Worksheet 07 · Orders and requests
Separate weight and price at an Italian market
Answer in brief
Label each number with its unit before you calculate. Mezzo chilo is a weight; al chilo gives a price rate; in tutto introduces the total for the purchase.
The prices are invented for a unit-check task. This page is not a market price guide or an audio lesson.
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Reference subject: Separate weight and price at an Italian market
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Checked 9 November 2026
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Your task: Check a simple market total and spot a wrong unit. You need paper or a notes file. Try the model before you read the explanation. The answer key applies only to this written model.
Prepare labels before arithmetic
Numbers in a market exchange can refer to weight, a price per unit, a count of bags, or the final amount due. Draw three boxes labelled weight, rate, and total. Write the unit in each box before filling the number. This forces you to notice al chilo rather than treating four as the price of whatever the customer takes.
This model uses a simple price chosen for arithmetic practice. It does not report a current Italian market price. The purchase contains only tomatoes, and no packaging charge is stated. Keep those limits when checking the total. A teaching calculation should not become an assumption about what a real seller owes you.
Original written model · Italian / English
The scene on paper
Mi dà mezzo chilo di pomodori, per favore?
Show English translation
Could I have half a kilo of tomatoes, please?
Cinquecento grammi. Vengono quattro euro al chilo.
Show English translation
Five hundred grams. They cost four euros per kilo.
In tutto sono due euro.
Show English translation
The total is two euros.
Make your decision
- Fill weight, rate, and total, with units.
- At the same rate, calculate the total for un chilo e mezzo. Give its weight in grams.
- Correct ‘500 kg, €4 total’ using only the original dialogue.
Open the answer key
- Weight: 500 g or 0.5 kg. Rate: €4/kg. Total: €2.
- One and a half kilos is 1,500 g. At €4/kg, the expected total is €6.
- Change 500 kg to 500 g. Change the total to €2. €4 is the per-kilo rate, not the payment for half a kilo.
Read the two weights as one amount
Mezzo chilo and cinquecento grammi name the same weight. The seller's repeat checks the requested quantity; it does not add another half kilo. Draw an equals sign between the two forms. This is a useful habit whenever a speaker restates a quantity using a different unit. A repeated fact can sound like new information if you focus only on the changed word.
Quattro euro al chilo is the rate. For half a kilo, the stated total of two euros follows from that rate. The final sentence in tutto sono due euro identifies the payment amount directly. Check it against the calculation, but do not let the calculation replace listening. The point is to confirm what the speaker said and understand why it fits.
Change one unit and recalculate
For the extension, replace mezzo chilo with un chilo e mezzo. That is one and a half kilos, not half of a kilo. Keep the same rate. Write the new weight in grams and the expected total. The difference between the two phrases is small in writing but large in the amount of food. Notice the whole quantity phrase.
Return to the original exchange and make a wrong receipt on purpose: ‘500 kg, €4 total’. Explain both errors. Five hundred belongs with grams, while four belongs with euros per kilo. Correcting this receipt tests your labels more directly than repeating the original numbers aloud. If you can name the unit error, you have found the part that needs attention.
Now use a video you choose
Use a chosen market clip that states a unit and a price. If either is missing, record it as missing rather than inventing a calculation. In Jibber Jabber, our app, caption lookup helps you check a quantity word. Confirm prices and weights directly with the seller for a real purchase.
We make Jibber Jabber. Read the matching Italian guide before you choose app support. A different clip needs its own evidence and answers.
Questions and answers
Is mezzo chilo the same as un chilo e mezzo?
No. They are half a kilo and one and a half kilos. The extra un chilo changes the quantity.
Must I do mental arithmetic during a video?
No. Pause and label the units first. Calculation is a separate check after comprehension.
Does in tutto mean per kilo?
No. Here it introduces the total amount due for this purchase.
Sources for this entry
The tomato purchase uses a simple editorial rate of four euros per kilo. The two-euro total follows from half a kilo at that rate. Those figures are not observed market prices. The extension changes the weight explicitly and does not describe a second real purchase.
Continue this reading path
Return to Orders and requests to choose another task from this scene group.
Connected entries
- Follow a corrected order in an Italian bakery
- Work out who pays at an Italian café
- Put Italian kitchen instructions in the right order
Workbook tools: Change ledger · Evidence gap. Read the full Jibber Jabber profile for product limits.
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Cite this entry
Jibber Jabber. “Separate weight and price at an Italian market.” Italian Listening Workshop. Updated 9 November 2026. https://italiancomprehensibleinput.com/market-weight-and-price/.