Negotiating the price: Asking for a discount

🇹🇼 In Taiwan, [老闆] is what you'd naturally call a shop owner or vendor when trying to get their attention. It sounds normal and friendly in markets and small stores, not like calling someone your actual boss.

💬 [多少] means 'how much/how many' and works for both countable things and amounts: [多少人？] (how many people?), [多少錢？] (how much money?). The noun often comes right after it.

💬 To ask a price, Chinese usually says [多少錢] — literally 'how much money' — not a separate word for 'cost.' You can swap in other things after [多少]: [多少個？] (how many?), [多少時間？] (how much time?).

💬 [這] often pairs with a measure word before a noun: [這個包], [這杯茶]. On its own in speech, [這] can also mean 'this one/this' when the thing is clear.

💬 [個] is the everyday counting word for lots of nouns: [一個人], [這個包], [三個問題]. After [這], [那], or a number, you'll very often need a word like this before the noun.

💬 [這個] can mean 'this one' by itself, or go before a noun: [這個可以嗎？] and [這個包]. In fast Taiwan speech, you'll often hear it reduced a bit, with [這個] sounding like (zhèi ge).