Basic numbers: Paying the grocery bill

💬 In Italian, the thing you need does the action: Le serve una busta? is closer to "Is a bag useful to you?". With more than one item, the verb changes to match: Le servono due buste? "Do you need two bags?".

🇮🇹 Supermarket bags aren't free in Italy. They cost a few cents, so cashiers ask before adding one to your bill.

💬 Euro never changes for plural, so you say un euro and diciotto euro, never "euros".

💬 Prices above one use sono "they are", not è "it is". You say è un euro but sono due euro.

💬 Cents just follow e "and" without the word centesimi "cents". So tre euro e venti means €3.20.

💬 Ecco is the go-to word for handing something over. Swap in anything you're giving: Ecco la carta "Here's the card".

💬 Ha is the polite "you have", the same form as "he/she has". With a stranger behind the till, this is the form you'll hear and use.

🇮🇹 Italian cashiers often ask for exact coins because they run short of change. Digging out the cents if you have them is appreciated.