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Getting Getting_Started

Talk about spending

Unit 3

I CAN talk about everyday spending
I CAN use money vocabulary

Speaking

7 cards

To talk about spending in a natural, confident way, you need more than single words. You need short phrases that British speakers actually use when they chat about money with friends, family, or shop assistants. Below are several practical phrases organised by purpose, so you can choose the right one for the situation.

Talking about how much you paid

When you want to say what something cost you, use one of these patterns:

"It cost me £…" — The repair cost me over £100.
"I paid £… for it" — I paid £60 for these boots.
"I spent £… on…" — I spent about £40 on lunch.
"It set me back £…" (informal) — The concert tickets set me back £85.

These are not interchangeable in every situation. Cost is used with the thing that has a price: The hotel cost £120 a night. Pay needs a person or a thing: I paid £120 or I paid for the hotel. Spend needs both a person and a purpose: I spent £120 on the hotel. Choosing the right one makes your English sound much more natural.

Describing value

To say whether a purchase was worth it:

"It was a real bargain." — use this when the price was much lower than expected.
"It was good value for money." — a slightly more formal phrase meaning the quality matches the price.
"It was a complete rip-off." (informal) — meaning it was far too expensive for what you got.
"It was worth every penny." — meaning you do not regret the cost at all.

Notice the rhythm: real bargain and complete rip-off sit on opposite ends of the scale, while good value and worth every penny are both positive but more moderate. Using these four phrases well is the difference between basic and advanced speaking.

Talking about your budget

When you want to explain a financial limit:

"I can't afford it." — the simplest, most useful phrase.
"I can't afford to…" — followed by a verb: I can't afford to go out tonight.
"It's a bit out of my budget." — polite and slightly softer than I can't afford it.
"I'm trying to save / cut back." — common when you're watching what you spend.
"I'm on a tight budget this month." — meaning you have very little spare money.

At the shop

Finally, a few phrases for real transactions:

"Could I have a receipt, please?"
"Is this in the sale?" — asking if a reduced item is part of a sale.
"I'd like to return this, please." — when you want your money back.
"Could I get a refund?"
"Do you take card?" — a very common question in the UK, even for small purchases.

The flow of a real conversation

In a typical British conversation, you might say: "Have you been shopping?" → "Yes, I found a real bargain — I paid only £20 for this jumper." → "Oh, that's good value for money!" Notice how speakers move from one phrase to the next naturally, often combining a value phrase with a price phrase. In the dialogue below, you'll hear this flow, and then you'll try it yourself in a live roleplay.

الحديث عن الإنفاق: عبارات طبيعية زي ما British people بيقولوها

في الجزء ده هنتعلم إزاي تتكلم عن المصاريف والأسعار بأسلوب بريطاني طبيعي، زي ما الأصحاب بيكلموا بعض في الحياة اليومية. القصة عبارة عن حوار قصير بين Emma و Tom، بيبدأ لما Emma تشوف Tom لابس جاكيت جديد. خلينا نشرّح كل حاجة بالتفصيل.

القواعد الأساسية في الحوار

الزمن التام (Present Perfect) بنستخدمه لما نحكي عن حاجة حصلت في وقت قريب أو ليها علاقة باللحظة الحالية. مثلاً: "Have you been shopping, Tom?" يعني "هل رحت تتسوق يا توم؟" — هنا بنسأل عن تجربة حصلت في وقت قريب جداً، فاستخدمنا المضارع التام.

الماضي البسيط (Past Simple) بنستخدمه لما نحكي عن حاجة حصلت في وقت محدد في الماضي وبس. مثلاً: "How much did it cost you?" يعني "كام دفعت فيه؟" — هنا بنسأل عن سعر محدد في لحظة سابقة، فاستخدمنا الماضي البسيط.

لاحظ الفرق المهم في طرق حكي السعر:

Cost بنستخدمها مع الحاجة اللي ليها سعر: "The jacket cost eighty pounds."
Pay محتاجة شخص أو حاجة: "I paid eighty pounds for it."
Spend محتاجة شخص وهدف: "I spent eighty pounds on it."

كلمات أساسية لازم تعرفها

bargain = صفقة رابحة أو حاجة اشتريتها بسعر أقل من الطبيعي
value for money = سعر مناسب مقابل الجودة، مش غالي ومش رخيص أوي
discount = خصم
receipt = الفاتورة أو الإيصال
to return something = يرجع حاجة للمحل وتاخد فلوسك
afford = يقدر يدفع تمن حاجة
on a tight budget = ميزانيتك ضيقة أو محدودة
set me back = كلفتني (عبارة عامية بريطانية)
rip-off = نصب، حاجة غالية أوي على الفاضي

جمل مفيدة في المحل

لما تكون بتتسوق، ممكن تسأل: "Could I have a receipt, please?" عشان تاخد الفاتورة. أو "Is this in the sale?" يعني "هل ده في التخفيضات؟" لو عايز ترجع حاجة: "I'd like to return this, please." ولو عايز فلوسك: "Could I get a refund?"

نصيحة للطلاقة

لما تتكلم عن الفلوس، دايماً اربط جملة السعر بجملة القيمة. يعني مش بس تقول "I paid twenty pounds" — كمّل وقول "I paid twenty pounds for it. It was a real bargain!" ده بيخلي كلامك طبيعي زي British native speakers.

Listen to two friends, Emma and Tom, discussing a recent shopping trip. Notice the spending phrases they use.

E
Emma Have you been shopping, Tom? I like your jacket.
T
Tom Thanks! I picked it up this morning in the market.
E
Emma It looks expensive. How much did it cost you?
T
Tom Only eighty pounds — it was a real bargain. The original price was one hundred and fifty.
E
Emma That's great value for money! Did you have to ask for a discount?
T
Tom No, the shopkeeper gave me a discount because it was the last one in my size. I just had to keep the receipt in case I want to return it.

I couldn't afford the train, so I spent the money on a nice meal instead.

Read this model sentence aloud. Notice the use of 'afford' followed by an infinitive, and the pattern 'spend money on something'.

Required

Say this sentence aloud. Focus on the rhythm and the weak form 'to' in 'afford to'.

I can't afford to eat out this week — I'm on a tight budget.

Required

Say this sentence aloud. Try to sound enthusiastic and natural — stress 'twenty pounds' and 'real bargain'.

I paid only twenty pounds for it. It was a real bargain!

Required

You are chatting with your friend Emma. She has just asked about your recent shopping. Describe something you bought recently. You should: say what you bought, say how much you paid (use 'I spent… on…' or 'I paid… for it'), say whether you think it was good value (use 'a real bargain', 'good value for money', or 'a complete rip-off'), and mention how you paid (cash, card, and so on). Aim for at least four sentences.

Required

I CAN talk about everyday spending
I CAN use money vocabulary
I CAN describe the price of something I bought
I CAN say whether a purchase was good value
I CAN ask for a receipt or a refund

Vocabulary

6 cards

When we talk about everyday spending, we use a special set of words that go far beyond buy and expensive. A confident speaker of English (UK) can describe how much something cost, whether it was good value, where the money came from, and how they felt about the purchase. In this lesson, we focus on eight core words and several common collocations that come up again and again when people discuss money in real life — at the till, online, with friends, and when planning a household budget.

Managing money: budget, afford, savings

Some words describe how you plan your money, others how you judge a purchase, and others what happens after you pay. Budget works as both a noun and a verb. As a noun, it means the amount of money you have decided to spend on something during a particular period: I set a monthly budget for groceries or Our holiday budget is £1,500 this year. As a verb, it means to plan carefully how much you will spend: We need to budget more carefully if we want to save for a flat. The adjective form, budget, is also common and means cheaper or designed for low cost: We stayed in a budget hotel near the station.

Afford is a verb that means having enough money to pay for something without causing difficulty. We use it most often in the negative or with can/could: I can't afford a new phone this month. We also use the pattern afford to do something: She couldn't afford to go on holiday or Can you afford to eat out tonight? Savings is a plural noun referring to money you have kept rather than spent: He put £200 into his savings account last month or I've used most of my savings on the car. A common collocation is life savings, meaning all the money someone has saved over many years.

Judging a deal: bargain, sale, refund, receipt

Other words help you talk about the quality of a deal. A bargain is something you bought for less than you expected to pay, or less than its real value: This shirt was a bargain — only £10 in the charity shop. A sale is a period when a shop sells things at a lower price than usual: I always buy winter coats in the January sales or It's 30% off in the sale this week. A refund is money a shop gives you back when you return something you have bought: I asked for a refund because the headphones didn't work or Could I get a refund, please? A receipt is the printed or digital proof of what you paid, which you need for returns, expenses, or your own records: Could I have a receipt, please? I need it for work.

Note the natural collocations: a real bargain, the January sales, ask for a refund, keep the receipt. These short phrases are how British English speakers actually use the words in conversation.

Currency, spend, cost, pay

Finally, currency is the type of money used in a country — pounds sterling in the UK, euros in much of Europe, dollars in the US, dirhams in the UAE. When you travel, you need to think about currency exchange. The verb form, spend, is one of the most common verbs in English. Note the structure: spend money on something or spend time doing something. For example, I spent £40 on food this week or He spent three hours waiting in the queue. Compare this with cost, which describes what the seller asks: The tickets cost £25 each or How much does it cost? And pay, which describes what the buyer does: I paid by card or She paid £80 for the jacket.

The vocabulary at a glance

Word	Part of speech	Meaning (Arabic)	Example sentence
budget	noun / verb	ميزانية / يُخطط للميزانية	I set a strict budget for my holiday.
afford	verb	يتحمّل تكلفة	I can't afford to eat out this week.
receipt	noun	إيصال الدفع	Keep the receipt in case you need a refund.
bargain	noun	صفقة رابحة	The shoes were a real bargain at £15.
refund	noun	استرداد المال	The shop gave me a full refund.
savings	noun (plural)	مدّخرات	She has savings in three different banks.
currency	noun	عملة	What's the local currency in Turkey?
sale	noun	تخفيض / بيع موسمي	I bought the dress in the summer sale.

These eight words are the foundation of any conversation about spending. In the next block, you'll hear them used in a real British conversation and then try them yourself.

Generating translation…

Meet the eight key words for talking about spending. Tap each one to hear it pronounced and to see a short definition.

afford əˈfɔːd
to have enough money, time, or resources to pay for something or to be able to do something without causing pr
bargain ˈbɑːɡɪn
A bargain is something bought or a deal made at a price lower than its actual value, often a special offer.
budget
a sum of money allocated for a particular purpose
currency ˈkʌrənsi
The system of money that a country uses, especially banknotes and coins; the state of being generally accepted
receipt ɻiːspt
A written or printed document that proves you have paid for something, often given at the time of purchase.
refund ˈriːfʌnd
A repayment of money, especially when a customer returns a product or is unsatisfied with a service.
sale seɪl
The act of exchanging goods or property for money; also, an event where items are sold at reduced prices.
savings ˈseɪvɪŋz
Money that has been saved and set aside for future use.