Clothes and sizes — trying on, cheaper, no bag

Try it on, tell the size, then the bag. の can hold the cheaper shirt.

In this lesson you will

• Ask 試着できますか and name a size: Mはありますか
• Say 少し大きいです and ask for S
• Ask もう少し安いのはありますか and refuse a bag

Today’s scene

How it works

The scene is one shirt and one clerk, not a mall tour. このシャツを試着できますか asks if trying on is possible. できますか is the ramen extra, now on a verb-noun 試着. サイズは？ is their short question. Mはありますか is ありますか on a size letter.

試着室はあちらです points with あちら — a polite “that way.” After the room: 少し大きいです. い-adjective plus です. 少し softens. Sはありますか reuses the size question. You are not apologizing for your body. You are naming a fact.

もう少し安いのはありますか asks for a cheaper one. もう少し is “a little more.” 安い is cheap. の holds the item. セールは奥です — the sale is at the back. Then pay: 袋はいりません。これをお願いします.

かしこまりました is extra-polite “certainly.” You do not need to say it back. ありがとうございます is enough.

A clothing shop is slower than a convenience store and more personal than a cafe. This lesson is one shirt. We will not print a size chart as if it were grammar. S, M, L are letters you already know. The Japanese is the asking, the fitting-room walk, the honest adjective, and the cheaper の.

このシャツを試着できますか. この pins the object. を marks it. 試着 is the noun “trying on.” できますか asks possibility — the same できますか as extra soup. If they say はい、どうぞ, go. サイズは？ is the short noun question. Mはありますか. Japanese shops often use Latin size letters on casual clothes. You may also hear 9号, 11号 on women’s wear. If you do not know the number, hold your usual shirt and say これと同じサイズはありますか — is there the same size as this? That line can wait. Mはありますか is today’s floor.

試着室はあちらです. あちら is farther and politer than そこ. Walk. Close the curtain. After, you tell the truth about the shirt, not about yourself. 少し大きいです. 少し keeps it a fact, not a drama. 少し小さいです is the twin. ちょうどいいです is “just right.” Then Sはありますか or Lはありますか. You are shopping, not confessing.

もう少し安いのはありますか. もう少し is a little more. 安い is cheap. の stands in for the shirt, like 小さいの for the bag. This is not a demand that they change the tag on the shirt in your hand. It is a request for another object. セールは奥です. 奥 is the back, the inner part. Go look. If there is no cheaper one, 大丈夫です and buy or leave. Do not perform a market argument. Some tourist markets haggle. A normal clothing shop in a station building does not.

袋はいりません。これをお願いします. You already refused bags at night. Do it again. Japan will thank you. かしこまりました is the clerk’s extra-polite yes. You answer ありがとうございます.

If you need a different color: 青いのはありますか. い-adjective plus の again. If the mirror is far: 鏡はどこですか. Same どこ. If you will wear it now: このまま着て帰ってもいいですか — may I wear it home? てもいいですか is the next lesson’s engine. You can borrow it one day early.

Do not leave sweat on a silk thing and hide it. Do not film the fitting room. Do not say 安くしろ, お前. Keep です/ます even if the clerk is your age.

Korean speakers: 피팅 해도 돼요 is the cousin of 試着できますか. Japanese likes the noun 試着 plus できますか. Chinese speakers: 大一点 is 少し大きいです. Keep 少し if you want a smaller emotional footprint. English speakers: “Do you have this cheaper?” can sound like a challenge. もう少し安いの asks for a different object. Spanish speakers: 枚 will return if they count shirts. 一枚お願いします at the register.

Practice holding a real shirt at home: 試着できますか, 少し大きいです, 袋はいりません. Three beats, one shop. Next we take てもいいですか into the street and ask for a photograph without sounding like a subtitle.

Uniqlo-size cultures and boutique-size cultures both live in Japan. The letters S M L will lie. That is why 試着できますか is the spine, not a chart. A Japanese M may be your home country’s S. The fitting room is the truth. The adjective after the curtain is the Japanese: 大きい, 小さい, ちょうどいい. Say it about the shirt.

Tax-free signs will appear in bigger shops. 免税できますか is a cousin of the airport lesson, asked early. If they say はい, they will ask for a passport. はい、どうぞ. Do not open the shirt and wear it around the city if they said the refund needs a seal. That is travel-14 waiting in a bag.

If you do not buy, すみません、やめます. やめます is “I’ll stop / I’ll leave it.” Kinder than vanishing from the fitting room. Hand the shirt back. ありがとうございました. The clerk would rather hear a clean no than hunt you in the sale rack.

French and Spanish speakers: 安い is cheap. もう少し安いの is a different object, not a demand to rewrite the tag. Vietnamese speakers: 号 sizes are a different track. If you hear 号, show a shirt that fits and use これと同じ. Arabic readers: あちら is a direction. Walk before you ask a second question.

Try the three beats with a sweater on a chair: can I try, a little big, no bag. If those three move, the shop will move with you. The sale rack is a walk, not a new grammar family. 奥です. Go.

Shoes, if you wander to that corner, use 足 rather than S and M sometimes: このサイズはありますか plus your foot. We stayed with a shirt so the scene would not become a mall. The grammar is the same ありますか. If a clerk follows you too closely, 見ているだけです — I am only looking — is a kind fence. You may still try the shirt later. You are not required to produce a purchase to earn the fitting room you already asked for.

Changing rooms sometimes have a number limit: 三着までです. 着 counts outfits. Hand the extras back. これだけです. だけ again, from the koban “only.” If a mirror is outside, 外でもいいですか is てもいいですか on a place. They will say はい or point you back in. Obey the shop’s map of bodies. Your Japanese asked to enter a small room. The small room has rules, like the onsen, like the garden. Ask, then follow the yes you were given.

Pay the way you paid for ramen if they are cash-first: カードは使えますか. Hear 現金のみです without taking it as a scolding. You have met that sentence. The shirt does not change it. Buy or walk to a machine. The fitting room already told the truth. The register only finishes the scene.

Try on, size

このシャツを試着できますか。
Mはありますか。 / Sはありますか。
試着室はあちらです。

Fit, price, bag

少し大きいです。
もう少し安いのはありますか。
袋はいりません。これをお願いします。

Sentences you can use

Close, but not this

OK もう少し安いのはありますか。
NG 高すぎ。負けて。

Street bargaining Japanese. Many shops have a sale rack. Ask for 安いの. Do not demand a fight.

OK 少し大きいです。
NG デブだからMだめ。

Do not narrate your body as a joke. Name the shirt: 大きいです.

Say it out loud

You may want a photo of the street in that new shirt. Next: 撮ってもいいですか — asking a stranger or a staff member without anime-speak, and hearing no without collapsing.

Write one sentence today