Break, Change A Bill (money) | WordReference Forums

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You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.You should upgrade or use an alternative browser. Break, change a bill (money)

• Thread starter Thread starter saturne
• Start date Start date Oct 8, 2011

S

saturne

Senior Member

Barcelona Spanish Could anyone tell me if the following phrases are ok ? Could you break me for this 50 ? Could you break this 50 for me ? Could you give me change for this 50? Could you change this 50 for me? Thanks a lot.

k-in-sc

Senior Member

Decatur, Ga. U.S. English

saturne said: Could you break me for this 50? Could you break this 50 for me? Could you give me change for this 50? Could you change this 50 for me? (OK only if you mean "into another currency") Click to expand...

S

saturne

Senior Member

Barcelona Spanish Thank you very much indeed k-in-sc

sound shift

Senior Member

Derby (central England) English - England In this country, I don't hear "break" used for this. I've just tried this on my father. He says he would say "Can you change this xxx for something smaller?" I could say that too. S

saturne

Senior Member

Barcelona Spanish

sound shift said: In this country, I don't hear "break" used for this. I've just tried this on my father. He says he would say "Can you change this xxx for something smaller?" I could say that too. Click to expand...

Maybe "break" is AE. I didn't know that it is not used in England. Thank you for your help. J

Josette

Senior Member

Great Britain, English

sound shift said: In this country, I don't hear "break" used for this. I've just tried this on my father. He says he would say "Can you change this xxx for something smaller?" I could say that too. Click to expand...

Funny, I live in the UK as well and I use 'to break' in this context (e.g. 'can you break a £20 note?'). Maybe it's used more in the South of England? Josette

sound shift

Senior Member

Derby (central England) English - England Interesting. My father is from the South of England (Ashford, Kent) and he said he could not use "break" here. Perhaps it's a generational thing. J

Josette

Senior Member

Great Britain, English

sound shift said: Interesting. My father is from the South of England (Ashford, Kent) and he said he could not use "break" here. Perhaps it's a generational thing. Click to expand...

Yes, perhaps it is. I'm going to test it out on my father who's in his late 70s and report back with my findings Josette

k-in-sc

Senior Member

Decatur, Ga. U.S. English Well, if not slang it's conversational at best, not formal. E

epistolario

Senior Member

Philippines Tagalog Added to previous thread. Cagey, moderator If you need smaller bills and you have a ten-dollar bill, does it sound natural to ask your friend or a cashier this question? Do you have a change for $20? (noun)​ How about these? Can you change a $10 bill for me? (verb)​Can you break a $10 bill for me? (verb)​ Last edited by a moderator: May 31, 2021 E

Egmont

Senior Member

Massachusetts, U.S. English - U.S. Either of the last two is fine. However, if you ask a cashier "Do you have change for $20?" it usually means that you plan to make a purchase for much less than $20 and want to know if the cashier has enough small bills and coins to handle a bill of that size in payment. C

Chez

Senior Member

London English English You can say: do you have change for 10 dollars? And you can use both your other questions.

Roxxxannne

Senior Member

American English (New England and NYC)

Chez said: You can say: do you have change for 10 dollars? And you can use both your other questions. Click to expand...

'Do you have change for 10 dollars?' sounds odd to me. It doesn't convey that you have a ten-dollar bill rather than ten ones, or that you want to trade a ten-dollar bill for the equivelant in smaller bills, rather than pay for an item worth 50 cents with a ten-dollar bill. I might take it to mean that you want ten dollars' worth of coins. When I ask this question in a similar situation, I say "Can you give me two fives for this?" If that's not possible (because the cashier is running out of fives, perhaps) they'll say, "No, but I can give you a five and five ones." or "Sorry, how about ten ones?"

Xavierturn78

New Member

Iban

saturne said: Maybe "break" is AE. I didn't know that it is not used in England. Thank you for your help. Click to expand...

It's informal. It's the dictionary. Last edited: May 31, 2021 You must log in or register to reply here. Share: Bluesky LinkedIn WhatsApp Email Share Link

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