Italian · CEFR Band 1 (A1) · Chapter 22
Pago con la cartaI'll pay by card
The purchase's last step: pagare. The shop's question is Come paga? and the answers are two: pago con la carta — with the article, as always — or pago in contanti, article-less, in the in centro family. It is the attested CILS exam sentence: «Pago con la carta di credito». The numbers climb past a hundred — duecento, cinquecento, mille — and chapter 20's scontrino officially enters the vocabulary. Mike pays «con carta»… and the article, as always, makes itself heard.
Dialogue
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Pago con carta?— «I pay with card»?
- MarcoSono quattro euro. Come paga?That's four euros. How are you paying? (Come paga? — the Lei form, proper counter courtesy.)
- MikePago con carta!I pay «with card»! (The article dropped from the fixed phrase — the slip this chapter fixes: con LA carta.)
- MarcoCon LA carta! La carta vuole l'articolo — ma «in contanti» no: l'idioma decide.Con LA carta! The card wants its article — but «in contanti» does not: the idiom decides.
- MikePago con la carta! …E lo scontrino, per favore.I'll pay by card! …And the scontrino, please. (Chapter 20's receipt, now a word he owns.)
- MarcoEcco lo scontrino. Perfetto, Mike: adesso paghi come un italiano!Here's the scontrino. Perfect, Mike: now you pay like an Italian! (paghi — the h keeps the hard g, chapter 4's shield inside a verb.)
Dialogue
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Mille grazie!— A thousand thanks!
- GiuliaMarco, pago io! Quanto è?Marco, I'm paying! How much is it? (pago io — the pronoun AFTER the verb: «I'll be the one paying», the contrast trick from chapter 3.)
- MarcoDue cappuccini e due cornetti… sono cinque euro e cinquanta.Two cappuccinos and two cornetti… that's five euros fifty.
- GiuliaPago in contanti — ecco dieci euro.I'll pay cash — here's ten euros. (in contanti — article-less, the idiom side of the paying pair.)
- MarcoE quattro euro e cinquanta di resto! Grazie, Giulia!And four euros fifty in change! Thanks, Giulia! (il resto «the change», glossed — what comes back.)
- GiuliaPrego! E il cappuccino è buonissimo — mille grazie, Marco!You're welcome! And the cappuccino is wonderful — mille grazie, Marco! (mille — the chapter's big number, doing idiom duty: a thousand thanks.)
Vocabulary
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- pagare
verbto pay (io pago; tu paghi — an h sneaks in to keep the hard g, like le banche)
- la carta
n.f.the card (pago con la carta — WITH its article; la carta di credito in full)
- in contanti
phrasein cash — article-less idiom, the paying twin of in centro
- i soldi
n.m.money (born plural, like gli spaghetti)
- lo scontrino
n.m.the receipt (the chapter-20 ritual object, now vocabulary — lo, because s+consonant)
- il resto
n.m.the change (what comes back after paying)
- duecento, trecento…
numeraltwo hundred, three hundred… — number + cento, welded like ventidue
- mille
numerala thousand (plural -mila: duemila; and the idiom mille grazie — a thousand thanks)
Grammar
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How are you paying? Con la carta or in contanti
Explanation
Every purchase's ending has three fixed lines. Question: Come paga? (with the shop's Lei — chapter 5, culture). Answer one: pago con la carta — and note the article: la carta ALWAYS wants it, as you learned in chapter 7; the CILS exam's full version is pago con la carta di credito. Answer two: pago in contanti — with NO article, because it is an idiom of the in centro / in vetrina family: preposition + bare noun, frozen together. There is no logic to hunt between the two: the card is an object and keeps its article; in contanti is a manner and drops it. Learn the two phrases as a pair. Meanwhile pagare conjugates like parlare with one spelling detail: tu paghi, noi paghiamo — the h defends the hard g, exactly as in banche. And the numbers finish the ladder: duecento, cinquecento, novecento, mille — with mille turning into -mila in the plural (duemila) and starring in the language's kindest idiom: mille grazie.
Examples
- Come paga? — Pago con la carta. / Pago in contanti.the closing script: one question, two answers — article in, article out
- tu paghi, noi paghiamo — come le banchethe h-shield working inside a verb: spelling guards the sound
- duecento, cinquecento, mille — duemilathe ladder's top: welded hundreds, and mille that pluralizes into -mila
- Mille grazie! — Prego!the thousand-thank idiom, answered by chapter 2's all-purpose prego
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