Sound More Natural in English: Market Idioms & Bargaining Vocabulary

Want to understand real British English better? In this lesson, we’re heading to the market to practise some real British English. I’ll teach you the language of bargaining, negotiating prices, and chatting with market traders — all while learning idioms and expressions you can use far beyond shopping situations. You’ll hear phrases like “That’s a bit steep,” “I’ve heard that one before,” and “You’ve got yourself a deal,” plus idioms including “to get to grips with something,” “to go toe-to-toe with someone,” and “to throw yourself in at the deep end.” Along the way, I explain the meanings clearly and show you how these expressions fit naturally into everyday English. Test your understanding of the lesson with the quiz here: https://www.engvid.com/everyday-briti... Get business English coaching from me: https://HoneYourEnglish.com Learn more English for life in the UK:    • English for Moving to the UK: documents, s...      • English for Living in the UK: Setting up I...   In this lesson: 0:00 English for Going to the Market 1:17 Verb Phrases 2:58 Haggling Expressions 6:02 English for making a deal 8:36 Idioms for the Market 12:30 Where to haggle Transcript: Hi. Welcome back to engVid. Today we are going to be going to the market. The market is like a shop, but kind of on the street. Who is this lesson for? Well, it's for anyone with an interest in improving their English. We'll be looking at some idioms to do with haggling and markets. We'll be looking at phrases you can use, advice for getting a good deal at a market. Now, when you think of a market and haggling, most people think of, I don't know, somewhere like Marrakesh, which is based on a sort of negotiation economy. Yep, it's not a fixed price economy. Whereas in the UK, 99% will be you can't haggle on price. But going to a market affords an excellent opportunity to practice your speaking skills. So, we're going to equip you now with some tools and phrases so that you can make that bold step of going to a market and trying to buy something. Now, this might fill you with dread. Dread is, oh, I'm so scared. So, if you're filled with dread, you're nervous and concerned. You might think you have your work cut out for you. Here is a big pile of work. Cut, I'm cutting it out. Wow, I've got this huge chunk of work. It's so much work going to a market, speaking in English, negotiating. Now, the market traders might think that they are on to a winner when you come along, because they'll be like, "Mm-hmm, tourist. I can charge what money I like." So, you have to be strong and you must know what a good price is. So, if you're on to a winner, it comes from racing the horses. I've put 10 pounds on number 32 to win. Da-da-da-da, black number 32. Yes, number 32 has won. I was on to a winner. Ka-ching. And I've made a tidy profit. So, you know, the market people, the traders, they are looking to make profit from the prices they charge. Your job is to reduce that to get a good price for you, a fair price. It needs to be good for him and for you. How do we do that? Well, we're going to have to haggle. We're going to have to hustle. We're going to have to joke. We're going to have to play the game. Okay? Haggle is like, "I'll sell it for you for 10 pounds. What about 5 pounds? 9 pounds? What about 6? Oh, come on. Let's shake in the middle. 7 pound, 50." Humor them. Humor them. Yep. Take an interest in what they've got. Yep. Relate to them as a person. Yep. Don't be too serious about it. Yeah? Make it light-hearted. It should be fun. You want 10 pounds for that? That piece of thing, who's going to pay 10 pounds for that? Come on, mister. Yeah? Be a bit jokey with them. Now, if you get sucked into something, maybe... Maybe they're trying to sell you a tin. Yep. And you're like, "Well, I don't... I don't need a tin. I don't want a tin." And they start telling you a story about how special this tin is. They start telling you that it's Elvis Presley's old tin. And you're like, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I've heard that one before." It means, like... It means they're telling you a tall story. Yep. So, anyway, if you get sucked into something, it means you start believing the story, and you're like, "Ah, Elvis's tin. Ooh, I must have Elvis's tin." And then if you've got sucked into something, they might rip you off. If you're ripped off, you pay too much money. It's like you've been cheated. Because remember, they're trying to shift their... You know, their materials. To "shift" something means, like, to move it. Yeah? They're trying to sell all their stuff. Once they've sold it all, great. They get to go home. Thank you very much. Jobs are good, and job done. So they're trying to shift all of their... All of their stock. […]