Handling money in German is one of the first things you'll actually do in the language — buy a coffee, order in a restaurant, pay a cashier. The transactions follow predictable scripts, and once you know the lines, you can get through a shop or a meal smoothly. This page gives you the expressions for asking prices, ordering politely, and paying, plus two rules that surprise English speakers: currency units stay singular (drei Euro, never "Euros"), and prices use a decimal comma, not a point.
Was darf's sein? and bar oder mit Karte? matters as much as knowing how to ask the price yourself.Asking what something costs
There are two everyday ways to ask a price, plus the cashier's way of stating a total.
Entschuldigung, was kostet das?
Excuse me, how much does this cost?
Wie viel kosten die Erdbeeren?
How much do the strawberries cost?
— Was macht das zusammen? — Das macht zwölf Euro fünfzig.
— How much is that altogether? — That comes to twelve euros fifty.
Was kostet das? (singular) and Wie viel kosten...? (plural) ask the price. The cashier announces the total with Das macht... ("that comes to...") or, slightly softer, Das wären dann... ("that would be then..."). Note that English "that'll be twelve fifty" maps onto Das macht zwölf Euro fünfzig.
How prices are written and read
A price like 5,99 € uses a comma as the decimal separator — the opposite of English, which uses a point. The euro sign usually comes after the number. And you read the price by saying the euros, then the cents, without any word for "and" or "point."
| Written | Spoken | English |
|---|---|---|
| 5,99 € | fünf Euro neunundneunzig | five euros ninety-nine |
| 10,50 € | zehn Euro fufzig / fünfzig | ten euros fifty |
| 3,50 € | drei Euro fünfzig | three euros fifty |
| 1,00 € | ein Euro | one euro |
| 0,80 € | achtzig Cent | eighty cents |
| 1.250,00 € | eintausendzweihundertfünfzig Euro | 1,250 euros |
Notice the large number 1.250,00 €: German uses a point as the thousands separator and a comma for decimals — exactly reversed from English. So 1.250 is one thousand two hundred fifty, not one and a quarter.
The rule that catches everyone: Euro and Cent stay singular
When Euro and Cent are used as currency units after a number, they do not take a plural ending. You say drei Euro, fünfzig Cent — never "Euros" or "Cents." This is the single most common shopping error English speakers make.
Das Brötchen kostet nur fünfzig Cent.
The bread roll costs only fifty cents.
Ich habe noch zwanzig Euro in der Tasche.
I've still got twenty euros in my pocket.
Der Eintritt für Kinder beträgt acht Euro.
Admission for children is eight euros.
The logic: German keeps masculine units of measure and currency in the singular after a number (zwei Glas Wasser, drei Kilo Mehl, zehn Euro). The plural Euros exists only when you mean physical coins as objects ("I dropped my euros"), which is rare.
Ordering and requesting politely
The polite way to order or ask for something uses Ich hätte gern (literally "I would like to have," from the subjunctive) or the plainer Ich nehme ("I'll take").
Ich hätte gern einen Kaffee und ein Stück Apfelkuchen, bitte.
I'd like a coffee and a piece of apple cake, please.
Ich nehme das Schnitzel mit Pommes.
I'll have the schnitzel with fries.
Haben Sie das auch eine Nummer größer?
Do you have this one size bigger too?
Ich hätte gern is warmer and more polite than Ich will ("I want"), which sounds blunt and childish in a shop. (Note: never order with Ich werde... — that's the bekommen/werden false-friend trap covered on the false friends page. Use Ich hätte gern, Ich nehme, or Ich bekomme.)
Quantities for shopping
When buying food, you'll need container and quantity words.
Geben Sie mir bitte eine Packung Nudeln und eine Flasche Wasser.
Please give me a packet of pasta and a bottle of water.
Ich nehme nur ein bisschen Käse und ein paar Tomaten.
I'll just take a little cheese and a few tomatoes.
ein bisschen = a little (uncountable), ein paar = a few (countable), eine Packung = a packet, eine Flasche = a bottle, eine Dose = a can/tin. (The full system of measures and quantities is covered on the quantities page in Numbers.)
Paying: cash, card, and the culturally specific routines
Two questions you'll hear constantly are bar oder mit Karte? ("cash or card?") and, in restaurants, getrennt oder zusammen? ("separately or together?").
— Bar oder mit Karte? — Mit Karte, bitte. Kann ich kontaktlos zahlen?
— Cash or card? — Card, please. Can I pay contactless?
— Zahlen bitte! — Gern, zusammen oder getrennt? — Getrennt, bitte.
— The bill, please! — Sure, together or separately? — Separately, please.
getrennt oder zusammen? is culturally specific: Germans routinely split the bill individually, each person paying for exactly what they ordered, so the waiter asks as a matter of course. Saying getrennt and then telling the waiter what you had is completely normal and not considered cheap.
Stimmt so — the tipping phrase
When you pay and want to leave a tip, you don't usually leave coins on the table; you tell the server the total including the tip as you hand over the money. Stimmt so means "keep the change" / "that's right."
— Das macht achtzehn Euro vierzig. — Machen Sie zwanzig, stimmt so.
— That comes to eighteen euros forty. — Make it twenty, keep the change.
So if the bill is 18,40 € and you want to give 20 €, you hand over the money (or state the amount to charge to your card) and say Stimmt so — the server keeps the difference as the tip. Stimmt so literally means "(it) is correct like this."
Bargains and the bottle deposit
Two vocabulary clusters round out shopping fluency.
Die Jacke ist im Angebot — zwanzig Prozent reduziert. Das ist ein echtes Schnäppchen!
The jacket is on sale — twenty percent off. That's a real bargain!
Vergiss nicht, die leeren Flaschen zurückzubringen — da ist Pfand drauf.
Don't forget to bring the empty bottles back — there's a deposit on them.
im Angebot / im Sonderangebot = on offer/sale, reduziert = reduced, ein Schnäppchen = a bargain/steal, günstig = cheap (positive, "good value"), billig = cheap (can imply low quality), teuer = expensive. Pfand is the refundable deposit on bottles and cans — you pay it at purchase and get it back when you return the empties to a machine (Pfandautomat).
Common Mistakes
1. Pluralizing the currency unit.
❌ Das kostet zehn Euros.
Incorrect — Euro stays singular as a unit after a number.
✅ Das kostet zehn Euro.
That costs ten euros.
2. Using an English-style decimal point in writing.
❌ Das macht 12.50 Euro.
Incorrect — the point reads as a thousands separator; 12.50 looks like 1250.
✅ Das macht 12,50 Euro.
That comes to 12.50 euros. (decimal comma)
3. Ordering with the wrong verb.
❌ Ich werde einen Kaffee.
Incorrect — this means 'I'm turning into a coffee' (werden = become).
✅ Ich hätte gern einen Kaffee. / Ich bekomme einen Kaffee.
I'd like a coffee. / I'll have a coffee.
4. Tipping by leaving coins instead of saying Stimmt so.
❌ (leaving coins on the table silently and walking out as the norm)
Workable but not the German habit — you usually round up out loud when paying.
✅ — Vierzehn Euro achtzig. — Fünfzehn, stimmt so.
— Fourteen euros eighty. — Fifteen, keep the change.
5. Reading the thousands separator as a decimal.
❌ Reading „1.500 €“ as 'one euro fifty.'
Incorrect — the point is a thousands separator; this is fifteen hundred euros.
✅ 1.500 € = eintausendfünfhundert Euro.
1,500 euros (one thousand five hundred).
Key Takeaways
- Currency units stay singular after numbers:
drei Euro,fünfzig Cent— never "Euros." - German reverses the separators: comma for decimals (5,99 €), point for thousands (1.250 €).
- Order politely with
Ich hätte gernorIch nehme; never withIch werde(false friend) or bluntIch will. getrennt oder zusammen?(split or together?) andStimmt so(keep the change) are everyday transactional routines — andPfandis the refundable bottle deposit.
Now practice German
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Start learning German→Related Topics
- Set Phrases and Conversational RoutinesB1 — Fixed situational formulas Germans use on autopilot — meal and toasting rituals, shop and service routines, and social leave-takings — learned whole, with their cultural rules.
- Polite Expressions and FormulasA2 — The fixed phrases of German courtesy — thanks, apologies, requests, and the astonishingly versatile word bitte.
- Quantities, Measurements, and CountingA2 — Why German says zwei Glas Bier (not Gläser) and eine Tasse Kaffee (no 'of') — the singular-unit rule, feminine exceptions, and ein paar vs ein Paar.
- Cardinal Numbers 21-100 (Units before Tens)A1 — German names the units digit before the tens digit and joins them with und in a single word — einundzwanzig is 'one-and-twenty' — plus the irregular tens dreißig, sechzig, and siebzig.
- False Friends (Falsche Freunde)B1 — The highest-impact German-English false friends — words that look like English but mean something different — with the trap, the true meaning, and the word you actually wanted.
- Politeness and Making RequestsB1 — German politeness is built on Konjunktiv II and bitte, not on piling up hedges — the polite-request ladder from bare imperative to Könnten Sie bitte ...?