Basic colors: Asking about tshirt color options

💬 黑色 is the full color-name form 'black.' You'll often hear the same pattern with other colors too, like 灰色 and 蓝色.

💬 红色的 means "a red one", so the shirt itself never has to be named. Swap in another color the same way: 有黑色的吗？ "Do you have a black one?"

💬 完 (wán) "finished" goes right after an action to show it's used up or done: 卖完 "sell until none are left", 吃完 "finish eating". The 了 marks that it has already happened.

💬 Adding 的 after a color lets it stand in for the item, so you don't need to repeat "T-shirt". 红色的 means "the red one(s)". You can do the same with 白色的 "the white one" or 黑色的 "the black one".

🇨🇳 不好意思 is the light, everyday "sorry" for small inconveniences like something being out of stock or squeezing past someone. 对不起 sounds heavier and is kept for real apologies.

🇨🇳 我要 + item is the standard way to order or buy in China. It's direct, and that sounds perfectly polite to locals rather than rude: 我要这个 "I'll take this one".

💬 那 (nà) at the start of a sentence means "in that case", picking up from what the other person just said. It's the same character as "that", but here it works like "well then".

💬 多大 (duō dà) "how big" is a handy question builder: put 多 before a describing word to ask "how ___?". For example, 多长 "how long" or 多远 "how far". Clothing sizes are 大号 "large", 中号 "medium" and 小号 "small".

🇨🇳 Clothing prices are usually fixed in malls and chain stores. At markets and small stalls, asking 多少钱？ often opens a round of bargaining, and 便宜一点吧 (pián yi yì diǎn ba) "a bit cheaper?" is the usual next line.

💬 给你 (gěi nǐ) literally means "give you". It's what you say while handing something over, like "here you go".

💬 In speech, prices use 块 (kuài) rather than the written 元 (yuán). Bigger numbers are built like a sum: 八十九 is "eight ten nine", so 89.

💬 In a reply, 可以 on its own means "yes, that's fine". To say yes in Chinese, you usually just repeat the key verb from the question rather than using a word like "yes".

🇨🇳 Almost everyone in China pays by phone, with WeChat Pay or Alipay (支付宝 (zhī fù bǎo)), and some small shops barely handle cash. Linking a foreign card to one of these apps before you arrive makes shopping much easier.

🇨🇳 Usually the shop shows you its QR code to scan. Sometimes the cashier will scan the code on your phone instead, in which case they'll say 我扫你 "I'll scan yours".

💬 扫码 "scan code" is one action that can be split to fit "this" in the middle: 扫这个码. Chinese does this with a number of two-part actions.

💬 Put 就行 after an action to say "just do that and you're set": 扫这个码就行 "just scan this code". You can reuse it with any action, for example 放这儿就行 "just put it here".

💬 The second 谢 is said without a tone, as a light, quick (xiè xie).

🇨🇳 Shopkeepers say 慢走 (màn zǒu), literally "walk slowly", as you leave. It's a courteous send-off, not an instruction. Replying 谢谢 or just smiling and nodding is plenty.