You have been learning for six chapters and build a super strong foundation into your new target language: from introducing yourself, to mastering using nouns to describe the world around you, from asking questions about food preferences to leveraging modal verbs to discuss your work and studies, from narrating a full daily routine with time expressions, to working with adjectives to describe what you wear. We are almost done with the basic beginner level of any languages if I might say so!
Now comes one of the most immediately practical chapters in the whole series and the one that closes the foundational part of this Language Self-Learning Essential series. Because you will push a trolley around a supermarket (if not now then one day somewhere people speak your target language). You will stand at a counter and try to order. You will look at a price tag and need to say the number out loud. And if you cook for a friend, you will want to make a shopping list and walk them through your favourite recipe.
“What do you usually buy at the supermarket?”
This language study plan for shopping and cooking answers exactly that — and along the way it unlocks two skills that show up everywhere in real life: saying prices and quantities, and using the command form (the verb you use to give instructions and write a recipe).
✨ Read Vietnamese version: [Bạn Thường Mua Gì? Kế Hoạch Học Ngôn Ngữ 5 Ngày Về Mua Sắm Và Nấu Ăn]
Overview: What This Language Study Plan for Shopping and Cooking Covers
This is Chapter 7 of the Language Essential Series — same five-day rhythm, each day building on the last until you can shop, choose, pay, and cook entirely in your target language.
Here is what this language study plan for shopping and cooking covers across the five days:
1️⃣Learn essential vocab for shops and groceries, plus count numbers, say prices, and quantity units while shopping
2️⃣Master little words of prepositions to name a place, purpose, etc.: like where you shop at, what you cook with
3️⃣Start using the command form: giving instructions and writing a recipe
4️⃣(Bonus) Learn must-know phrases when shopping: asking for help, exchanging items, paying, to name a few
5️⃣ Write and speak: your shopping habits, a grocery list, and a recipe
After completing this chapter, you will be ready to answer these prompts from the 30-Day Language Journal Challenge:
- Prompt 14 — What do you usually buy at the supermarket?
- Prompt 15 — Write a short grocery list for your favourite recipe.
- Prompt 16 — Write short instructions for your favourite recipe.
Let’s break it down — one day at a time.
Your 5-Day Language Study Plan for describing your Shopping
Each day focuses on one small learning goal. Go through all the building blocks of each day study plan and complete the Mini Challenge at the end of each day to unlock new language skills.
Day 1: Shops, Groceries, Numbers & Prices
You can’t shop without two things: the words for the shops and food, and the numbers to handle prices and quantities.
| English | German | Vietnamese |
|---|---|---|
| supermarket | der Supermarkt | siêu thị |
| market (outdoor) | der Markt | chợ |
| bakery | die Bäckerei | tiệm bánh |
| pharmacy | die Apotheke | hiệu thuốc |
| shoe shop | das Schuhgeschäft | cửa hàng giày |
YOUR TURN:
Find out how the most useful shops are called in your target language asap 😉 TIP: Use the free vocab list below to get the essential words fast!
Claim your FREE list of 1000+ Must-Know Vocabulary to kick start your language learning FASTER & MORE EFFECTIVELY with.
Saying Prices and Quantities
Two small details trip up almost every learner.
First, the decimal vs thousands marks differ by language — German flips them compared to English (1.500 = one thousand five hundred; 1,5 = eins komma fünf).
Second, quantity units:
a kilo of apples / a bottle of milk
ein Kilo Äpfel / eine Flasche Milch (no word for “of”!)
một ký táo / một chai sữa (uses a measure word: ký, chai)
一公斤苹果 / 一瓶牛奶
YOUR TURN:
- Does your target language use different measure word / classifier? I bet it is a very likely yes, so find out the most commonly used ones!
- How does your target language say the money amount, currency, etc.? Find that out asap 😉
👉 Day 1 goal: Write a typical shopping list — 8–10 items with quantities and prices, each price written out in words.
Example sentences
| English | German | Vietnamese |
|---|---|---|
| A kilo of apples costs two euros forty-nine. | Ein Kilo Äpfel kostet zwei Euro neunundvierzig. | Một ký táo giá hai euro bốn mươi chín. |
| I buy fresh bread at the baker’s. | Ich kaufe frisches Brot beim Bäcker. | Tôi mua bánh mì tươi ở tiệm bánh. |
Day 2: The Little Words of Place and Purpose
To move between shops and ingredients, you need the small words that say where you buy something, what you cook with, and for whom. Languages handle these very differently.
| English | German | Vietnamese |
|---|---|---|
| at the market | auf dem Markt | ở chợ |
| with fresh butter | mit frischer Butter | với bơ tươi |
| for my mother | für meine Mutter | cho mẹ tôi |
| without meat | ohne Fleisch | không có thịt |
| from the baker | vom Bäcker | từ tiệm bánh |
📌 German learner note: In German these little words force a case, which changes the article after them. One group always takes the Dative (aus, bei, mit, nach, seit, von, zu — hence mit der Butter, vom Markt); another always takes the Accusative (durch, für, gegen, ohne, um — hence für meine Mutter, ohne Salz). Learning which group each belongs to is a one-time investment that pays off in every sentence.
Get a full detailed explanation for each of the preposition use case HERE:
YOUR TURN:
In your target language, do prepositions change the word that follows them — the way German shifts der → dem after mit — or do they leave everything untouched, as English and Vietnamese do? This single question tells you how much “machinery” your language hides behind small words.
👉 Day 2 goal: Write 6–8 sentences about where you shop and what you buy, using place-and-purpose words throughout.
Example sentences
| English | German | Vietnamese |
|---|---|---|
| After work I go to the supermarket. | Nach der Arbeit gehe ich zum Supermarkt. | Sau giờ làm tôi đi siêu thị. |
| I cook with fresh butter and a little olive oil. | Ich koche mit frischer Butter und etwas Olivenöl. | Tôi nấu với bơ tươi và một chút dầu ô liu. |
Day 3: The Command Form — Instructions and Recipes
Recipes, directions, requests — all of them use the command form of the verb. Here are the cooking verbs you’ll lean on:
| English | German | Vietnamese |
|---|---|---|
| cut / chop | schneiden / hacken | thái / băm |
| heat | erhitzen | đun nóng |
| add | hinzufügen | cho… vào |
| stir | umrühren | khuấy |
| season (to taste) | abschmecken | nêm |
| serve | servieren | dọn ra |
📌 Polyglot learners note: Unlike English, Vietnames, or Chinese, in which the command verb form stay simply the infinitive form, German has three command forms depending on who you address:
- formal (Schneiden Sie die Tomate)
- informal singular (Schneide die Tomate)
- and informal plural (Schneidet die Tomate)
While it is just “Cut the tomato” or “Cắt cà chua” in English and Vietnamese, respectively, for example. Would you want to switch from learning German to Vietnamese now? 😁
YOUR TURN:
- Find out how the most useful cooking action verbs in your target language asap 😉 TIP: Use the free vocab list above to get the essential words fast!
- Does your target language change the command form based on who you’re speaking to, like German’s three versions — or use one bare verb like English (Cut the onions) and Vietnamese (Thái hành)?
👉 Day 3 goal: Write a 6-step recipe for a favourite dish in the command verb form (if there are multiple forms, stay consistent throughout).
Example sentences
| English | German | Vietnamese |
|---|---|---|
| First cut the onion and chop the garlic finely. | Zuerst schneide die Zwiebel und hacke den Knoblauch fein. | Đầu tiên thái hành và băm tỏi nhuyễn. |
| Add the tomatoes and season to taste. | Füge die Tomaten hinzu und schmecke ab. | Cho cà chua vào và nêm vừa ăn. |
Day 4: Shopping Out Loud — Choosing, Asking & Paying
Now bring it into a real conversation. The heart of shopping is pointing and choosing — asking which one and indicating this one.
Which cheese would you like? — This one here, please.
Welchen Käse möchten Sie? — Diesen hier, bitte.
Bạn muốn loại phô mai nào? — Cái này, làm ơn.
A few phrases that carry you from counter to checkout:
| English | German | Vietnamese |
|---|---|---|
| How much does this cheese cost? | Wie viel kostet diesen Käse? | Phô mai này bao nhiêu tiền? |
| I’ll take this one. | Ich nehme diesen/diese/dieses. | Tôi lấy cái này. |
| Can I pay by card? | Kann ich mit Karte zahlen? | Tôi trả bằng thẻ được không? |
| Can I try this on? | Kann ich das anprobieren? | Tôi mặc thử được không? |
📌 German learner note: welcher (which), dieser (this), and jener (that) all follow the definite-article endings you already know — nothing new to memorise. In everyday speech, jener is usually replaced by der da / das da (“that one there”).
YOUR TURN:
- Where do “this,” “that,” and “which” sit in your language — before the noun (English this bread, German dieses Brot) or after it (Vietnamese bánh mì này, literally “bread this”)? And do they change form to match the noun?
- Can you already ask how much something costs in your target language? And if you want to exchange or return something at the shop?
👉 Day 4 goal: Write a short shopping dialogue — greeting, choosing, asking the price, and paying.
Example sentences
| English | German | Vietnamese |
|---|---|---|
| What does that come to altogether? | Was macht das zusammen? | Tất cả hết bao nhiêu? |
| That will be 15.70 Euro | Das macht fünfzehn Euro siebzig. | Tổng cộng 15.70 Euro. |
| That’s a good deal — I’ll take it! | Das ist ein gutes Angebot — ich nehme es! | Giá tốt đấy — tôi lấy! |
Day 5: Put It All Together
This is your production day. Over four days following this language study plan for shopping plans and cooking instructions, you have built a complete shopping-and-cooking toolkit — shop and grocery vocabulary, numbers and prices, quantity units, place-and-purpose words, the command form, and a full shopping dialogue.
Now you bring it into three personal entries following the suggested frameworks below.
What You Buy: Prompt 14’s Writing Framework
I usually shop at ___ because ___.
Every week I need: ___, ___, and ___.
A ___ of ___ costs about ___.
I buy fresh ___ at ___ — it’s better there.
Grocery List for a Favorite Recipe: Prompt 15’s Writing Framework
My favourite recipe is ___. For ___ people I need: — ___ (quantity + item) — ___ (quantity + item) — ___ (quantity + item)
Altogether it costs about ___.
I buy ___ at ___.
Recipe Instructions: Prompt 16’s Writing Framework
First, ___.
Then ___.
After that, ___ and ___.
Cook / bake for ___.
Finally, ___ — and serve!
Fill the blanks with your own shops, ingredients, prices, and steps, and you will have three complete, natural entries — every structure from Days 1–4 has a place to land.
👉 Day 5 goal: Use the frameworks to write your own Prompts 14, 15, and 16. Then read them aloud, and try describing a friend’s or family member’s shopping and cooking using he/she forms.
📘 Inside Dear Deutsch: complete worked Sample Writing for all three prompts — full German model entries (a real supermarket description, a costed grocery list, and a step-by-step recipe) with English translations, plus “write it for another person” versions and a fill-in-the-blank self-check. The frameworks above get you writing; the e-book shows you exactly what a polished, natural German entry looks like.
Chapter 7 Completion Checklist
Before moving on, check that you can do each of the following without looking at your notes:
- ✅ Name the shops and grocery categories in your target language
- ✅ Say any everyday price out loud — and know your language’s decimal/thousands marks
- ✅ Use quantity units correctly (with “of,” a measure word, or neither, as your language requires)
- ✅ Handle prepositions skillfully — when to use which and know whether they change the noun after them
- ✅ Give a command, and adjust it for who you’re addressing if your language does that
- ✅ Soften an order naturally (a “please” word or a particle)
- ✅ Ask “which?” and point to “this one” correctly
- ✅ Manage a full shopping exchange — choosing, asking the price, and paying
- ✅ Write and speak all three journal prompts in full
If you can tick every box, you have completed this language study plan for shopping and cooking — wonderfully done.
What’s Next?
You have just gained some of the most useful, real-world language in the entire series: you can now shop, compare, pay, and cook — and follow or write a recipe from start to finish. That is the kind of skill you’ll use within hours of arriving anywhere your target language is spoken.
Chapter 7 also quietly closes out the core beginner toolkit — genders and cases, separable verbs, questions, and now instructions. In Chapter 8, the language opens up: we move from describing into the world of actions and plans, with longer, richer sentences. You’ll sharpen the present tense, add the future tense for intentions and predictions, and bring your modal and separable verbs into real-world plans for sport, habits, and weekends.
Stay tuned and stay informed via MyA5Letter — subscribers always hear about new chapters first!
Until next time — Happy Language Learning!
Suani 💕
Want to join the Language Essential Series from the beginning? Start with:
- Chapter 1: Introduce Yourself in Any Language: A Simple 5-Day Study Plan
- Chapter 2: Essential Vocabulary to Describe Things and People in Any Language
- Chapter 3: What Do You Like to Eat? A 5-Day Language Study Plan to Build Questions and Conversations
- Chapter 4: What Do You Do for a Living? A 5-Day Language Study Plan for Work and Study
- Chapter 5: How to Journal about Your Daily Routine in a New Language: A 5-Day Study Plan
- Chpater 6: How to Journal about Your Favorite Outfit in a New Language: A 5-Day Study Plan
