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3rd intermediate · Unit 4

What Do I Need to Buy?

Talk about groceries, quantities, prices, and the steps for making a dish.

Food vocabulary Quantities and prices Shopping conversations Recipe writing
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1. At the Supermarket

Recognize common food groups and ingredients you might add to a shopping list.

A bottle of olive oil used for cooking
margenauer · CC0

Oils and condiments

Corn oil, olive oil, salt, and pepper.

We have a little olive oil.

2. Grammar Focus: Quantities and Prices

Use these forms to ask questions, count items, and talk about amounts clearly.

How many?

Use with count nouns you can count individually.

How many eggs do we need? A dozen.

How much?

Use with noncount nouns and when asking about a price.

How much rice do we need? How much is it?

Shopping amounts

Use a measure or container with the item.

a kilo of grapes · a carton of milk · a package of flour

Price and offers

Ask for the cost or understand a special offer.

How much are the oranges? They’re 8 riyals a kilo.

3. Quantity Words

A few

For a small number of count nouns.

a few carrots

A little

For a small amount of a noncount noun.

a little milk

Many / much

Many goes with count nouns; much goes with noncount nouns.

many eggs · much bread

A lot of / enough

Both can be used with count and noncount nouns.

a lot of apples · enough rice

4. Real Talk: Market Language

Here are common phrases you can hear at a supermarket or local market. Learn the meaning and use the examples.

Do you have any…?

Meaning: ask if a shop has a product.

Do you have any fresh tomatoes?

How much is it?

Meaning: ask the price of one item.

How much is it per kilo?

Can I have a little…?

Meaning: ask for a small amount.

Can I have a little olive oil?

That’s enough

Meaning: say the quantity is sufficient.

That’s enough for the recipe.

5. Reading Practice

Read the short market story and focus on the new vocabulary in context.

We are shopping for dinner at the market. My mother needs a few tomatoes, a little salt, and some bread. She asks, “How much is the rice?” The seller says it is 10 riyals a kilo. We also buy a carton of milk and a bag of flour. Then we go home to cook a simple meal.

tomatoes salt bread rice milk flour market recipe

6. Talk About What You Have

Something

Use in an affirmative sentence for an unspecified thing.

I need something for dessert.

Anything

Often use in questions and negative sentences.

We don’t have anything for breakfast.

Nothing

Means “not anything”; use it with an affirmative verb.

There is nothing in the fridge.

7. Put Recipe Steps in Order

Use sequence words to make instructions clear.

First

Start with the first action.

First, wash the vegetables.

Then

Say what happens next.

Then, cut them into small pieces.

After that

Add another step in the process.

After that, add a little olive oil.

Finally

Introduce the last step.

Finally, serve the salad.

8. Writing Lab

Write to someone who is going shopping. Include ingredients and clear sequence words.

Grammar note

Use How much for uncountable nouns like rice and flour.
Use How many for count nouns like tomatoes and apples.
Use sequence words: first, then, after that, finally.

9. Reflexive Pronouns / Because vs So

This lesson explains how we talk about the same person doing an action to themselves and how we connect a reason to its result.

Reflexive pronouns

Use myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves when the subject and object are the same.

I made this cake myself. She taught herself how to cook.

Because

Use because to give a reason for an action.

We stayed home because it was raining.

So

Use so to show a result or consequence.

It was raining, so we stayed home.

10. Check Your Understanding

Choose True or False, or select the best answer.

Question 1 of 8Score: 0

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