Lesson 5: Shopping and Clothing 🛍️👕

Find the item, check the fit, make a choice

You know how to request food with 주세요 and ask whether something is available with 있어요? Shopping reuses those tools. Your task now is to identify the right item, describe its color and size, ask a price, and decide whether to buy it.

Imagine two bags on a shelf. You like the blue one, but it is too expensive. You need more than the word “bag”: 저 파란색 가방 좀 보여 주세요 asks to see that blue bag over there; 이거 너무 비싸요 explains that this is too expensive. By the end, you will be able to carry that conversation through to payment.

1. Name what you are looking for

Korean does not require a plural ending every time English uses one: 신발 can mean shoes and 옷 clothes. The shopping context supplies the intended item or items.

입다 is wear/put on clothing such as shirts and pants: 셔츠를 입어요. 신다 is used for footwear: 신발을 신어요. For a hat, use 쓰다: 모자를 써요. Choose the verb for the item; the shirt-fitting request later uses 입다.

Pronunciation changes with the following sound. 옷 on its own has a final unreleased t-like sound, written [옫] in a pronunciation guide, but 옷이 is [오시]. Do not permanently replace its written ㅅ with ㄷ. Similarly, 입어요 is pronounced [이버요]. Brackets here show pronunciation, not alternative spellings.

Where might you find the item? 가게 is a shop, 옷가게 a clothing shop, 백화점 a department store, 시장 a market, and 편의점 a convenience store. These names identify kinds of places, not guarantees of prices, opening hours, or available products.

2. Point clearly: this one, that one, over there

For a scene where both people can see the items, practice this physical-distance contrast:

이/그/저 go before a noun; 이거/그거/저거 can stand in for the item. Thus 이 가방 주세요 and 이거 주세요 both work when the referent is clear. The fuller forms are 이것, 그것, 저것.

Distance is not the only use of these words. 그 can also refer to something already mentioned. The table is a helpful pointing exercise, not a rule that every 그 in a conversation must refer to something beside the listener. Also distinguish 저 가방, that bag over there, from humble 저, I/me, in 저는; the words have different jobs despite the same spelling.

For places, use 여기 here, 거기 there, and 저기 over there. A clerk can say 여기 있어요, here it is. A fitting-room direction can be 탈의실이 저기 있어요, the fitting room is over there. An item word and a place word answer different questions.

Try the scene: a bag is far from you and beside the clerk. Among 이/그/저, choose 그 가방. Now both of you stand at the counter and point to another bag across the shop: choose 저 가방.

3. Add color without inventing a word rule

색 means color; 색깔 is another word for color. Ask 이 가방 다른 색 있어요?, “Do you have this bag in another color?” 다른 means other/different. To name the desired color: 이거 빨간색 있어요?, “Do you have this in red?” The item remains understood from the pointing context.

You will also see 빨간 가방, 파란 셔츠, and 검은 바지. Here 빨간, 파란, and 검은 are forms that describe a following noun. 빨강 and 파랑 are color nouns. Do not learn “remove 색 and change ㄴ to ㅇ” as a general rule: these are different grammatical forms. 검정색 is another standard black-color expression; the table gives a manageable set to practice, not the only legitimate color words.

A color description can identify the item, 하얀색 신발 (white shoes), or form part of a full statement, 신발이 하얘요 (the shoes are white). These have different structures. In the noun phrase practiced here, the color comes before 신발.

4. Describe the fit in a phrase or a sentence

Korean 형용사, usually called adjectives and sometimes “descriptive verbs” in learning materials, express properties or states and take sentence endings. They are distinguished from action verbs such as 먹다. Ending in 다 in a dictionary does not by itself make a word an action verb.

Learn a property in two useful forms: one that ends a polite sentence, and one that describes a following noun.

Compare 가방이 커요, the bag is big, with 큰 가방, a big bag. The first is a statement; the second names a kind of bag. You cannot swap 커요 and 큰 without changing the construction. The forms vary, so practice these pairs before trying to infer one universal transformation.

새 옷 means new clothes. You may also encounter 새롭다 → 새로워요 / 새로운, describing something new; 새 is a useful direct modifier for a newly bought item.

Use 너무 for “too” in the fitting problem 이 바지는 너무 길어요, these pants are too long. Use 좀 for “a bit” in 이거 좀 작아요, this is a bit small. 너무 can also act as an intensifier meaning very in other contexts; here you are explaining why the fit or price is a problem.

사이즈 means size. Labels 에스(S), 엠(M), and 엘(L) correspond to small, medium, and large; actual measurements vary by item and brand. A 큰 사이즈 is a large size; 더 큰 사이즈 is a larger size. Ask 더 큰 사이즈 있어요? You do not need a separate English-style “than this” when the item being compared is obvious.

In the standalone phrase 큰 사이즈, the description precedes 사이즈. A larger construction can put 사이즈 first: 사이즈가 큰 옷, clothes whose size is large. Do not mistake a word-order drill about a short noun phrase for a ban on that longer pattern.

5. Ask the price and read the answer

얼마예요? asks how much it costs in this shopping context. 이거 얼마예요? asks the price of this item; 이 신발 얼마예요? asks about these shoes. This is different from the age question 몇 살이에요? from lesson 2.

Prices use Sino-Korean numbers with 원, won. Recall 천 = 1,000 and 만 = 10,000. Build the price in groups rather than guessing from the number of syllables:

To identify something or give its price, reuse 이에요/예요 from earlier lessons. Practice these common forms, chosen by the last sound of the noun immediately before the ending:

가방 ends in ㅇ, and 원 ends in ㄴ, so use 이에요. After vowel-ending words such as 모자 and 얼마, 이에요 can contract to 예요. Practice the common shorter forms 모자예요 and 얼마예요, while recognizing that uncontracted 모자이에요 is also valid. The table gives a useful production pattern, not a rule that every uncontracted form after a vowel is wrong. A full example is 이건 예쁜 빨간색 가방이에요, “This is a pretty red bag.” 이건 is short for 이것은.

Imagine pants cost ₩40,000 and a shirt costs ₩35,000. Together they cost ₩75,000. With an ₩80,000 budget you have ₩5,000 left. If you pay ₩100,000 in cash, your change is ₩25,000. Say the price words aloud before checking the table; the prices are invented practice values, not current shop quotations.

6. Try it on and decide

A clerk might ask 뭘 찾으세요?, “What are you looking for?” 뭘 is a shortened form of 무엇을, and 찾으세요 is a respectful form of 찾다, look for. Another useful question is 어떤 사이즈 찾으세요?, “What size are you looking for?” You can answer 엠 사이즈요, medium, please.

To see an item more closely, ask 보여 주세요, please show me. To try on a shirt, ask 입어 봐도 돼요?, may I try it on? Here 입어 보다 means try wearing, and -아/어도 돼요? asks permission. 돼요 is the contracted form of 되어요. Write 돼요, not 되요. For shoes, change the wearing verb: 신어 봐도 돼요?

요 is a politeness marker in these expressions, not a question particle used only in questions. Compare 큰 사이즈 있어요., “We have a large size,” and 큰 사이즈 있어요?, “Do you have a large size?” Intonation and context distinguish them in speech; the question mark helps in writing.

점원: 뭘 찾으세요? — What are you looking for?
손님: 흰색 셔츠 있어요? — Do you have white shirts?
점원: 네, 여기 있어요. 어떤 사이즈 찾으세요? — Yes, here they are. What size are you looking for?
손님: 엠 사이즈요. 이 흰색 셔츠 입어 봐도 돼요? — Medium. May I try on this white shirt?
점원: 네. 탈의실이 저기 있어요. — Yes. The fitting room is over there.
손님: 이거 좀 작아요. 더 큰 사이즈 있어요? — This is a bit small. Do you have a larger size?

점원 means shop assistant; 손님 is customer in this scene. 탈의실 is a changing/fitting room; 피팅룸 is also used. A fitting room's location and the availability of a size depend on the shop, so ask rather than assume.

After trying an item, 잘 어울려요 means “It suits you well” in this context: it looks good on you. 잘 맞아요 focuses on fitting well, such as the size. Those are related judgments, not identical meanings. You can say 좋아요, it's good/I like it, and choose 이거 주세요, this please, or 이거 살게요, I'll take/buy this.

7. Finish the purchase without guessing the policy

계산할게요 announces that you would like to pay. 계산대 is the checkout counter; 계산원 is a cashier. 계산 refers to calculation or settling payment in this setting, not the person or the physical counter.

If a vendor is open to negotiating, 좀 깎아 주세요 asks for a discount, with 좀 softening the request. 깎아 주세요 does not guarantee a reduction. Whether negotiation, returns, or trying on an item is possible depends on that seller's policy.

Opening hours also vary by business. Dongdaemun has multiple markets and shopping centers with different schedules; do not assume every shop is open all night. Check the specific venue's current information when planning a visit. The official Korea Tourism Organization listing for Dongdaemun Shopping Complex is one example of a venue-specific listing.

Your shopping mission

Choose an item in your room and act out both sides of the conversation. First name and point to it; then ask its price. Invent a price using 만 and 천. Ask for another color or a larger size, request permission to try it on if appropriate, and decide whether to buy it.

For a final challenge, combine earlier lessons: arrange to meet a friend at a café on Saturday at 2:30 PM, then describe what you want to buy. One possible start is 토요일 오후 두 시 반에 카페에서 만나요. 검은색 바지를 사고 싶어요. — Let's meet at the café at 2:30 PM on Saturday. I want to buy black pants. 사고 싶어요 is a useful chunk meaning “want to buy.”

Check that your listener can identify which item, what color or size, and what you want them to do. Those details turn a list of memorized words into a useful exchange.