“Can I pay in cash or only by card?” in French

When to use it

Use it before paying in a shop, a taxi or a restaurant to check whether cash is accepted.

The sentence in English (“Can I pay in cash or only by card?”)

"Can I pay in cash or only by card?" asks about payment options. "Can" comes before "I" to ask, "pay" follows without "to", and the prepositions "in" and "by" go with "cash" and "card".

Can

auxiliary verbcan · tense: present · modal verb of ability or permission; it opens the question

I

pronounpersonal pronoun, always written with a capital letter

pay

verbpay · form: base form (infinitive without "to") · main verb after "can"

in

prepositionpreposition

cash

noununcountable noun; money in notes and coins

or

coordinating conjunctioncoordinating conjunction

only

adverbadverb

by

prepositionpreposition

card

nounnoun; a bank card

The sentence in French (“Est-ce que je peux payer en espèces ou seulement par carte ?”)

"Est-ce que je peux payer en espèces ou seulement par carte ?" uses "est-ce que", a very common way to make a question without changing the word order. "Peux" is from "pouvoir", "en espèces" means in cash, and "par carte" means by card.

Est-ce

particlefirst part of "est-ce que", which turns a sentence into a question

que

subordinating conjunctionsecond part of "est-ce que"

je

pronounpersonal pronoun: "I"

peux

verbpouvoir · tense: present · mood: indicative · person: first · number: singular · "can"

payer

verbpayer · form: infinitive · "to pay"

en

prepositionpreposition: "in"

espèces

nounfeminine plural noun: "cash"

ou

coordinating conjunctioncoordinating conjunction: "or"

seulement

adverbadverb: "only"

par

prepositionpreposition: "by"

carte

nounfeminine noun: "card"

What changes from one language to the other (English × French)

English moves "can" to the front; French adds "est-ce que" and keeps the order. Both languages use different prepositions for cash and card: "in/by" in English, "en/par" in French.

Example conversation