American Learns Korean Day9: How Much Is This? & Do You Take Card?

Today’s American Learns Korean Day9 is about one thing: not freezing at the register. For most beginners (especially American learners), there are two moments where speech suddenly stops: when you need to ask the price, and when you need to confirm how to pay. If you try to say it “perfectly,” your sentence gets longer, confidence drops, and you end up silent.

So we’re doing the opposite. Two short questions. Zero extra words. We’ll train them until they come out automatically, then connect them into a simple flow: Ask → Listen → Confirm → Pay.

American Learns Korean Day9 Today’s Goal

Ask the price smoothly: “How much is this?”
Confirm payment quickly: “Do you take card?”
Memorize the answer patterns as a set: “Yes / No (cash only)”
Practice hearing Korean prices and repeating them for confirmation

Core Phrases (Only 2)

이거 얼마예요? (How much is this?)
카드 돼요? (Do you take card?)

Key point: Don’t translate “How much is this?” into a long Korean sentence. Korean is often shorter and more direct at the counter. These two lines are exactly what you need.

Pronunciation & Intonation (10 seconds)

얼마예요?: lift your tone slightly at the end to make it clearly a question.
(얼↗마예요↗)
카드 돼요?: keep “카드” soft and connected (ka-deu), then lift “돼요?” at the end.
이거: say it in two beats (ee-geo) and point to the item. That gesture makes it feel natural.

Script 1: Café (Most common)

Customer: 이거 얼마예요?
Clerk: 4,500원이에요.
Customer: 카드 돼요?
Clerk: 네, 돼요. 여기 꽂아 주세요.
Customer: 네, 감사합니다.

This is the entire flow. If you can say this without thinking, you’re done for today.

Script 2: Convenience Store (Add receipt)

Customer: 이거 얼마예요?
Clerk: 2,200원이요.
Customer: 카드 돼요?
Clerk: 네, 돼요.
Customer: 영수증 주세요.
Clerk: 네, 여기요.

Why add “Receipt, please”? Because payment phrases almost always come with “receipt/bag” requests in real life. It’s efficient to learn them together.

Mini Expansion (Only 3)

We’re not expanding a lot today. But these three show up constantly:

현금 돼요? (Do you take cash?)
현금만 돼요. (Cash only.)
계좌이체 돼요? (Can I bank transfer?)

We’ll keep “card/cash” as the main track, then expand later if you want.

Drill 1: Price Question Auto-Pilot

Say the same rhythm every time. Your mouth should remember it, not your brain.

이거 얼마예요? (coffee)
이거 얼마예요? (sandwich)
이거 얼마예요? (water)
이거 얼마예요? (umbrella)
이거 얼마예요? (ticket)

Tip: point to the item while saying 이거. It instantly sounds more natural.

Drill 2: Card Question + Answer as a Set

Don’t stop after A. In real life, you need B right after.

A: 카드 돼요?
B: 네, 돼요. / 아니요, 현금만 돼요.

Do 4 sets by changing the place:

Café: 카드 돼요? → 네, 돼요.
Market: 카드 돼요? → 아니요, 현금만 돼요.
Convenience store: 카드 돼요? → 네, 돼요.
Taxi: 카드 돼요? → 네, 돼요.

Drill 3: Hear the Price, Repeat to Confirm

A lot of “I froze” moments are actually number-listening problems. So we train the confirmation line.

Clerk: 4,500원이에요.
Customer (repeat to confirm): 4,500원이요?

Try these the same way:

2,200원 / 6,800원 / 12,000원 / 15,500원

“원이요?” here is not arguing. It’s a quick “Did I hear that right?” confirmation.

3 Common Mistakes (Fix them today)

Flipping the sentence: saying “얼마예요, 이거?” first

It can work, but as a beginner, stick to the clean default: 이거 얼마예요?

Saying “카드 있어요?” instead of “카드 돼요?”

Different meaning. “카드 있어요?” can sound like you’re asking if they have a card.
For payment acceptance, 돼요? is the correct move.

Hearing the price and going silent

Don’t go silent. Repeat once: (금액)이요?
That one line keeps the conversation moving.

Quick Vocabulary (Only what you need)

가격 (price)
결제 (payment)
현금 (cash)
카드 (card)
영수증 (receipt)
봉투 (bag)
할인 (discount)
포인트 (points)
여기 (here)
이쪽 (this way)

We’re not memorizing big lists. You learn these by repeating them inside the scripts.

Mini Quiz (30 seconds)

What’s the most natural Korean for “How much is this?”
How do you ask “Do you take card?”
How do you say “Cash only”?

Answers:

이거 얼마예요?
카드 돼요?
현금만 돼요.

Homework (2 minutes)

In front of a mirror: 이거 얼마예요? × 10 (lift your tone at the end)
카드 돼요? × 10 + answers × 10 (네, 돼요 / 아니요, 현금만 돼요)
Record this full script 3 times (1 slow, 2 natural)

Recording Script:

이거 얼마예요?
4,500원이에요.
카드 돼요?
네, 돼요. 여기 꽂아 주세요.
네, 감사합니다.

FAQ

Q. Can I say just “얼마예요?” without “이거”?
A. Yes. But as a beginner, 이거 makes it clearer and easier to say confidently.

Q. Is “카드 되나요?” more polite than “카드 돼요?”
A. Both are polite and natural. Today we use 카드 돼요? because it’s shorter and faster at the counter.

Q. I can’t catch the price when they say it fast—what should I do?
A. Repeat once: (금액)이요? That single confirmation line saves the conversation.

Americans learns korean – Day 8 (Review)