Conversational Mandarin Chinese Quiz: Shopping Requesting Items

9 questions · exam conditions

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Shopping Requesting ItemsQuestion 1 of 9

A customer walks into a fruit shop and says: 「请给我三斤苹果和两斤香蕉。」The shopkeeper replies: 「苹果今天卖完了，香蕉还有，你要几斤？」

Based on the shopkeeper's response, which of the following best describes what the customer should say next to complete the purchase correctly?

「好的，那我只要两斤香蕉。」— confirming the original banana quantity since the shopkeeper asked how many jin of bananas the customer wants

「好的，那我要三斤香蕉吧。」— switching the apple quantity to bananas since apples are sold out and the customer still wants three jin of something

「没关系，我不要了。」— politely declining everything because the preferred item is unavailable and the customer no longer wishes to buy anything

「那苹果明天有吗？」— asking about future apple availability rather than responding to the shopkeeper's direct question about banana quantity

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Conversational Mandarin Chinese Quiz

Conversational Mandarin Chinese Quiz: Shopping Requesting Items

Practice Shopping Requesting Items in Conversational Mandarin Chinese with focused quiz questions that help you check what you know, review explanations, and build confidence with test-style prompts.

What this quiz covers

This quiz focuses on Shopping Requesting Items, giving you a quick way to practice the rules, question types, and explanations that matter most for Conversational Mandarin Chinese.

How to use this quiz

Try each quiz question before looking at the correct answer. Use the explanations to review missed ideas, then come back to similar questions until the pattern feels familiar.

All questions

Question 1

A customer walks into a fruit shop and says: 「请给我三斤苹果和两斤香蕉。」The shopkeeper replies: 「苹果今天卖完了，香蕉还有，你要几斤？」

Based on the shopkeeper's response, which of the following best describes what the customer should say next to complete the purchase correctly?

「好的，那我只要两斤香蕉。」— confirming the original banana quantity since the shopkeeper asked how many jin of bananas the customer wants (correct answer)
「好的，那我要三斤香蕉吧。」— switching the apple quantity to bananas since apples are sold out and the customer still wants three jin of something
「没关系，我不要了。」— politely declining everything because the preferred item is unavailable and the customer no longer wishes to buy anything
「那苹果明天有吗？」— asking about future apple availability rather than responding to the shopkeeper's direct question about banana quantity

Explanation: When navigating a shopping conversation in Mandarin, your goal is to respond directly to what the other person actually asked. The shopkeeper's final question — 「你要几斤？」("How many jin do you want?") — is a direct, practical question about banana quantity. The ideal response picks up exactly where that question left off. Choice A is correct because it directly answers the shopkeeper's question by confirming the original banana quantity of two jin: 「好的，那我只要两斤香蕉。」The phrase 「只要」("only want") also acknowledges that the apple order is being dropped, making the response both conversationally natural and transactionally complete. Choice B misreads the situation. Switching to three jin of bananas isn't justified by anything in the dialogue — the customer originally wanted three jin of apples, not bananas. Substituting the apple quantity onto bananas is an invented logic that the conversation doesn't support. Choice C, while grammatically polite, ignores the shopkeeper's helpful gesture of offering bananas as a partial solution. In real Mandarin shopping conversations, abruptly declining everything after a shopkeeper has tried to assist comes across as unnatural and misses the communicative intent of the exchange. Choice D is a common distraction — it focuses on apples, which the shopkeeper already confirmed are sold out today. Asking about tomorrow's stock 「明天有吗？」completely sidesteps the shopkeeper's direct question, breaking the conversational flow and leaving the transaction unresolved. Study tip: In conversational Mandarin dialogue questions, always identify the last direct question asked — your response should address it head-on before introducing any new topic.

Question 2

A customer at a Chinese grocery store says: 「老板，我要五百克猪肉。」The shopkeeper replies: 「好的，五百克……称一下……差一点点，大概四百八十克，可以吗？」

The customer needs exactly 500 grams for a recipe and cannot use less. Which response most appropriately conveys this constraint while maintaining polite shopping etiquette?

「没关系，四百八十克也可以。」— accepting the slightly lower weight even though the customer stated they need exactly 500 grams, creating a contradiction with the premise
「不好意思，我需要刚好五百克，能不能再加一点？」— politely apologizing for the inconvenience and clearly requesting that a small amount be added to reach the exact weight needed (correct answer)
「那算了，我去别的地方买吧。」— abandoning the purchase entirely over a 20-gram shortfall, which is pragmatically extreme and socially abrupt in a standard shopping context
「好的，但是便宜一点吧，少了二十克。」— accepting the lower weight but negotiating a price reduction, shifting the focus from quantity to price and not resolving the original need for 500 grams

Explanation: When navigating real-world shopping conversations in Mandarin, you need to balance two things simultaneously: communicating your practical constraint clearly and preserving the polite, face-saving tone that characterizes everyday Chinese social interactions. This question tests whether you can do both at once. The correct choice is B. The phrase 「不好意思」softens the request by acknowledging the minor inconvenience you're creating for the shopkeeper — a culturally important gesture. Then 「我需要刚好五百克」states your constraint directly and honestly, and 「能不能再加一点？」frames the solution as a gentle question rather than a demand. This structure — apologize briefly, state the need, offer a soft request — is a reliable pattern for polite pushback in Chinese service interactions. The other options each fail in a specific way. A contradicts the premise entirely: the customer explicitly cannot use less than 500 grams, so accepting 480 grams makes no sense given the scenario's constraint. C is pragmatically disproportionate — walking out over a 20-gram difference is socially abrupt and would likely embarrass the shopkeeper unnecessarily, which conflicts with the cooperative norms of Chinese marketplace etiquette. D shifts the conversation to price negotiation rather than solving the actual problem; accepting less meat at a discount still leaves the customer short on quantity for their recipe, so the core need remains unmet. A useful tip for this exam: when a question describes a specific, non-negotiable constraint (like an exact recipe measurement), eliminate any answer that accepts a compromise of that constraint, no matter how politely it's phrased.

Question 3

A customer wants to buy three notebooks but only if they cost less than 10 yuan each. Which exchange most accurately shows the customer requesting the item, checking the price condition, and responding appropriately if the condition is NOT met?

Customer: 「有本子吗？」Shopkeeper: 「有，十二块一本。」Customer: 「我要三本，一共多少钱？」— confirming availability and asking for three without first verifying whether the per-unit price falls within the 10-yuan budget limit before committing
Customer: 「我要三本本子。」Shopkeeper: 「十二块一本。」Customer: 「好的，我要三本。」— placing the order without checking price first, then confirming the purchase even though 12 yuan per notebook exceeds the unstated 10-yuan limit
Customer: 「这种本子多少钱一本？」Shopkeeper: 「十二块一本。」Customer: 「好，那我买三本。」— correctly asking the price first, but then accepting 12 yuan per notebook without hesitation, ignoring that the price exceeds the personal budget threshold of 10 yuan
Customer: 「这种本子多少钱一本？」Shopkeeper: 「十二块一本。」Customer: 「有没有便宜一点的？」— asking the price first, receiving a price above the 10-yuan limit, then requesting a cheaper alternative rather than simply abandoning the purchase (correct answer)

Explanation: When navigating real-life shopping conversations in Mandarin, the key skill being tested here is whether you can recognize a complete transactional exchange — one that includes price-checking, evaluating against a personal condition, and responding logically when that condition fails. The ideal exchange follows three steps: ask the unit price, compare it to your budget threshold, then react appropriately. Option D does exactly this. The customer opens with 「这种本子多少钱一本？」— a natural, polite way to ask the per-unit price before committing. Upon hearing 十二块 (12 yuan), which exceeds the 10-yuan limit, the customer responds with 「有没有便宜一点的？」— requesting a cheaper alternative. This is pragmatically smart: the customer neither abandons all hope nor blindly accepts an over-budget price. The exchange is realistic, goal-oriented, and linguistically appropriate. Option A fails at step two — the customer asks about availability and then immediately requests three notebooks without ever pausing to evaluate whether 十二块 fits the budget. Option B is even weaker: the customer skips price-checking entirely, placing the order upfront, then confirms the purchase after learning the price exceeds the limit — a logical contradiction. Option C gets the first step right (asking price first), but then the customer says 「好，那我买三本」, accepting 12 yuan without hesitation. This directly violates the stated condition of buying only if the price is under 10 yuan. Your study tip: in conversational Mandarin questions, always trace the logic of the dialogue, not just the vocabulary. A grammatically correct sentence can still represent an irrational or incomplete response in context.

Question 4

At a pharmacy, a customer says: 「我想买感冒药。」The pharmacist responds: 「我们有两种，一种是白天吃的，一种是晚上吃的。你要哪种？」The customer says: 「两种都要，各要一盒。」The pharmacist replies: 「好的，白天的三十块一盒，晚上的四十块一盒。」

The customer pays with a 100-yuan bill. Which sentence most naturally expresses the correct total cost and the change the customer should receive?

「一共六十块，找您四十块。」— adding only the daytime medicine price twice (30+30=60) and ignoring the nighttime medicine price, returning 40 yuan change
「一共八十块，找您二十块。」— averaging the two prices (30+40=70, then adding 10 as a perceived tax or fee) and returning 20 yuan change from 100 yuan
「一共七十块，找您三十块。」— calculating 30 + 40 = 70 yuan total for one box of each type, then subtracting from 100 yuan to give 30 yuan change (correct answer)
「一共一百四十块，您还差四十块。」— multiplying each price by two boxes instead of one (30×2 + 40×2 = 140), misreading 各要一盒 as two boxes of each type

Explanation: When a transaction question appears in a conversational Mandarin passage, your job is twofold: parse the key vocabulary accurately, then do the arithmetic. Both steps matter equally. The critical phrase here is 「各要一盒」— 各 (gè) means "each/respectively," so the customer wants one box of each type: one daytime box at 30 yuan and one nighttime box at 40 yuan. The total is simply

30 + 40 = 70

yuan. Paying with 100 yuan means the change is

100 - 70 = 30

yuan. That makes C — 「一共七十块，找您三十块。」— the correct and natural pharmacist response, using standard cashier phrasing (一共 for "total" and 找您 for "your change"). Choice A trips you up if you misread 各要一盒 and only calculate the daytime price twice (

30 + 30 = 60

), completely ignoring the nighttime medicine. Choice B invents a fictional fee or surcharge — nothing in the passage mentions tax or additional charges, so arriving at 80 yuan has no textual basis whatsoever. Choice D misreads 各要一盒 as "two boxes of each" rather than "one box of each," producing

30×2 + 40×2 = 140

yuan, which actually exceeds the 100-yuan bill the customer hands over. A reliable strategy: whenever you see 各 in a shopping dialogue, slow down and confirm it means "one per item listed," not "multiple." On conversational Mandarin exams, quantity words like 各, 都, and 每 are frequent traps precisely because they look similar in meaning but behave very differently in calculations.

Question 5

A customer at a Chinese tea shop wants to ask for a half-kilogram of a specific type of oolong tea displayed on the shelf. Which sentence most correctly and naturally makes this request, including the appropriate measure word and quantity?

「我要半斤那种乌龙茶。」— using 半斤 (half a jin, equal to 250 grams) as the quantity, which represents only a quarter of a kilogram rather than the half-kilogram the customer intends to purchase
「我要一斤那种乌龙茶。」— using 一斤 (one jin, equal to 500 grams), which correctly represents half a kilogram in the Chinese unit system conventionally used in markets and tea shops (correct answer)
「我要五百克那种乌龙茶。」— using the metric unit 克 (grams) which, while understood, is rarely used in traditional tea shop transactions where 斤 is the standard unit, making this phrasing unnatural and potentially confusing to the shopkeeper
「我要两斤那种乌龙茶。」— using 两斤 (two jin, equal to one kilogram), which doubles the intended quantity and would result in the customer purchasing twice as much tea as desired

Explanation: When shopping at Chinese markets or tea shops, you need to understand the traditional Chinese weight system, where 1 斤 (jīn) = 500 grams, not the 1,000 grams that "half a kilogram" might suggest in a purely metric mindset. This distinction is the core trap in this question. Because 1 斤 equals exactly 500 grams, asking for 一斤 (yī jīn) is precisely how a native speaker would request half a kilogram of tea. The phrasing 「我要一斤那种乌龙茶。」is both mathematically correct and completely natural in a tea shop setting — making B the correct answer. A trips you up with a unit confusion. 半斤 (bàn jīn) means half of a 斤, which is only 250 grams — a quarter of a kilogram, not a half. You'd walk away with far less tea than intended. C uses 五百克 (wǔ bǎi kè), which is technically accurate (500 grams = 500 克), but this metric phrasing feels clinical and unusual in traditional retail contexts. Tea vendors operate in 斤, so using 克 can create unnecessary friction and sounds unnatural, even if the shopkeeper understands you. D doubles the quantity. 两斤 (liǎng jīn) equals 1,000 grams — a full kilogram — so you'd be buying twice what you wanted and paying accordingly. Study tip: Memorize the conversion 1 斤 = 500g immediately — it's foundational for any market or food shopping scenario in Mandarin. Whenever a question mentions kilograms, mentally convert first before choosing a 斤-based answer.

Question 6

A customer enters a bookstore and has the following exchange: Customer: 「请问，你们有没有《活着》这本书？」 Shopkeeper: 「有，在文学区，最后一本了。」 Customer: 「太好了！我还想买两本送朋友，能不能帮我订？」 Shopkeeper: 「可以，大概要等一个星期。你要几本一共？」

The shopkeeper's final question 「你要几本一共？」is asking the customer to confirm a total quantity. Based on the conversation, which response correctly states the total number of books and reflects the customer's full request?

「一共一本。」— counting only the book currently available in the store and disregarding the customer's request to order two additional copies for friends
「一共两本。」— counting only the gift copies the customer mentioned ordering (两本送朋友) and forgetting that the customer also wants the copy currently in stock
「一共三本。」— the customer wants the last copy in stock (1 book) plus two more to give as gifts (2 books), totaling 3 books, one of which is available now and two on order (correct answer)
「一共四本。」— doubling the gift quantity (两本 × 2 = 4) because of a misreading that the customer wants two books for each of two friends rather than two books total for friends

Explanation: When a question asks you to confirm a total quantity from a conversation, your job is to track every item mentioned across the entire exchange — not just the most recent one. Here, the customer makes two distinct requests: they want the last copy currently on the shelf, and they want to order two additional copies as gifts for friends. That gives you 1 + 2 = 3 books total, making C — 「一共三本。」 the correct response. The word 一共 ("in total" or "altogether") is your signal to add everything together across the whole conversation. Choice A fails because it ignores the customer's second request entirely. Seeing 最后一本了 ("last one left") and stopping there means you missed the follow-up request to order 两本. Choice B makes the opposite mistake — it latches onto 两本送朋友 and forgets that the customer also wants the copy already available in the store. Both A and B represent partial readings of the conversation. Choice D misreads 两本 by imagining the customer wants two books per friend rather than two books for friends, which the conversation never suggests. Nothing in the dialogue implies multiple friends each receiving their own pair of books. A useful habit on conversational Mandarin questions: whenever a character places a request in multiple turns or sentences, make a quick mental list of each item or quantity before choosing your answer. Questions involving 一共 almost always test whether you caught all the pieces, not just the last thing said.

Question 7

At a bakery, a customer says: 「我要买面包。请问一个多少钱？」The shopkeeper says: 「普通的五块，奶油的八块。」The customer responds: 「那给我两个普通的和一个奶油的。」

If the shopkeeper hands back change from a 20-yuan bill, which Mandarin sentence would the shopkeeper most naturally say when completing the transaction?

「一共十八块，找您两块。」— totaling both types correctly (2×5 + 1×8 = 18) and returning the correct change of 2 yuan from 20 yuan (correct answer)
「一共十三块，找您七块。」— adding the prices sequentially without multiplying (5+8=13) and returning 7 yuan change from 20 yuan
「一共十六块，找您四块。」— doubling the ordinary bread price but forgetting the cream bread (2×5 + 5 = 15, then rounding to 16), returning 4 yuan change
「一共二十一块，您还差一块。」— adding all unit prices together (5+5+8=18) but miscounting as 21, indicating the customer owes an additional yuan

Explanation: When completing a retail transaction in Mandarin, you need to track two things simultaneously: the correct arithmetic and the natural phrasing a shopkeeper would use. The key vocabulary here is 「一共」(yīgòng, "in total") and 「找您」(zhǎo nín, "returning change to you") — these are the standard building blocks of any payment exchange in conversational Mandarin. The math is straightforward: two ordinary breads at 5 yuan each plus one cream bread at 8 yuan gives

2 \times 5 + 1 \times 8 = 18

yuan. From a 20-yuan bill, the change is

20 - 18 = 2

yuan. Answer A captures both the correct total and the correct change in perfectly natural shopkeeper phrasing — this is the answer. B is a common arithmetic trap: it ignores the quantity of ordinary bread and simply adds the two unit prices (

5 + 8 = 13

), as if the customer only bought one of each. Always multiply price by quantity before summing. C compounds two errors — doubling one price but then adding the unit price again rather than the cream bread's price — arriving at a total that matches neither the items ordered nor standard arithmetic. D inverts the situation entirely: not only is the math wrong (claiming 21 yuan when the true total is 18), but the phrasing 「您还差一块」("you're still short one yuan") implies the customer underpaid, which contradicts the scenario of receiving change. As a study tip, memorize the transaction formula 「一共__块，找您__块」— it appears constantly in conversational Mandarin shopping dialogues and is almost always tested with a straightforward multiplication-then-subtraction calculation.

Question 8

Listen to this exchange: Customer: 「我想买一瓶酱油和两罐番茄酱。」 Shopkeeper: 「酱油在第二排，番茄酱在第三排。」 Customer: 「谢谢。对了，酱油是哪个牌子的？」 Shopkeeper: 「有海天的和李锦记的，海天的便宜一点。」 Customer: 「那给我一瓶李锦记的吧。」

Based on this conversation, which statement most accurately describes what the customer communicated and decided about their purchase?

The customer initially requested one bottle of soy sauce and two cans of tomato sauce, then chose brand 李锦记 because the shopkeeper indicated it was the cheaper and more popular option.
The customer initially requested two bottles of soy sauce without specifying a brand, then after comparing prices, chose 李锦记 because it was the less expensive of the two available brands.
The customer initially requested one bottle of soy sauce and one can of tomato sauce, then chose the brand 海天 after the shopkeeper recommended it as the cheaper option.
The customer initially requested one bottle of soy sauce without specifying a brand, then after learning two brands were available, chose the more expensive option (李锦记) over the cheaper one (海天). (correct answer)

Explanation: When listening to a conversation like this, your job is to track two things simultaneously: the exact quantities and items the customer requests, and the reasoning behind any final decision they make. Even one wrong detail can make an answer choice incorrect. The customer opens with 「我想买一瓶酱油和两罐番茄酱」 — one bottle of soy sauce (一瓶) and two cans of tomato sauce (两罐). Crucially, no brand is mentioned at the start. After learning two brands exist — 海天 and 李锦记 — and being told 海天 is cheaper (便宜一点), the customer deliberately chooses 李锦记 with 「那给我一瓶李锦记的吧」. This means they knowingly picked the more expensive option. Answer D captures all of this precisely: correct initial quantity, no initial brand preference, and a final choice of the pricier brand over the cheaper one. Answer A fails on two counts: it misattributes the cheaper label to 李锦记 (the shopkeeper said 海天 was cheaper), and it adds the unsupported claim that 李锦记 was "more popular." Answer B incorrectly states the customer asked for two bottles of soy sauce — the original request was clearly 一瓶 (one). Answer C gets both the tomato sauce quantity wrong (one can instead of two) and the brand wrong — the customer chose 李锦记, not 海天. A useful strategy for these listening comprehension questions: mentally flag numbers and brand names as you hear them, since distractors almost always swap or misrepresent exactly those details.

Question 9

A shopper in a Chinese clothing store wants to ask if a specific jacket is available in a larger size. Which sentence most precisely and naturally expresses this request in a shopping context?

「这件外套有没有大一号的？」— directly asking whether the jacket comes in one size larger, using the appropriate measure word 件 for clothing and the natural size-increment phrasing 大一号 (correct answer)
「这件外套的大小怎么样？」— asking about the general size quality of the jacket, which invites a description rather than requesting a specific larger size
「你们有大外套吗？」— broadly asking if the store carries large jackets in general, losing reference to the specific jacket the customer is already examining
「这个外套可以换大的吗？」— using 这个 instead of 这件 and implying an exchange (换) rather than simply requesting a larger size be shown, which changes the nature of the interaction

Explanation: When shopping in China, precision matters — you want to ask for exactly what you need without creating confusion about whether you're inquiring, complaining, or requesting an exchange. Questions like this test your ability to match grammar, measure words, and phrasing to a specific real-world communicative goal. Option A, 「这件外套有没有大一号的？」, nails all three elements. First, 件 is the correct measure word for clothing items like jackets — using it signals fluency and specificity. Second, the 有没有 structure is the most natural way to ask "do you have / is there" in a retail context. Third, 大一号 ("one size larger") pinpoints exactly what you want rather than vaguely asking for something "bigger," making it easy for the salesperson to respond efficiently. This is your correct answer. Option B, 「这件外套的大小怎么样？」, asks how the sizing is — essentially inviting an opinion or description. A salesperson might respond by saying it runs small or true to size, which isn't what you need at all. Option C, 「你们有大外套吗？」, drops all reference to the specific jacket you're holding and asks broadly whether the store sells large jackets in general — far too vague for the situation. Option D, 「这个外套可以换大的吗？」, makes two missteps: 这个 is a generic pointer that lacks the clothing-specific measure word 件, and 换 implies you want to exchange something, suggesting a transaction or return rather than simply browsing for a larger option. As a shopping strategy tip: memorize measure words paired with their item categories — 件 for clothing, 双 for shoes, 本 for books — since using the wrong one immediately signals unnatural Mandarin.