Hi tim here with another 9-5 English lessons in today's lesson, we're going to learn how to talk about prices in english business is all about money.

The whole purpose of a company is to earn more money than it spends so that it can produce a profit.

So it's not surprising that we spend a lot of time talking about how much things cost, whether you're buying materials or reviewing a budget.

You may find yourself frequently asking about prices or costs.

The most common way to do this is with the expression how much so you might say how much does it cost or how much are you asking?

In this case the asking price is the sellers starting price.

Of course you might ask very directly about price with a question like could you tell me the price or what will it cost for something?

Let's practice some of these expressions for asking about price and cost.

Listen to each example, then repeat it for yourself.

Ready, let's get started.

How much are you asking for these printers?

Could you tell me the price on this machine, what will it cost for three additional phone lines.

So how much does it cost us to make each unit?

one interesting thing about the word cost, We can say the machine costs $5,000 and we can say it cost us $500 to Fix The Machine.

So a thing can cost money.

And it can also cost you money.

Now if we can reduce costs, we can usually increase profits.

So it's very common to state that something costs too much?

You might say that something is too expensive or that the prices hi.

But you might also say you can't afford something afford means to have enough money to buy something.

Let's try some examples of saying something costs too much.

Remember to repeat the examples after you hear them.

I'm sorry but that's too expensive.

That seems really high compared to other companies.

I don't think we can afford that.

I'm afraid that's out of our price range.

Did you hear that last example about price range?

Your price range is the amount you have to spend on something like 200 - $250.

An item can be in your price range meaning you can afford it or it can be out of your price range, meaning it's too expensive.

If something is too expensive naturally, you would suggest lowering the price to do this.

We normally use polite and indirect language.

We don't just say lower the price instead.

You might say, would you take a lower price or is there any way we could bring the price down?

Or if you're talking about your company's costs, you could say, let's see if we can reduce costs.

How about some practice with suggesting lower prices and costs once again repeat the examples after you hear them.

Let's see if we can reduce these costs by 20%.

Would you take $500 per unit instead.

Is there any way we could bring down the price.

How about knocking $40 off that price.

One informal expression you heard was to knock money off a price.

For example, if someone asks for $100 And you want to pay 80, you can say Could you knock $20 off?

Alright.

We've practiced different ways of talking about costs.

But how does this sound In a conversation?

Let's listen to a short dialogue between matt and Liz.

Matt is trying to buy a machine from Liz, how much are you asking for this unit?

That one is going for?

$3,500.

Uh that's out of our price range.

Would you take 3000?

I'll have to talk to my manager about that.

Pretty simple.

Right?

Matt starts with the question, how much are you asking?

Then When he hears the asking price of $3,500, he tells Liz it's out of his price range and suggests a different price.

Now it's your turn to practice.

We'll repeat the dialogue.

But this time we're going to beep out the second speaker's words.

You will have to say those parts yourself remember to start by asking about the price.

Then you'll say it's out of your price range And ask if Liz would take $3,000 ready.

Here we go.

That one is going for $3,500.

I'll have to talk to my manager about that.

Okay, that's all for this lesson.

We've learned how to ask about price, say something is too expensive and suggest a lower cost.

We'll be back soon with some more useful english expressions until then so long and happy learning.