When you need this

Most grocery trips start at home, at the fridge door, with someone asking what you need. The language here is about amounts and absence: what you're out of, what you're running low on, and what you already have plenty of.

English has a small set of phrases for this that people use every week. "We're out of milk" means there's none. "We're running low on rice" means there's a little left. The difference matters, because one means buy it today and the other means buy it soon.

Phrases

there is none left at all

there's only a little left

no need to buy more

write it down with the other things you need

asking a partner or roommate before you go

buy something on the way somewhere

common containers for milk, bread and rice

twelve, usually used for eggs

a cheaper product made for the store itself

food is too old to eat

finish something before buying more

buy a lot of something at once

Say it out loud

Tap a sentence to hear it. Say it after the voice.

Practice · 3 min

Say the line that fits. Situation on the left, one natural line on the right.

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Say it today

Use it once in a real conversation before tomorrow. Out loud counts, even to yourself.