English · CEFR Band 1 (A1) · Chapter 23
Clothes and colours
Dialogue
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blue shirt or a blue shirt?
- EmmaAlex, what do you want to buy?
- AlexI want to buy blue shirt.
- EmmaSay "a": I want to buy a blue shirt.
- AlexOh, I want to buy a blue shirt.
Dialogue
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At the clothes shop
- AlexHello. I want to buy a red shirt.
- AssistantWhat size? We have a big shirt and a small shirt.
- AlexThe small shirt, please. How much is it?
- AssistantIt's twelve dollars.
Vocabulary
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- clothes
nounclothes
- shirt
nounshirt
- trousers
nountrousers
- shoes
nounshoes
- dress
noundress
- size
nounsize
- red
adjectivered
- blue
adjectiveblue
- black
adjectiveblack
- white
adjectivewhite
Grammar
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"a / an" + colour + noun
Explanation
A colour goes before the noun: a red shirt, a blue dress, black shoes. For ONE countable thing you also need "a" before the colour: a red shirt, a white bag. Use "an" when the next word starts with a vowel sound: an expensive shirt, an old bag. Plurals take no "a": blue shoes, black trousers (not "a blue shoes"). Many languages have no word for "a", so learners say "I want blue shirt" — but English needs it: I want a blue shirt. This is the same little "a" from the articles lesson, now with a colour in the middle.
Examples
- I want a red shirt.I want a red shirt.
- This is an expensive dress.This is an expensive dress.
- She has a white bag and black shoes.She has a white bag and black shoes.
- Do you have a big shirt? I want a small size.Do you have a big shirt? I want a small size.
Culture
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Shopping and queuingShopping and queuing
Shopping in the US, the UK, Australia and Canada follows a few quiet rules. Prices are usually fixed, you wait your turn in a queue, and you can often bring things back. Knowing these makes a shop much easier to walk into.
Fixed prices
In most shops and supermarkets, the price on the tag is the price you pay — there is no haggling. Asking a shop assistant to lower the price on a shirt would feel strange. Bargaining does happen, but only in a few places: outdoor markets, car sales, and second-hand or garage sales. So at a normal shop, just take it to the till and pay the marked price.
The queue
Waiting your turn is taken seriously, especially in Britain. The British call it a "queue"; Americans say a "line", and you "stand in line". You join at the back and wait — pushing in front of others ("jumping the queue") is considered very rude. At a shop with several tills, there may be one line that feeds them all. When it is your turn, the assistant will say "Next, please".
Keep the receipt
After you pay, the assistant gives you a receipt — keep it. In most English-speaking countries you can bring an item back within a set time (often two weeks or a month) for a refund or an exchange, but usually only with the receipt. If a shirt is the wrong size or colour, this is normal and easy: just say "I'd like to return this" or "Can I exchange it?". Shops expect it, and "the customer is always right" is a common saying.
So in an English-speaking shop: pay the price on the tag, wait your turn in the queue, and keep the receipt in case you want to bring something back. Simple rules — and once you know them, shopping feels easy.
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