Shopping is one of those everyday situations where your English really gets tested. Whether you’re picking up a few bits at the supermarket, asking for a different size in a clothes shop, or just trying to understand what the cashier is saying at the till, you need a solid set of words and phrases to fall back on. The good news is that shopping vocabulary is very practical and very repeatable — once you’ve used these words a few times, they stick.
In this lesson, we’ll cover supermarket and grocery vocabulary organised by aisle, the little quantity words that English learners often forget (a loaf of bread, a tin of tomatoes), the language you need in clothes shops, useful conversation phrases, and a few common mistakes to avoid. At the end, there’s a 10-question quiz so you can check what you’ve learned. Ready? Let’s go shopping.
Supermarket and grocery vocabulary
Most supermarkets in the UK and Malta are organised in roughly the same way, and knowing the name of each section helps you find things — and understand the signs above the aisles.
Fruit and veg (vegetables): apple, banana, orange, grapes, strawberries, lemon, tomato, cucumber, lettuce, onion, garlic, pepper, potato, carrot, broccoli, mushrooms.
Dairy: milk, butter, cheese, yoghurt, cream, eggs (yes, eggs are usually in the dairy aisle in the UK).
Bakery: bread, a loaf, a roll, a baguette, a bun, croissant, pastry, cake, biscuits.
Meat and fish: chicken, beef, pork, lamb, mince, sausages, bacon, ham, salmon, tuna, prawns.
Frozen: frozen peas, ice cream, frozen pizza, fish fingers, ready meals.
Household: washing-up liquid, washing powder, kitchen roll, toilet paper, bin bags, cling film, tin foil.
A few useful general words: a trolley (the big one you push), a basket (the small one you carry), the aisle (the long passage between shelves), the till (where you pay), the checkout, a receipt, and a queue (the line of people waiting). In British English, you join a queue — you don’t “stand in line”.
Quantities and containers
This is a part of shopping vocabulary that learners often skip — and then get stuck on at the till. In English, we don’t usually say “a milk” or “a bread”. We use a quantity or container word instead.
- a bottle of water, wine, oil
- a carton of milk, juice
- a packet of biscuits, crisps, pasta
- a tin of tomatoes, tuna, beans (Americans say “a can of”)
- a jar of jam, honey, olives
- a loaf of bread (plural: two loaves)
- a slice of bread, cheese, ham, cake
- a bar of chocolate, soap
- a bunch of bananas, grapes, flowers
- a kilo of apples, a half-kilo of mince, 200 grams of cheese
- a litre of milk, half a litre of cream
- a dozen eggs
Notice the pattern: a [container/quantity] + of + [food]. Once you internalise this structure, you can describe almost anything on the shelf.
Shopping in clothes and retail shops
Buying clothes brings its own set of vocabulary. Here are the words you’ll hear most often:
- to try on — to put on a piece of clothing in the shop to see if it fits: “Can I try this on?”
- fitting room (or changing room) — the small room where you try clothes on
- size — small, medium, large, or numbers like UK 10, UK 12; for shoes: “What size are you?”
- fit — “It fits perfectly” / “It doesn’t fit, it’s too tight / too loose”
- in stock / out of stock — available or not available in the shop
- sold out — there are no more left
- on sale / on offer / reduced — at a lower price
- receipt — the paper that proves you bought something
- refund — your money back: “I’d like a refund, please.”
- exchange — to swap one item for another
- to return something — to take it back to the shop
Other handy retail words: shop assistant (the person who helps you), cashier (the person at the till), browse (to look around without buying), and window-shopping (looking at things in shop windows for fun).
Useful shopping phrases and conversations
Vocabulary on its own isn’t enough — you need full phrases that flow naturally. Here are the building blocks of almost any shopping conversation in English.
Asking for help:
- “Excuse me, do you sell batteries?”
- “Could you tell me where the bakery is?”
- “I’m looking for a blue jumper in size medium.”
- “Do you have this in a smaller size?”
Asking the price:
- “How much is this?”
- “How much are these?”
- “Is this on sale?”
- “Sorry, the price tag is missing — could you check it for me?”
Paying:
- “I’ll take this one, please.”
- “Can I pay by card?” / “Do you accept contactless?”
- “Would you like a bag?” — “Yes please” / “No thanks, I’ve got one.”
- “Can I have a receipt, please?”
A short sample dialogue at a clothes shop:
Assistant: Hi, can I help you?
Customer: Yes, please. Do you have this T-shirt in a large?
Assistant: Let me check… yes, here you are. The fitting rooms are just over there.
Customer: Thanks. (later) It fits really well. I’ll take it.
Assistant: Great. That’ll be €18, please. Cash or card?
Customer: Card, please. Could I have a receipt?
And a quick supermarket exchange:
Cashier: Do you have a loyalty card?
Customer: No, I don’t. How much is it altogether?
Cashier: €23.40, please. Would you like a bag?
Customer: No thanks. Here you go.
Common mistakes
A few errors come up over and over again with my students, so let’s clear them up.
1. “Shopping” is uncountable. We don’t say “two shoppings” or “many shoppings”. Just say shopping: “I did a lot of shopping yesterday.”
2. “Go shopping” vs “do the shopping” vs “do shopping”.
- go shopping = a leisure activity, often clothes or non-food: “On Saturday we went shopping in Valletta.”
- do the shopping = the weekly food shop, a chore: “I need to do the shopping before the weekend.”
- do shopping (without “the”) sounds odd in British English — avoid it.
3. “Make shopping” — never. In English, we do shopping or we go shopping; we don’t “make” it.
4. “Buy” vs “pay for”. You buy a product (“I bought a jacket”) but you pay for it (“I paid for the jacket by card”). Don’t say “I paid the jacket”.
5. “Cheap” isn’t always polite. If you mean a good price, say good value or reasonable. “Cheap” can sometimes suggest poor quality.
Mini quiz — 10 questions
Test yourself. Write your answers on a piece of paper before you scroll down.
- You buy bread from the ____. (a) dairy (b) bakery (c) frozen aisle
- The big thing you push around the supermarket is called a ____.
- Complete: “a ____ of tomatoes” (the metal container).
- Complete: “a ____ of bread” (the whole shape, before slicing).
- True or false: We say “two breads, please.”
- The small room where you try clothes on is called the ____ room.
- If a shop has no more of an item, we say it is sold ____.
- You want your money back. You ask for a ____.
- Choose the correct sentence: (a) I made shopping yesterday. (b) I did the shopping yesterday. (c) I make shoppings every Saturday.
- What’s the British word for the place where you pay? (a) register (b) till (c) cart
Answers
- (b) bakery
- trolley
- tin
- loaf
- False — “shopping” and “bread” are uncountable. Say “two loaves of bread”.
- fitting (or changing) room
- out — “sold out”
- refund
- (b) I did the shopping yesterday.
- (b) till
How did you do? If most of this felt familiar, you’re well on your way to handling real shopping situations in English with confidence. If you’d like to put it into practice with native and near-native speakers in Malta — supermarket runs, café orders, weekend retail trips and all — request a quick quotation here and our team will help you plan a course that fits. Happy shopping!