Learn how to bargain
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Eric: Hi everyone, and welcome back to NorwegianClass101.com. This is Upper Beginner Season 1 Lesson 3 - Getting a Bargain at a Norwegian Market. Eric Here. |
| Ida: Hallo. I'm Ida. |
| Eric: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to haggle in Norwegian. The conversation takes place at a farmer's market. |
| Ida: It's between Linda and Åsmund, a farmer. |
| Eric: Norwegian daily speech is informal, so the speakers will be using informal Norwegian. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Linda: Rabatt eller ikke, nitti kroner er altfor dyrt. Jeg gir deg femti kroner. |
| Åsmund: Å, skal du prute? Hva om jeg betaler momsen? Da blir det kun åtti kroner. |
| Linda: Det er ikke verdt så mye engang! |
| Åsmund: OK, syttito kroner. Da får du også rabatten. |
| Linda: De har syltetøy i butikken til mindre. Jeg betaler maks femtifem kroner. |
| Åsmund: Sekstifem, og jeg gir deg en gratis pose. |
| Linda: Seksti kroner, og det er mitt siste tilbud. |
| Åsmund: Da har vi en avtale. |
| Eric: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| Linda: Rabatt eller ikke, nitti kroner er altfor dyrt. Jeg gir deg femti kroner. |
| Åsmund: Å, skal du prute? Hva om jeg betaler momsen? Da blir det kun åtti kroner. |
| Linda: Det er ikke verdt så mye engang! |
| Åsmund: OK, syttito kroner. Da får du også rabatten. |
| Linda: De har syltetøy i butikken til mindre. Jeg betaler maks femtifem kroner. |
| Åsmund: Sekstifem, og jeg gir deg en gratis pose. |
| Linda: Seksti kroner, og det er mitt siste tilbud. |
| Åsmund: Da har vi en avtale. |
| Eric: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Linda: Discount or not, ninety kroner is far too expensive. I'll give you fifty kroner. |
| Åsmund: Oh, are you going to haggle? What if I pay the sales tax? Then it's only eighty kroner. |
| Linda: It's not even worth that much! |
| Åsmund: OK, seventy-two kroner. Then you also get the discount. |
| Linda: They have jam in the shops for less. I'll pay fifty-five kroner at the most. |
| Åsmund: Sixty-five, and I'll give you a free bag. |
| Linda: Sixty kroner, and that's my final offer. |
| Åsmund: Then we have a deal. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Eric: Ida, is haggling common in Norway? |
| Ida: It’s not as common as it is in some other countries, but haggling does happen in certain contexts. A few places where you can haggle are flea markets and secondhand shops. |
| Eric: Is it easy to find a flea market? |
| Ida: Flea markets are most often held on weekends in primary and junior high schools around the country. Schools collect used objects several weeks in advance to sell at the market, and the money they make usually goes to pay for school trips. Some of it also goes to different NPOs. |
| Eric: That’s great that they use the money to support good causes! |
| Ida: On the website www.loppemarked.info, you can find information on the markets that are held in your community. |
| Eric: If you like haggling or just want to try it to practice your Norwegian, be sure to check it out! |
| Ida: Besides being able to haggle over something, flea markets are free events that both kids and adults enjoy. It’s definitely a popular family outing. |
| Eric: So you might also make some friends! By the way, what’s the Norwegian word for “flea market”? |
| Ida: It’s just like the name of the site, Loppemarked. |
| Eric: Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Eric: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Ida: å prute [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to haggle |
| Ida: å prute[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Ida: å prute [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Ida: å betale [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to pay |
| Ida: å betale[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Ida: å betale [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Ida: kun [natural native speed] |
| Eric: only |
| Ida: kun[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Ida: kun [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Ida: verdt [natural native speed] |
| Eric: worth |
| Ida: verdt[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Ida: verdt [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Ida: maks [natural native speed] |
| Eric: the most |
| Ida: maks[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Ida: maks [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Ida: gratis [natural native speed] |
| Eric: free |
| Ida: gratis[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Ida: gratis [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Ida: pose [natural native speed] |
| Eric: bag |
| Ida: pose[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Ida: pose [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Ida: avtale [natural native speed] |
| Eric: deal |
| Ida: avtale[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Ida: avtale [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Eric: Let's have a closer look at some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first phrase is.. |
| Ida: altfor dyrt |
| Eric: meaning "far too expensive." |
| Ida: Altfor is an adverb that means "far too" or "too much," and dyrt is an adverb meaning "expensive." Together they emphasise the unreasonable price of an object. |
| Eric When would you use this expression? |
| Ida: You use this phrase in Norwegian when you’re buying something or talking about standards, such as living standards. For example, Det er altfor dyrt å bo i Oslo., |
| Eric: meaning "It is far too expensive to live in Oslo." Okay, what's the next word? |
| Ida: ikke ... engang |
| Eric: meaning "not even." |
| Ida: Ikke is used to deny a statement and engang means "first, in reality." However, when you put them together, ikke engang means "not even." Ikke comes after the active verb and the words completing "not even" can come in between ikke and engang or after ikke engang. |
| Eric: I think we saw an example in the dialogue, when Linda was saying the jam was not worth as much as the seller was asking. |
| Ida: That’s right. And we can actually say this line in two ways, Det er ikke verdt så mye engang, or Det er ikke engang verdt så mye. |
| Eric: This phrase is used to show the speaker’s minimum expectation concerning the matter. |
| Ida: Right. |
| Eric: Can you give another example? |
| Ida: Sure. Hun sa ikke takk engang. |
| Eric: .. which means "She did not even say thank you." Okay, what's the next phrase? |
| Ida: til mindre |
| Eric: meaning "for less" |
| Ida: Til means "for" and mindre means "less." We can replace the til in Norwegian as well, and it would mean the same. This phrase is usually used when talking about prices, but also means "for less than." |
| Eric: Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Ida: Sure. For example, you can say.. Du kan sikkert få en like så god støvesuger til mindre et annet sted. |
| Eric: .. which means "You can probably get just as good a vacuum cleaner for less at another place." |
| Ida: another example, not related to prices, might be en kan bli sinte for mindre enn det |
| Eric: meaning "one can be angry for less than this." Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Eric: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to bargain at a market. Like we said before, haggling is not very common in Norway, but you can haggle a bit at flea markets and secondhand shops. |
| Ida: The "flea market" is Loppemarked and "secondhand shops" are called bruktbutikk, literally meaning “used store.” |
| Eric: How can you start a conversation with a seller? |
| Ida: Normally, if you’re interested in buying something, you first say, Unnskyld, hvor mye koster denne? |
| Eric: meaning "Excuse me, how much is this?" |
| Ida: When you hear the answer, you can start bargaining to lower the price. Don't be shy—try to say Kan jeg prute? |
| Eric: which means "Can I bargain?" If you’re at a flea market, that sounds reasonable. |
| Ida: If the merchant agrees, then you can give the person a new and lower price. Another way to express the feeling that something is too expensive and you want to start haggling is with Det var litt for dyrt! |
| Eric: Which means "That was a bit too expensive." |
| Ida: Det var literally means "That was." Litt means "a bit," for means "too," and dyrt is "expensive." |
| Eric: We saw a similar expression in the previous lesson, which expresses the buyer’s discontent. |
| Ida: Right, that was Det var dyrt! |
| Eric: meaning “That’s expensive!” |
| Ida: However, it can be interpreted as being a bit too direct and almost rude. By adding litt for, you show the buyer that you think it’s too expensive but you still are interested in buying it. |
| Eric: In the dialogue Linda was very direct, right? |
| Ida: Right, in the dialogue Linda wants to buy the strawberry jam but finds it too expensive. Although the most polite way would be to first ask Kan jeg prute? meaning ”Can I bargain?", Linda starts right away by saying Jeg gir deg femti kroner. |
| Eric: “I’ll give you fifty Norwegian kroner.” |
| Ida: The expression is made up of Jeg gir deg followed by the price. |
| Eric: After the vendor in the dialogue tries to keep the price as high as possible, Linda, who is not shy, tries with another expression and wins the negotiation. |
| Ida: Right! She says Jeg betaler maks femtifem kroner. |
| Eric: “I’ll pay fifty-five Norwegian kroner at the most.” |
| Ida: The expression broken down is Jeg betaler maks followed by the price. |
| Eric: Finally Linda and the vendor reach an agreement at sixty Norwegian kroner. |
| Ida: Right, Åsmund, the vendor, wraps it up by saying Da har vi en avtale, |
| Eric: “Then we have a deal.” |
| Ida: Recently Norwegians have been saying Da har vi en deal, using the English word “deal” instead of avtale. |
| Eric: But if you're lucky, after your first counteroffer you might hear the vendor saying... |
| Ida: javel, javel |
| Eric: "All right." Ok, let’s sum up this lesson with a sample sentence. |
| Ida: Sure, for example you can say Jeg skulle ønske øl ikke var så dyrt. |
| Eric: "I wish beer wasn’t so expensive." |
Outro |
| Eric: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| Ida: Ha det bra. |
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