When you need this

You bought too many things on your trip and your suitcase won't close, so you send a box home. Or you want to mail postcards from Kyoto. At the post office counter, the clerk asks where it's going, what's inside, and how fast you want it there. Faster costs more.

For anything going to another country, you fill out a customs form. It asks what's in the box and what it's worth. Be honest and specific: "two cotton T-shirts, twenty dollars," not "gifts."

Phrases

opens the conversation at the counter

a box or a large envelope you mail; also called a parcel

the small paper you stick on a letter to pay for it

asks how many days until it arrives

slow and cheap, or fast and expensive

the clerk needs to know what you're sending

asks if something inside could break

a paper that lists what's in an international package

a code to follow the package online

asks for money back if it's lost or broken

how heavy it is; American post offices use pounds and ounces

for when you need to pack at the post office

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.