Xiaoyu is buying apples from her usual stallholder. Chen Hao, her neighbour, turns up at the same stall.
Xiaoyu
王阿姨，早上好！
Wáng āyí, zǎoshang hǎo !
Auntie Wang, good morning!
Auntie Wang
早啊，小雨。今天想买点儿什么？
Zǎo a, Xiǎoyǔ. Jīntiān xiǎng mǎi diǎnr shénme ?
Morning, Xiaoyu. What are you after today?
Xiaoyu
苹果多少钱一斤？
Píngguǒ duōshao qián yī jīn ?
How much are the apples a jin?
Auntie Wang
五块钱一斤，很甜。
Wǔ kuài qián yī jīn, hěn tián.
Five yuan a jin, and they are very sweet.
Xiaoyu
我要两斤。
Wǒ yào liǎng jīn.
I will take two jin.
Chen Hao
小雨，你也来买水果吗？
Xiǎoyǔ, nǐ yě lái mǎi shuǐguǒ ma ?
Xiaoyu, are you buying fruit too?
Xiaoyu
是啊。你要不要一起买？
Shì a. Nǐ yào bu yào yīqǐ mǎi ?
I am. Do you want to get some as well?
Chen Hao
好。我也要两斤。
Hǎo. Wǒ yě yào liǎng jīn.
All right. I will take two jin too.
Auntie Wang
一共二十块钱。
Yīgòng èrshí kuài qián.
That comes to twenty yuan.
Xiaoyu
给您。谢谢王阿姨！
Gěi nín. Xièxie Wáng āyí !
Here you are. Thank you, Auntie Wang!
A 斤 (jīn) is exactly five hundred grams, and it is the unit in which fruit, vegetables and meat are sold in every market in China. A price shown without a unit is understood to be per 斤. The kilo, 公斤 (gōngjīn), exists but is mainly used on official scales and for luggage. The English translation of this lesson keeps the word jin rather than turning it into pounds: 一斤 is 500 g, 两斤 make a kilo.
买什么 is understood, but it lands flat. 买点儿什么 amounts to saying "buy a little something", and it is the form a stallholder uses with a customer she knows. The final 儿 is heard in Beijing and in the north; it is not always written in the south.
Chinese asks a question in two ways. With 吗 at the end, or by repeating the verb followed by its negative: 要不要 means "do you want it or not". The two forms are equivalent, but they are never mixed: 你要不要买吗 is a mistake.
