Supermarket and Pharmacy English: The A2 Words You Need Weekly
Some vocabulary gaps are invisible because you route around them. You buy the packet with the picture you recognise, you point at the shelf, you take whatever the pharmacist hands you. It works, and it quietly keeps you at the same level for years. This is the list that closes the two gaps almost every person abroad has: the weekly shop, and the moment you need something from a pharmacy.
This sits at A2 because every sentence here is short and present tense. What makes it hard is not grammar, it is that the nouns are extremely specific and no textbook lists them. Nobody teaches the word for the thing that removes limescale until the day you need it.
The general layer is in the free A2 vocabulary list. What follows is the shopping half.
Around the shop
These are the words on signs and the ones staff use when they answer you. Recognising them is enough, you do not have to produce them all.
- aisle: the row you walk down
- checkout, till, self service
- trolley and basket
- loose, meaning not in a packet
- chilled, frozen, ambient
- use by and best before, which are not the same
- own brand, meaning the cheap version
- reduced, yellow sticker, on offer, buy one get one free
Food words that are easy to miss
The trap in a supermarket is not rare food, it is ordinary food under a name you were never given. This table holds the ones people abroad most often work around for years.
| Word | What it is |
|---|---|
| semi skimmed milk | the middle one, between whole and skimmed |
| mince | ground meat |
| cling film and foil | the two rolls in the same drawer |
| washing up liquid | for dishes, not for clothes |
| washing powder or liquid detergent | for clothes |
| plain flour and self raising flour | different things, not interchangeable |
| caster sugar and icing sugar | fine sugar and powdered sugar |
| stock cube | for soup and sauces |
| spring onion | a small onion with a long green stem |
Asking staff for something
Four sentences cover almost every interaction in a shop. Say them slowly and they work perfectly, even at A2.
- Excuse me, where would I find rice?
- Do you have this in a smaller size?
- Is this the last one, or is there more in the back?
- Sorry, this scanned at the wrong price.
- Could I have a bag, please?
- Do you take card?
- Can I pay separately for these two?
- I think you gave me the wrong change.
At the pharmacy
A pharmacy is often the first medical conversation a person has abroad, and it is a good one to prepare, because it is short and because getting it wrong has consequences. The important move is to describe rather than to name: you do not need the word for the illness if you can say what is happening.
| What is happening | How to say it at A2 |
|---|---|
| a cold | I have a blocked nose and a sore throat. |
| a cough | I have a bad cough, mostly at night. |
| a headache | I have a headache that will not go away. |
| an upset stomach | My stomach is upset. I have had it two days. |
| hay fever | My eyes are itchy and I keep sneezing. |
| a burn | I burnt my hand yesterday on the oven. |
| a sprain | I twisted my ankle and it is swollen. |
| a rash | I have a rash here. It started this morning. |
The questions the pharmacist asks back
You will be asked three or four of these every time, so it is worth understanding them at speed rather than translating them in your head while somebody waits.
- How long have you had it?
- Are you taking any other medication?
- Is it for you or for somebody else?
- Do you have any allergies?
- Have you had this before?
- Is it for a child? How old?
- Do you want the tablets or the liquid?
- Take one twice a day, with food.
Words on the box
Reading the packet is where the real vocabulary is, and it is the safest place to learn it, because you can stand there as long as you like. Dosage, drowsiness, do not exceed, may cause, keep out of reach of children: these appear on almost every box you will ever buy.
If the conversation goes further than a pharmacy, English at the doctor at B1 covers the appointment itself.
Where MindDory fits
The reason this vocabulary stays missing is that you meet each word once, in a shop, with your hands full. There is no moment to learn it and no reason it should come back.
That is the exact gap MindDory closes: save the word when you meet it, and it returns on the day you would have lost it. If you are not sure which level to work from, the level checker takes a few minutes.