How to haggle in French
French markets are loud, friendly and quick. Knowing which stalls expect a counter-offer — and the one idiomatic phrase for making it — is most of what you need.
The scene
- Who you talk to
- A stallholder at an outdoor market. An AI character, speaking French.
- Your goal
- Ask what something costs and talk the price down — land a deal, or walk away on good terms.
- How it opens
- “Approchez, approchez ! Regardez-moi cette qualité, vous ne trouverez pas moins cher ailleurs.”
Phrases to have ready
- C'est combien, ça ?How much is this?
- C'est un peu cher pour moi.That's a bit expensive for me.
- Vous me le faites à quinze euros ?Would you do it for fifteen euros?
- D'accord, je le prends.All right, I'll take it.
What can go wrong
So no two conversations are the same, the character may bring in one of these, unprompted, once things are under way. This is exactly how the scene describes them to the character:
- The first price you quote was actually a mistake, higher than you meant, and you correct it once pressed.
- The learner wants two items; offer a small discount only if they buy both together.
- Another customer is eyeing the same item, which you use to hurry the learner along.
- You only accept cash and the learner needs to ask where the nearest machine is.
Where you can bargain in France
At the weekly food market (le marché) prices are posted and you don’t negotiate the price of tomatoes. The stallholder may round down or add a little extra to a regular, but that is a gift, not a haggle. Bargaining belongs at the brocante, the vide-grenier (a neighbourhood car-boot or yard sale) and the marché aux puces — second-hand goods, antiques, vintage clothes — and anywhere you are buying several things at once.
Even there, the tone is good-humoured. The stallholder in this scene enjoys the back-and-forth and opens with classic market patter: “Approchez, approchez ! Regardez-moi cette qualité…”.
Making an offer the French way
Ask the price simply — “c’est combien, ça ?” or “ça fait combien ?” — and react politely: “c’est un peu cher pour moi”. The idiomatic offer is “vous me le faites à quinze euros ?”, literally “will you do it to me at fifteen?”. It is so standard that stallholders expect exactly those words.
Buying more is the friendliest lever: “et si je prends les deux ?” invites a discount without insulting either price. Close with “d’accord, je le prends”, or leave kindly with “je vais réfléchir, merci” — you’ll think about it — which nobody takes badly.
Numbers deserve practice of their own. Quinze (15) and cinquante (50) blur at market speed, as do deux and douze, and above sixty French counting changes system: soixante-quinze is 75 and quatre-vingts is 80. (In Belgium and Switzerland, 70 and 90 are septante and nonante.) If a price surprises you, “pardon, vous avez dit combien ?” is entirely normal.
Cash, pressure and register
Many market stalls prefer cash, so “vous prenez la carte ?” is a useful question before you agree a price, and “il y a un distributeur près d’ici ?” finds you an ATM if they don’t. Listen for pressure tactics — another customer interested in the same piece, a first price that was “une erreur” — and keep your number.
Vous is the norm with a stallholder you don’t know, even when the patter is casual. Market French is also full of reductions — “c’est pas cher”, with no ne — which is good practice for hearing everyday speech. So is the stallholder’s habit of calling prices by the unit: “deux euros la pièce” (each), “cinq euros le lot” (for the lot).