Convenience store Japanese — bag, chopsticks, hot snack, register

Heat, sticks, bag. Answer the noun they already said.

In this lesson you will

• Answer 温めますか, お箸は, and 袋は with はい／いいえ plus お願いします
• Refuse a point card without a speech
• Name a payment: カードでお願いします

Today’s scene

How it works

The scene is the register, not a tour of the shelves. これ、お願いします points at what you are buying. Then the clerk runs a checklist: heat, chopsticks, bag, points, price, pay. Your job is to answer each beat, not to announce a lifestyle.

温めますか is “shall I heat it?” ますか on a verb they will do. お箸はいりますか / お箸は？ is need. 袋は？ is the same shortcut. はい、お願いします or いいえ、大丈夫です. 小さいのをお願いします picks a size without a new grammar chapter.

ポイントカードはありますか expects いいえ、大丈夫です from a traveler. Do not explain your country. 八百二十円です is the price landing. カードでお願いします or 現金でお願いします names the tool with で.

You already met a short version of this counter in kana-01. This lesson stays longer in the same room so the checklist becomes a conversation, not four memorized cries.

The convenience store is the first place Japan talks to you at full speed. The clerk is not rude. They are on the next customer. This lesson is one tray at night: an onigiri, a fried snack, and the checklist that arrives before you have chosen a face. We will not print a list of “10 konbini phrases.” We will stay at the register until each beat has an answer.

Read the dialogue as a clock. いらっしゃいませ is not a question. You do not need こんにちは back. Set the food down. これ、お願いします is enough. これ is beginner-03. Pointing is allowed. Naming every item in Japanese is not required to buy it.

Then the clerk runs their list. 温めますか is “shall I heat it?” The subject is they, the action is heat, the politeness is ますか. Fried chicken, nikuman, some bento — yes. Onigiri with mayo — sometimes yes. Ice cream — no. You answer the food in your hand, not a rule from a blog. はい、お願いします or いいえ、大丈夫です. Both are complete.

お箸はいりますか uses いります, “need,” for a tool. お箸は？ is the short form you will actually hear at 11 p.m. Answer the noun. 袋は？ is the same shortcut. Japan now asks because bags are not automatic. はい、小さいのをお願いします picks a size. の stands in for 袋. You are not learning a new particle family. You are refusing to repeat the noun they just said. 袋はいりません is the full “I don’t need a bag” if you already have one in your pocket.

ポイントカードはありますか is a loyalty card. Travelers almost always say いいえ、大丈夫です. Do not explain that you live in another country. Do not apologize for not having a Japanese phone number. The refuse is the sentence.

八百二十円です is A は B です with the price as B. You can repeat the number or just pay. カードでお願いします uses で for means — the same で that marked “at Shibuya” for a transfer, now marking the tool of payment. 現金でお願いします if the terminal is shy or the shop is cash-first. If they ask 一括ですか about installments, 一括でお願いします is “in one payment.” You do not need that on day two. You need カードで.

Spoon, straw, napkin: スプーンもお願いします. も adds. The checklist can grow. Your mouth does not need a new engine. If you missed a question because the steamer hissed, すみません、もう一度お願いします is the same もう一度 as the IC gate.

This room is louder than the immigration booth and kinder than a missed express. Clerks will finish your sentence if you hold up the fried snack and say 温め. That is survival. This classroom still wants the full 温めますか in your ear so you recognize it at speed.

Do not say お前, ちょうだい, or convenience-store bits from a comedy show. Do not photograph staff. Do not eat over the magazine rack. Language and manners are the same counter.

Korean speakers: 데워 드릴까요 is the cousin of 温めますか. Answer in Japanese, not with 네 alone if you can land お願いします. Chinese speakers: 袋子 is 袋 (ふくろ). The short 袋は？ will feel unfinished. It is not unfinished in this shop. English speakers: “I’m good” maps to 大丈夫です, not to いいです in every case. いいです can sound like “that’s enough / no thanks” and also like “it’s good.” At this register, 大丈夫です is cleaner for a refuse. Spanish speakers: お箸 is chopsticks, not “hash.” Keep the お. It is the store’s word.

Practice the four answers in order: heat, chopsticks, bag, points. Then add the pay line. If you can do that without looking, you can eat tonight. Next we sit down — a ramen counter — where the questions are how many, extra, and the bill.

Night convenience stores add one more beat you should hear before it hits you: 温めますね, said as they already turn toward the steamer. ね seeks a soft yes. If you did not want heat, say あ、大丈夫です quickly. If you did, a nod is enough. The checklist is a rhythm. Once you feel the rhythm, the speed is less rude.

Onigiri labels are katakana and kanji you do not need to finish tonight. Tuna mayo, salmon, pickled plum — point. The register does not grade your reading. It grades whether you answer 袋は. Magazines, umbrellas, and SIM cards sit in the same shop. They are other scenes. If you came for a SIM at night, finish the food tray first or put the SIM on the tray and let これ、お願いします cover both. One tray, one conversation.

ATMs live in many of these shops. 現金を出したいです from the airport morning still works. The clerk may point at a corner. That is not a new lesson. That is travel-01 walking into travel-04.

Malay and Indonesian speakers: 袋 is not “plastic” as a lecture. It is the noun they already said. Answer it. German speakers: ポイントカード is not a moral test. いいえ、大丈夫です is enough. You are not required to join a club at midnight. French speakers: お箸 is chopsticks, with the honorific お the shop uses. Keep it.

If you drop a coin, すみません and a crouch are the whole repair. If the terminal fails, 現金でお願いします. The scene does not break. It changes tool. That is why we stayed at one register instead of listing every shelf in the store. The shelf is quiet. The clerk is the Japanese.

One more register sound: the beep of a failed card. もう一度お願いします, or 現金で. You have both. The clerk is not surprised. Night shops see tired travelers every hour. Your job is to finish the tray, not to narrate the failure. Then take the bag — or do not, if you said いりません — and step aside so the next person can start their own clock.

Clerk checklist

温めますか。→ はい、お願いします。
お箸は？ / 袋は？ → はい、お願いします。 / いいえ、大丈夫です。
ポイントカードは？ → いいえ、大丈夫です。

Pay

八百二十円です。
カードでお願いします。 / 現金でお願いします。
で marks the means.

Sentences you can use

Close, but not this

OK はい、小さいのをお願いします。
NG 袋、大！

Size is a request, not a bark. の holds the noun they already said.

OK いいえ、大丈夫です。
NG ポイントカード、知らん。

知らん is casual and sharp. The clerk asked a yes/no. Give a yes/no.

Say it out loud

A heated snack is not dinner every night. Next we sit at a ramen counter: how many people, extra soup, and the bill — still です/ます, still one room.

Write one sentence today