Convenience Store

1. Trid borża?

   Do you need a bag?

   Usage

   Said by staff. Malta restricts single-use plastic bags and charges for what it does provide. Decline with "Le, grazzi"

   Grammar Note

   "Trid" is the second-person singular of a verb from the root R-W-D, cognate with Arabic "turīd". Maltese verbs conjugate Semitic-style, by altering the vowels inside the root

2. Xi ħaġa oħra?

   Anything else?

   Usage

   Said by staff. In a village ħanut tal-merċa you often order across the counter, so this comes before they total up. Finish with "Le, daqshekk"

   Grammar Note

   "Ħaġa" is feminine, so the adjective agrees as "oħra" (masculine would be "ieħor"). The letter "ħ" is distinctively Maltese and marks a strong pharyngeal h

3. Bil-karta jew bi flus?

   By card or in cash?

   Usage

   Said by staff. Card payment is widespread in Malta, but village shops and market stalls may be cash-only and many set a card minimum, so keep small notes on hand

   Grammar Note

   The preposition "bi" fuses with the article "il-" to give "bil-". The l assimilates only before a sun letter (t, d, s, x, etc., as in "bit-taxi"); the k of "karta" is not one, so it stays "bil-karta". "Flus" (money) is a plural-only noun

4. Trid ir-riċevuta?

   Do you want the receipt?

   Usage

   Said by staff. Maltese law obliges shops to issue a receipt, so one is always produced. Keep it — you will need it for any return or exchange

   Grammar Note

   "Riċevuta" is borrowed from Italian "ricevuta" and means "receipt". The definite article il- assimilates before a sun letter, so it becomes ir- before r (the same rule as in it-triq, is-suq and iċ-ċavetta).

5. Għandek karta tal-punti?

   Do you have a points card?

   Usage

   Said by staff. Maltese supermarket chains ask about their loyalty cards at every checkout. Travellers can answer "Le, m'għandix" and pay the standard price

   Grammar Note

   Possession uses no verb but the preposition "għand" (in the possession of) plus a personal ending. Negation wraps the word in "m'…-x": "għandi" (I have) becomes "m'għandix"

6. Tista' ssaħħanhomli?

   Could you heat them up for me?

   Usage

   Maltese shops have no Japanese-style reheating service. Hot snacks come instead from a pastizzeria, where pastizzi sit fresh from the oven from morning to evening

   Grammar Note

   Maltese attaches both object and indirect object as suffixes on the verb, so a single word carries a whole clause: "ssaħħan" + "hom" + "li" means "heat them for me"

7. Fejn hi l-magna tal-fliexken?

   Where is the bottle return machine?

   Usage

   Malta introduced its Beverage Container Refund Scheme in 2022, adding a deposit to plastic bottles, cans and glass. Feed containers into the machine near a supermarket entrance and it prints a voucher

   Grammar Note

   "Fliexken" is the plural of "flixkun" (bottle), formed by reshuffling the internal vowels — a broken plural, exactly as in Arabic, and common among Maltese core vocabulary

8. X'ħin tagħlqu?

   What time do you close?

   Usage

   Village shops in Malta shut for a few hours at midday and many open only on Sunday mornings. Tourist-area shops run later, but round-the-clock trading is nothing like as common as in Japan

   Grammar Note

   "X'ħin" contracts "xi ħin" (what hour). The digraph "għ" writes a historical guttural that is now largely silent, though it lengthens the neighbouring vowel

9. Għandkom ilma kiesaħ?

   Do you have cold water?

   Usage

   Maltese summers are fierce and chilled water sells out first. Tap water is safe but hard and strongly flavoured, so even locals often buy bottled water to drink

   Grammar Note

   Maltese places adjectives after the noun. "Ilma" is masculine, so the adjective appears as "kiesaħ"; with a feminine noun it would be "kiesħa"

10. Fejn huma l-batteriji?

    Where are the batteries?

    Usage

    Batteries, charging cables and umbrellas are usually gathered near the till rather than shelved in the aisles. Swap in any product name to reuse the sentence

    Grammar Note

    The plural takes the copula "huma"; a singular noun would take "hu" or "hi" according to gender. The article "il-" reduces to "l-" before a vowel

11. Nista' nħallas bil-mobile?

    Can I pay with my phone?

    Usage

    Phone contactless works in Malta, though village shops sometimes run older terminals that will not take it. Chinese-style QR payment is not established here

    Grammar Note

    Maltese conjugates both the modal and the main verb, so the first-person "n-" appears twice. "Mobile" is an English borrowing — Maltese speakers routinely weave English words into their speech

12. Għandkom pastizzi?

    Do you have pastizzi?

    Usage

    Malta's national snack: a flaky pastry filled with ricotta or mushy peas. Sold at a pastizzeria but also in village shops and bars, at just a few tens of cents each — the cheapest quick bite on the island

    Grammar Note

    The singular is "pastizz", and the plural simply adds "-i". To specify the filling, add "tal-irkotta" (ricotta) or "tal-piżelli" (peas)

13. Għandkom batterija portabbli?

    Do you have a power bank?

    Usage

    Small Maltese shops do not normally stock power banks; try an electronics shop in Sliema or Valletta, or a souvenir shop in a tourist area. Saying "power bank" in English always works

    Grammar Note

    Both "batterija" and "portabbli" are Italian-derived borrowings, with the adjective following the noun. In practice even Maltese speakers just say "power bank" to each other

14. Kemm hu kollox?

    How much is it altogether?

    Usage

    Use it to confirm the total after ordering several items over the counter. In small Maltese shops the till display often does not face you, so the amount is simply spoken

    Grammar Note

    Maltese has no present-tense verb "to be"; the pronouns "hu", "hi" and "huma" serve as copulas instead. "Kollox" is a compound of "kull" (every) and "xi" (thing)

15. Titkellem bl-Ingliż?

    Do you speak English?

    Usage

    Maltese and English are both official, and shop staff will almost certainly speak English. Even so, opening in Maltese visibly changes the reception, so treat this line as a fallback rather than a starting point

    Grammar Note

    "Titkellem" is a reflexive-pattern verb from the root K-L-M (word), cognate with Arabic "takallam". "Bi" plus "il-Ingliż" contracts to "bl-Ingliż"

16. Le grazzi, għandi l-borża tiegħi.

    No thanks, I have my own bag.

    Usage

    How to decline when carrying a reusable bag. Malta has pushed hard on cutting plastic and cloth bags are increasingly common, so this line moves the checkout along

    Grammar Note

    The possessive "tiegħi" (my) follows the noun, which itself keeps the definite article — so "my bag" is literally "the bag of mine"

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