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Daily lessons · Day 24 of 90

Shopping: sizes, colours, trying on

Buy clothes and try them on

Clothes shopping needs three things: sizes, colours, and the sentence that lets you try something on. All three are easy, and the lesson mostly reuses grammar you have. What is new is the vocabulary and one small social point about how Japanese shop staff behave, which is different enough to be worth knowing before you walk in.

Trying things on

The whole point of the visit:

shichaku shitemo ii desu ka.
May I try this on?
From day 17. しちゃく is trying on clothes.
shichakushitsu wa doko desu ka.
Where is the fitting room?
しつ means room. どこ from day 6.
kore o mitemo ii desu ka.
May I look at this?
みます becomes みても. Useful for anything behind glass.
chotto kangaemasu.
I'll have a think.
The polite way to leave without buying.
Why it works

ちょっと かんがえます is worth having ready. Japanese shop staff often stay close and attentive in a way that can feel like pressure to a British or American shopper, and it is not meant that way. This phrase ends the interaction politely and is completely normal; you are not brushing anyone off.

Size and fit

Mostly borrowed words, plus two adjectives:

emu saizu wa arimasu ka.
Do you have a medium?
あります for objects. Sizes run small by European standards.
chotto ōkii desu.
It's a bit big.
ちいさい small. ちょっと softens the complaint.
motto ōkii no wa arimasu ka.
Do you have a bigger one?
もっと more, and の standing in for the noun.
pittari desu.
It fits perfectly.
A satisfying word, and the one the staff want to hear.
Why it works

The の in おおきいの is a different の from the linking one on day 9. Here it stands in for a noun you have both already established: a bigger one. English does the same with one, and Japanese uses の. Once you spot it you will hear it everywhere: あかいの, the red one; やすいの, the cheap one.

Colours

Some are い-adjectives and some are nouns, which matters when you put them before a noun:

akai / aoi / shiroi / kuroi
red / blue / white / black
い-adjectives. あかい シャツ, a red shirt.
midori / kiiro / chairo
green / yellow / brown
Nouns. Before a noun they need の: みどりの シャツ.
hoka no iro wa arimasu ka.
Do you have other colours?
ほか other, いろ colour.
Why it works

This split catches everyone. あかい is an adjective so it goes straight before the noun, but みどり is a noun so it needs の to link it, exactly as on day 9. If you are unsure which a colour is, listen for the い: if it ends in い it is almost certainly an adjective.

Carry over, from earlier days

shichaku shitemo ii desu ka.
May I try this on?
motto ōkii no wa arimasu ka.
Do you have a bigger one?
hoka no iro wa arimasu ka.
Do you have other colours?
chotto kangaemasu.
I'll have a think.

Check yourself

8 questions. Nothing is saved unless you finish.