Asking prices (Zenbat balio du?)

To do the shopping you need to know how to ask the price and understand the answer. In Basque there are two basic questions, depending on whether you are looking at a product on the counter or are ready to pay.

The two key questions

Basque	English	When
Zenbat balio du?	How much is it worth?	looking at a specific product
Zenbat da?	How much is it?	at the end, when paying
Zenbatean dago kiloa?	How much is the kilo?	asking the price per unit

Zenbat means “how much/how many”. Balio is “to be worth”. Du is the “has/does” form of the verb ukan.

Answering with the price

There are two frequent structures:

• X euro balio du — It’s worth X euros.
  • Botilak lau euro balio du. → The bottle is worth 4 euros.
• Kiloa X eurotan dago — The kilo is at X euros.
  • Kiloa hamar eurotan dago. → The kilo is at 10 euros.

Eurotan is “in euros” (plural inessive). In everyday speech it’s also very common to hear simply “Hamar euro” with no verb, just like in English.

If you find it expensive or cheap

• Garestia da — It’s expensive.
• Merkea da — It’s cheap.
• Hau garestia da! — This is expensive!
• Merkeak ere ez! — They’re not cheap either! (literally: “not even cheap ones”)

Paying and the change

• Zenbat da dena? — How much is it all?
• Tori! — Here you go! (when handing over the money, very common)
• Txartelaz ordain dezaket? — Can I pay by card?
• Hemen daukazu kanbioa. — Here’s your change.

Cultural note: in many small neighbourhood shops, cash payment is still the norm, so txartelaz ordain dezaket? is a useful question when you go in for the first time.