If you are going to work in Britain, at some stage you will need to go shopping for something. Don't worry, shopping is not all that difficult whatever country you are in. To make things easier, here are some phrases and expressions that you might find useful.

First of all, here are some things you might hear:

Have you got anything smaller?

The shop assistant might ask you this if you try to buy something cheap with a large denomination note, such as a twenty or a fifty.

Do you have a loyalty card?

This is a special card that you get in certain shops (like the ones used in chain stores and supermarkets in Poland). Don't worry if you do not fully understand the question, because they often don't say loyalty card but the name of their particular one, which changes from shop to shop.

Don't forget your change!

Remember the coins you get after buying something with a note are worth more than Polish ones, so make sure you don't walk off without them.

And now some phrases you might need:

Clothes shopping:

Do you have a larger one?

Can I try it on?

I don't think it's my size.

Food shopping:

Could I have a bunch of bananas, please.

Half a kilo of tomatoes, please.

And I'd like a jar of instant coffee as well, please.

Do you sell pickled cabbage?

Have you got any loaves left?

A loaf (plural: loaves) is one unit of bread. Like in Poland you can buy sliced and unsliced, and the cheapest always comes from a supermarket. The best, however, always comes from a bakery (well, actually, the best is the stuff you make yourself, in which case remember the word yeast, the powder that makes it rise!)

Electrical goods:

I need a new fuse for this plug.

The biggest difference between Polish and British home electrics is that plugs, the things that connect electrical items to the socket in the wall, have fuses in them in Britain. Fuses are graded in amps (usually a plug has a thirteen-amp fuse but some have three-amp fuses).

What sort of light bulbs do you sell?

And then you might be asked:

What sort of fitting do you need?

Light bulbs screw in or fit with a bayonet (a simpler connection). Check the broken bulb before you leave the house, or bring the old one with you.

I'm looking for an extension lead.

We have three words for a length of wire in plastic insulation: cable, lead and flex. As a general rule they mean the same thing, although and extension lead is the more common phrase.

Safety note:

If you are connecting any mains equipment (mains means that it connects to the sockets in the home), there are three colours for the wires in the lead. Blue is live, brown is neutral and the yellow-green wire is the earth. Most electrical goods you buy today no longer have an earth as they use double insulation. One way to remember the colour coding is that the second letter of blue is the first letter of live, and the last letter of brown is the first letter of neutral.

IMPORTANT!

Whenever you ask for something in an English-speaking country, remember this rule even if you forget everything else:

Never say Give me…

Never.

Ever.

Even if you say please.

It is extremely rude to start a sentence with Give, so a direct translation of some Polish phrases into English would make you very unpopular. You might hear some British people use this (for example, in the workplace or a pub), but it only works in a very casual relationship or an extremely strict master-slave arrangement!

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