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 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 by card and takes the scontrino.
Dialogue
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Come paga?— How are you paying?
- CassieraSono quattro euro. Come paga?That's four euros. How are you paying?
- MikePago con la carta, per favore.By card, please.
- CassieraEcco lo scontrino. Grazie!Here's your receipt. Thank you!
- MikeGrazie, arrivederci!Thank you, goodbye!
Dialogue
i
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Mille grazie!— A thousand thanks!
- GiuliaMarco, pago io! Quanto è?Marco, I'm paying! How much is it?
- 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.
- MarcoE quattro euro e cinquanta di resto! Grazie, Giulia!And four euros fifty in change! Thanks, Giulia!
- GiuliaPrego! E il cappuccino è buonissimo — mille grazie, Marco!You're welcome! And the cappuccino is wonderful — mille grazie, Marco!
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; 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; 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. Don't mix them: in goes with contanti, con goes with la carta. «Pago in carta» is wrong. 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.How are you paying? By card. / In cash.
- tu paghi, noi paghiamo · le bancheyou pay, we pay · the banks
- duecento, cinquecento, mille — duemilatwo hundred, five hundred, a thousand — two thousand
- Mille grazie! Prego!Thanks a lot! You're welcome!
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