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Japanese Money and Shopping Vocabulary: 円, 買う/売る/払う, and いくらですか

Japanese shopping vocabulary is one of the highest-frequency N5–N4 word sets for anyone living in or visiting Japan. You reuse it on every konbini, supermarket, and department-store trip. What lifts it above a tourist phrasebook is the grammar built into it: the 〜円 number system, 〜をください as a request frame, and 買う/売る as a buy/sell pair. It also includes the everyday-versus-Sino-Japanese register split, which decides whether a word reaches your mouth or only your eyes on a receipt.1

Overview​

Why this vocabulary set pays off immediately​

This set is among the most useful word groups for daily life in Japan. A single konbini, supermarket, or department-store trip reuses the same basics every time: 円, 買う, 払う, いくらですか, お釣り, and the staff's いらっしゃいませ.

The everyday core (買う, 売る, 払う, 店, 円, 高い, 安い, いくら) falls in N5 reference vocabulary; the formal and printed layer (購入, 販売, 支払い, 金額, 税込) is N4.1

スーパーでパンを買かった。2
"I bought bread at the supermarket."

コンビニで肉にくまんを買かって食たべた。2
"I bought a meat bun at the convenience store and ate it."

The everyday vs. Sino-Japanese register split​

Many shopping words come in two layers: a native everyday (和語, wago) form plus a Sino-Japanese (漢語, kango) counterpart. The kango forms dominate receipts, signage, contracts, and keigo.3

The core pairs are 買う ("buy") / 購入 ("purchase"); 売る ("sell") / 販売 ("sale, selling"); 払う ("pay") / 支払い ("payment"); 値段 (everyday "price") / 価格 (formal "price") and 金額 ("monetary amount, sum"); and 店 ("shop") / 店舗 ("store, outlet").3 Learn the everyday word for speaking and the formal word for reading signs, receipts, and screens.

A rule of thumb: 値段 is colloquial and business-to-consumer, 価格 is formal, printed, and business-to-business, and 金額 names the figure itself (the number on the bill or the sum in a transfer), not "the price of a thing."3

The kango layer is what you read, not what you say

The everyday form is the one you produce in conversation; its Sino-Japanese twin is the one you recognize on receipts, price tags, and screens. Learning each pair together makes the printed retail world legible without doubling your active vocabulary.3

Money: 円 and the number system​

円 (えん): the yen, read "en" not "yen"​

円 is read えん (en) and names Japan's currency unit. It attaches to a number as a counter (助数詞), 〜円.4 The currency sense of 円 entered Japanese in the Meiji period from Chinese 圓/圆 (yuán), ultimately from 銀圓 ("round silver object").4

いくらですか？2
"How much is it?"

The English spelling "yen" preserves an older romanization. The Bank of Japan says the exact reason is undocumented, but it offers three explanations. Bare "en" risks being read like English "in," so the "y" steers readers toward the intended sound (compare old Western spellings such as "Yedo" for Edo). "En" already carries meanings in Dutch, French, and Spanish, so a distinct spelling avoided collision. There may also be influence from the romanization of Chinese 圓 ("yuan") on banknotes. The "YEN" spelling has been consistent since 1872.5

The 〜円 counter takes the on-yomi number readings: 一円 (ichi-en), 二円 (ni-en), 三円 (san-en), 五円 (go-en), 六円 (roku-en), 七円 (nana-en), 八円 (hachi-en), 九円 (kyū-en), 十円 (jū-en).4

Read 四円 as よえん, not しえん

In dictionaries, NHK broadcasting, and Japanese-language teaching, "4 yen" is read よえん (yo-en). よんえん (yon-en) is widely used and accepted in everyday speech, while しえん (shi-en) is treated as incorrect, partly because it collides with 支援 ("support").4

Counting prices: 〜円 from 百 to 万​

Price counting uses the standard large-number units 百 (hyaku, 100), 千 (sen, 1,000), and 万 (man, 10,000), giving 百円 (hyaku-en), 千円 (sen-en), and 万円 (man-en).4

For English speakers, the key point is that Japanese groups large numbers by 万 (ten-thousand), not by thousand. So 10,000 yen is 一万円 (ichi-man-en, literally "one ten-thousand yen") rather than "ten thousand."

デパートで新あたらしい帽子ぼうしを買かった。2
"I bought a new hat at the department store."

米こめの値段ねだんが下さがった。2
"The price of rice has come down."

Cash, change, and payment words: 現金, お金, お札, 小銭, お釣り​

お金 (o-kane) is the general word for "money." 現金 (genkin) specifically means "cash": physical money as opposed to card or electronic payment.3

お札 (o-satsu) is a banknote or bill (paper money), and 小銭 (kozeni) is coins or small change. お釣り (o-tsuri) is the change returned after payment.3

現金げんきんで支払しはらいます。2
"I'll pay in cash."

現金げんきんが要いるの。2
"I need some cash."

お釣つりは結構けっこうです。2
"Keep the change."

現金 has a second, unrelated sense

Besides "cash," 現金 also works as a na-adjective meaning "calculating" or "mercenary," describing someone who acts only out of self-interest. Context disambiguates the two senses.3

Shopping verbs and price words​

買う / 売る: the transitivity pair​

買う (kau) means "to buy" and 売る (uru) means "to sell." Both are transitive: they take を to mark the object bought or sold.2 They form a buy/sell lexical pair, meaning they are semantic opposites and both transitive. This is distinct from the morphological 自他 intransitive/transitive pairs, though they are commonly taught alongside them.

The shared を-marking is the structural link between the two verbs:

私わたしは本ほんを買かいました。2
"I bought a book."

あの店みせは紳士服しんしふくを売うっています。2
"That store sells men's wear."

The 〜ている form (売っています) is the natural way to ask whether a shop stocks an item, framing it as an ongoing state rather than a single act.2

電池でんちは売うっていますか。2
"Do you sell batteries?"

払う and the formal 支払う​

払う (harau) means "to pay." The Sino-Japanese 支払う (shiharau), and its noun 支払い (shiharai), often appear as お支払い with the polite お-. This is the form heard at the register and seen on screens.3

The means of payment is marked with で: 現金で払う ("pay in cash"), カードで払う ("pay by card").2

今日きょうは、私わたしが払はらうわ。2
"Today I'm paying."

現金げんきんで支払しはらうつもりなの？2
"Are you going to pay in cash?"

僕ぼくにいくら払はらうの？2
"How much will you pay me?"

値段, 価格, 金額: how to say "price"​

値段 (nedan) is the everyday, colloquial word for "price," the default in daily conversation and business-to-consumer contexts.3 価格 (kakaku) is the formal, printed "price," common in business, advertising, and business-to-business contexts.3

金額 (kingaku) is the monetary amount or sum itself: the figure on a bill, receipt, or transfer, rather than "the price of an item."3

値段ねだんはいくらですか。2
"What is the price?"

値段ねだんが高たかすぎる！2
"It's too expensive!"

全部ぜんぶ値段ねだんは一緒いっしょです。2
"They all cost the same."

高い / 安い: price as an i-adjective​

高い (takai) means "expensive" (and also "tall" or "high"), and 安い (yasui) means "cheap, inexpensive." Both are い-adjectives and conjugate as such: 高くない, 高かった; 安くない, 安かった.3

安い means "cheap in price"; it does not mean "low in height." Use 低い (hikui) for low height. Unlike 高い, 安い has no price-versus-height ambiguity.3

これは安やすいです。2
"This is cheap."

今日きょうは魚さかなが安やすい。2
"Fish is cheap today."

牛肉ぎゅうにくは高たかい。2
"Beef is expensive."

Shop types: コンビニ, スーパー, デパート, 八百屋​

Loanword shops: コンビニ, スーパー, デパート, ドラッグストア, モール​

These shop names are gairaigo (loanwords) written in katakana. The most common forms are clipped from longer originals: コンビニエンスストア → コンビニ (konbini), スーパーマーケット → スーパー (sūpā), デパートメントストア → デパート (depāto).6

Clipping, taking the front of a long compound, is a productive pattern in Japanese loanword vocabulary. Another common example is リモートコントロール → リモコン.6 ドラッグストア (doraggu sutoa, "drugstore") and モール (mōru, "mall") follow the same katakana-loanword pattern.6

スーパーに行いきました。2
"I went to the supermarket."

ちょっとコンビニ行いってくるね。2
"I'm just popping out to the convenience store."

デパートで買かった。2
"I bought it at a department store."

The 〜屋 shops: 八百屋, 魚屋, 肉屋, 本屋, パン屋, 花屋​

〜屋 (-ya) is a productive suffix that forms "shop" or "shopkeeper." With the polite 〜屋さん (-ya-san), it names either the shop or the person who runs it.7

Common examples are 八百屋 (yaoya, greengrocer), 魚屋 (sakanaya, fishmonger), 肉屋 (nikuya, butcher), 本屋 (hon'ya, bookstore), パン屋 (pan'ya, bakery), and 花屋 (hanaya, florist).7

本屋ほんやで雑誌ざっしを買かいました。2
"I bought a magazine at the bookstore."

本屋ほんやさんに行いってきたんだ。2
"I went to the bookstore."

彼女かのじょは野菜やさいを売うっています。2
"She sells vegetables."

Inside the store: 店, 店員, レジ, 売り場, カート, 袋​

店 (mise) is "shop, store," and 店員 (ten'in) is "shop clerk, sales assistant."3 レジ (reji) is the cash register or checkout, clipped from レジスター (English "register").6

売り場 (uriba) is the sales floor or section, カート (kāto) is a shopping cart, and 袋 (fukuro) is a bag.3

彼かれは店員てんいんに金かねを渡わたした。2
"He handed the salesclerk the money."

彼女かのじょはスーパーマーケットの店員てんいんである。2
"She is a clerk in the supermarket."

Shopping phrases and shop keigo​

Asking the price: いくらですか / おいくらですか​

いくら (ikura) means "how much," and いくらですか is the essential question "How much is it?" The honorific prefix お- gives the politer おいくらですか.28 Adding 全部で (zenbu de, "in total") asks for the total: 全部でいくらですか ("How much altogether?").2

これいくらですか？2
"How much is this?"

一人ひとりいくらですか？2
"How much is it for one person?"

この傘かさいくらですか？2
"How much does this umbrella cost?"

Requesting and buying: これをください, 〜をお願いします​

〜をください (-o kudasai) means "please give me ." It is the core polite request frame, with the object marked by を.2 〜をお願いします (-o onegai shimasu) means ", please," a softer and very common variant for ordering or requesting.2

水みずをください。2
"Water, please."

それをください。2
"Please give me that one."

魚さかなをお願ねがいします。2
"Fish, please."

What the staff says: いらっしゃいませ, 〜円になります, 〜円でございます, ポイントカードはお持ちですか​

いらっしゃいませ (irasshaimase) is the standard greeting to a customer entering a shop: "Welcome." It derives from the irregular sonkeigo verb いらっしゃる.28 〜円でございます (-en de gozaimasu) is the by-the-book polite way to state a price, since でございます is the keigo copula.8

〜円になります (-en ni narimasu) is widely heard but contested. なる means "to become" or "change state," which does not fit a fixed price, so prescriptive guidance treats it as incorrect for stating a set amount.89 ポイントカードはお持ちですか (pointo kādo wa o-mochi desu ka, "Do you have a point card?") uses お持ちです, the honorific of 持つ.8

This block is receptive, not productive

Learners need to recognize this staff keigo, not produce it. The natural customer reply to いらっしゃいませ is usually no verbal response, a nod, or simply stating what you need.8

いらっしゃいませ。2
"Welcome."

いらっしゃいませ、何名様なんめいさまですか。2
"Welcome. How many are in your party?"

店員てんいんさん、ビールをもう一杯いっぱいください。2
"Excuse me, one more glass of beer, please."

Retail signage: 税込, 税抜, 割引, セール, 半額, 売り切れ​

税込 (zeikomi) means "tax included," and 税抜 (zeinuki) means "tax excluded" or "before tax."10 Since 1 April 2021, Japanese price displays to consumers generally have to show the tax-included total (総額表示, sōgaku hyōji).10

Japan's standard consumption tax is 10%, with an 8% reduced rate (軽減税率) on most food and drink and qualifying newspapers. The 10%/8% structure took effect on 1 October 2019.11

割引 (waribiki) is "discount," 半額 (hangaku) is "half price," セール (sēru) is "sale," and 売り切れ (urikire) is "sold out."3

全部ぜんぶ売うり切きれです。2
"Everything's sold out."

その本ほんは売うり切きれです。2
"That book is sold out."

切符きっぷはすべて売うり切きれです。2
"All the tickets are sold out."

Good to know​

円 is "en," and why English has the "y"​

The single most common money-word error is reading 円 as anything other than えん (en), or pronouncing it like English "yen" with a hard glide. The counter is simply 〜えん (-en).

English "yen" preserves a 19th-century romanization. The Bank of Japan notes the "Y" was likely added so non-Japanese would not read bare "en" as English "in," and to avoid clash with words spelled "en" in Dutch, French, and Spanish.5

四円 is read よえん, not しえん​

The currency amount "4 yen" is read よえん in dictionaries, NHK broadcasting, and teaching; the colloquial よんえん is also accepted.

しえん is avoided as a misreading, and it overlaps with 支援 ("support").4

高い means both "expensive" and "tall"​

高い is one い-adjective covering both price ("expensive") and height ("tall, high"); context disambiguates, as in 値段が高い ("the price is high") versus 背が高い ("[someone] is tall").3

Its price-antonym 安い means only "cheap," never "low in height." For low height, use 低い (hikui).

背せが高たかい。
"[Someone] is tall."

Why 八百屋 ("eight-hundred shop") sells vegetables​

八百屋 traces to 青物屋 (aomonoya, "greens shop"). The sound shifted あおや → やおや, partly to avoid clashing with 青屋 ("indigo dyer"). The spoken word predates the kanji.7

The kanji 八百 ("eight hundred") were attached later as ateji, kanji chosen for sound or association rather than literal meaning. Here they draw on 八百's idiomatic sense of "many" or "countless" (as in 八百万, yaoyorozu, "myriad"). The name means a shop of many kinds of produce, not literally 800.7

〜になります at the register is contested keigo​

〜円になります, along with 〜円からお預かりします, are hallmark "part-timer keigo" (バイト敬語). With a fixed price, なる ("to become") has nothing to become. The から in 〜からお預かりします marks no real starting point. For these reasons, prescriptive guidance treats both as improper; the by-the-book forms are 〜円でございます or 〜円です, and 〜円をお預かりします.98

The Agency for Cultural Affairs' opinion survey found rising discomfort with the 〜から form: a minority in the 1990s grew to a majority by the 2010s. The Council's Keigo no Shishin nonetheless urges tolerance and respect for the speaker's intent rather than treating only the textbook form as correct.128

Everyday vs. Sino-Japanese pairs at a glance​

Pairing each everyday form with its formal Sino-Japanese twin makes the receipt-and-signage layer learnable as a set: 買う/購入, 売る/販売, 払う/支払い, 値段/価格・金額, and 店/店舗.3

The everyday form is what you say; the kango form is what you read on the receipt.3

See also​

References​

Footnotes​

  1. The Japan Foundation & Japan Educational Exchanges and Services. JLPT N5 / N4 can-do and content scope (no official word list is published; level assignment cross-checked against standard N5/N4 reference vocabulary). https://www.jlpt.jp/e/about/levelsummary.html ↩ ↩2

  2. Tatoeba Project. Sentence corpus, CC BY 2.0 FR. Individual sentences cited by ID at https://tatoeba.org/en/sentences/show/<ID> ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13 ↩14 ↩15 ↩16 ↩17 ↩18 ↩19 ↩20 ↩21 ↩22 ↩23 ↩24 ↩25 ↩26 ↩27 ↩28 ↩29 ↩30 ↩31 ↩32 ↩33 ↩34 ↩35 ↩36 ↩37 ↩38 ↩39 ↩40 ↩41 ↩42 ↩43 ↩44 ↩45 ↩46 ↩47 ↩48

  3. 大辞泉・大辞林 sense distinctions for 値段／価格／金額 and 現金／お札／小銭 (general Japanese-dictionary usage). Cross-referenced via standard monolingual dictionary entries. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13 ↩14 ↩15 ↩16 ↩17 ↩18 ↩19

  4. Wiktionary contributors. "円." Wiktionary, the free dictionary. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/円 (supports the えん reading, the 圓/銀圓 etymology, and the 〜円 number combinations; the 四円＝よえん standard reading versus しえん, and the per-number counter convention, rest on dictionary and NHK broadcasting usage (e.g. 『NHKことばのハンドブック』), rather than this entry (limitation). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  5. 日本銀行 (Bank of Japan). 「円のローマ字表記が『YEN』となっているのはなぜですか？」(教えて！にちぎん). https://www.boj.or.jp/about/education/oshiete/money/c25.htm/ ↩ ↩2

  6. Loanwords in Japanese. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loanwords_in_Japanese (clipping of gairaigo: コンビニエンスストア→コンビニ, スーパーマーケット→スーパー, デパートメントストア→デパート). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  7. 語源由来辞典 (Gogen Yurai Jiten). 「八百屋／やおや」. https://gogen-yurai.jp/yaoya/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  8. 文化審議会国語分科会 (Council for Cultural Affairs, National Language Subcommittee). 『敬語の指針』(Keigo no Shishin / Guidelines for Honorific Expressions), 文化庁, 2007. https://www.bunka.go.jp/seisaku/bunkashingikai/sokai/sokai_6/pdf/keigo_tousin.pdf ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8

  9. ウィキペディア (Japanese Wikipedia) contributors. 「バイト敬語」. https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/バイト敬語 ↩ ↩2

  10. 国税庁 (National Tax Agency). 「No.6902 『総額表示』の義務付け」. https://www.nta.go.jp/taxes/shiraberu/taxanswer/shohi/6902.htm ; 財務省 (Ministry of Finance), 「総額表示に関する主な質問」, https://www.mof.go.jp/tax_policy/summary/consumption/a_001.htm ↩ ↩2

  11. 財務省 (Ministry of Finance). 消費税率：標準税率10%・軽減税率8%（2019年10月1日施行）. https://www.mof.go.jp/tax_policy/summary/consumption/ ↩

  12. 文化庁 (Agency for Cultural Affairs). 『国語に関する世論調査』(Public Opinion Survey on the Japanese Language), survey-year results on 「～から」「～のほう」 etc. in customer-service speech. https://www.bunka.go.jp/tokei_hakusho_shuppan/tokeichosa/kokugo_yoronchosa/ ↩