." means you have to pay money on your account, perhaps

on your credit card. Right? If you see the word "fee", "There is a fee for using this

service." So a "fee" means an extra amount of money that you have to pay for using something.

The word "fare", "taxi fare", "airfare", "bus fare", this is a word which means the cost

of transportation. All right? But when we see the word "fare", you know that it's going

to involve money. Also, the word "commission". Okay? Banks very often charge a commission

for providing you with certain services, and that means that it's going to cost extra money

to you. Again, we see the words "tax" and "duty" and "tariffs", all of these imply that

the government is charging some extra money on top, on certain items. Okay? Or services.

If you see the word "premium", for example, you can choose a regular seat nowadays on

many airlines, or you can get an upgrade, but you need to pay a premium. You can get

an upgrade to a more comfortable seat, more spacious seat, but you need to pay a premium.

That means you need to pay a little bit of extra money.

Another word which has to do with money is the word "interest". "Interest" is the cost,

the extra money that you pay when you borrow money, or when you use your credit card and

you don't repay the full amount, then they're going to start charging you interest. It's

the cost of borrowing money. The same as when you get a loan or a mortgage from the bank.

A "mortgage", for those of you who are not sure, is a very large loan that you get when

you buy a house. Okay?

Other words which refer to money are the words "penalty" and "fine". So "penalty" and "fine"

are usually like a punishment when you do something wrong. Maybe you were... You got

a driving ticket. Maybe you returned your library books late and you need to pay a penalty

or a fine, which means some extra money for doing something wrong. Okay?

So these words all have to do with money. These words all mean that you're going to

get something free. I think it's a good idea to review this vocabulary so that you can

take advantage of the situations where something is available free, and you also won't have

any unpleasant surprises when you are charged for certain goods or services. Okay?

If you'd like to do a quiz on this topic, please go to our website, www.engvid.com.

Thanks for now, and talk to you later. Bye.