Asking For Money

This is a continuation on the last entry about Canadian coins.

I hope you all learned by now that asking for money isn't that easy. The good example of paying someone with pennies (1 cent) is always something useful to remember. For now, I will be talking about what to do during the restaurant, the bus, and the bank. For all that I can think of now, these two will cover most of the situations you may find in daily life. If there are any questions, please post a comment.

The bus fair varies in the day and you might not have enough change to ride the bus. Let's pretend that you're waiting for a bus that isn't in the terminal. You must have exact change because buses do not give out change and only accepts coins. You have a $5 bill but the bus ticket costs $2.75. What do you do?

In this situation you would have to either find a person or a store. Asking a person is easy, you just say "Do you have change for a $5?" to everyone you meet.
A store is a little bit different. Because it's a business, you must use it for it's services. Some places are nice but it's common to buy something first. After you have paid or asked nicely, you say "Can you break a $5?"

In a restaurant, you are eating with your friends and the bill comes together, not separated. You each have eaten about the same thing and need to pool in your money to pay for the bill. Let's pretend it's a good mix of males and females. The females bring change in their purses but the guys only carry bills with them. Unfortunately, there is not enough change for girls to exchange with the guys. You want to leave immediately and leave the money on the table but if everyone paid their share with the smallest bill available, you might be tipping too much.

In this situation, you would flag the waiter over and ask "Can I get change for this twenty?" or whatever bill you have. You can then pay for your part of the bill and trade coins for bills that other people have used for their meal.

In the bank, you would usually ask for a large amount of money. If you're buying something from an Asian person that only accepts cash, you would have to go to a bank to withdraw money. That, or you are going to run a cashier and need the smaller bills or coins for change.

You would go up to the bank teller and ask "May I withdraw $85.50?". Notice that this time it is a "May" instead of a "Can." This is because you know that you can do it because the bank is where money is kept. It is not an ability or a skill that you need, nor is there a possibility that it won't be able to happen.

Let's recap the questions before learning what to say next.
Do you have change for a $5
Can you break a $5?
Can I get change for this twenty?
May I withdraw $85.50?

The person you are asking will probably say something along the lines of:
"What do you need?"

You can then say, using the names of bills and coins. I would like:
"A toonie, two loonies and four quarters"
"$2 in toonies, $2 in loonies, and $1 in quarters"

The first answer you have to know what the total adds up to before saying it. Usually, you would say the items you need in descending order. The second one uses the sum and then the coins. You must say everything in the plural even though there is only one of them. You are listing the total this time, and must use plural form.

"I would like a fifty, a twenty, a ten, a five, and a fifty cent piece."
"I would like $50 in fifties, $20 in twenties, $10 in tens, $5 in fives, and 50c in fifty cent pieces"