At the Market

This unit teaches you the vocabulary and conversational patterns needed for shopping at a Bengali market or bazaar. You will learn how to ask prices, bargain, use quantity expressions with classifiers, and handle currency — practical skills for navigating the vibrant markets of Bangladesh and West Bengal.

Basic Sentences

Bengali	English
ei jinish-tar daam koto?	How much does this thing cost?
eta koto?	How much is this?
onek beshi daam	Too expensive
ektu komiyen	Please reduce a little
amar tin-ta lagbe	I need three
apni ki komiyen deben?	Will you give a discount?
shesh daam koto?	What is the final price?
ami ei-ta nebo	I will take this one
chhoto taka nei, boro taka achhe	I don’t have small change, I have a large note
koto taka dichhen?	How much are you paying?
aaro kichhu dorkar achhe?	Do you need anything else?
thik achhe, ei-ta din	Alright, give me this one

Key Vocabulary

Bengali	English
bazar	market, bazaar
dokan	shop, store
jinish	thing, item
daam	price
taka	taka (Bangladeshi currency) / money
paisha	paisa (smaller currency unit)
koto	how much
komiyen	reduce, discount
beshi	more, too much
kom	less
-ta	general classifier (one thing)
-jon	classifier for people
-khana	classifier for flat/book-like objects
shesh daam	final price
feroth	return, refund
tholi	bag
kena	to buy
bechha	to sell

Grammar Notes

Asking Prices

The standard way to ask prices in Bengali:

• eta koto? — How much is this?
• ei jinish-tar daam koto? — What is the price of this item?
• ek kilo chaler daam koto? — How much is one kilo of rice?

Bargaining Expressions

Bargaining is standard in Bengali markets:

Bengali	English
onek beshi	too much
ektu komiyen	reduce a little
aaro kom hobe?	can it be even less?
shesh daam bolun	tell me the final price
ei daam-e deben?	will you give it at this price?

Classifiers for Quantity

Bengali requires classifiers when counting nouns:

Classifier	Used for	Example
-ta	general items	tin-ta am (three mangoes)
-jon	people	dui-jon lok (two people)
-khana	flat objects, books	ek-khana boi (one book)
kilo	weight	ek kilo alu (one kilo of potatoes)
dozen	groups of 12	ek dozen dim (one dozen eggs)

Currency

Bangladesh uses taka (৳) and paisha. One taka = 100 paisha. In West Bengal (India), the currency is the Indian rupee (taka is also colloquially used).

• ponchash taka — fifty taka
• eksho taka — one hundred taka
• dui-sho ponchash taka — two hundred fifty taka

Drills

Drill 1: Asking Prices

Ask the price of each item:

Item	Question
am (mango)	ei am-tar daam koto?
boi (book)	ei boi-khanar daam koto?
jama (shirt)	ei jama-tar daam koto?
machh (fish)	ek kilo machh-er daam koto?

Drill 2: Bargaining

Respond to the seller’s price:

Seller says	You respond
eksho taka	onek beshi, ponchash taka debo
ponchash taka	ektu komiyen, challish taka hobe?
dui-sho taka	shesh daam bolun

Drill 3: Using Classifiers

Fill in the correct classifier:

Quantity	Noun	Full phrase
tin	kola (banana)	tin-ta kola
dui	chele (boy)	dui-jon chele
ek	boi (book)	ek-khana boi
panch	dim (egg)	panch-ta dim

Narrative

ami aaj shokale bazar-e giyechhilam. prothome shobji-r dokan-e gelam. ek kilo alu ar adha kilo peyaj kinlam. shobji-wala beshito bollochhe alu shoja khet theke eshechhe. tarpor machh-er dokan-e gelam. ek kilo rui machh-er daam jigges korlam. dokan-dar bollo dui-sho taka. ami bollam, onek beshi, eksho ponchash taka hobe? she raji holo. shesh-e phol-er dokan theke kichhu am ar kola kinlam. mota moti tin-sho taka khoroch holo.

I went to the market this morning. First I went to the vegetable shop. I bought one kilo of potatoes and half a kilo of onions. The vegetable seller was saying the potatoes came straight from the field. Then I went to the fish shop. I asked the price of one kilo of rui fish. The shopkeeper said two hundred taka. I said, too much, will one hundred fifty work? He agreed. Finally I bought some mangoes and bananas from the fruit shop. In total about three hundred taka was spent.