Check out

[Ju]

We finished the shopping and are checking out at the cashier.

Is the above sentence correct?

Thanks.

 

[J&K Tutoring]

The finishing and the checking out happened at the same time, so best if the verbs agree:

1. We have finished the shopping and are checking out at the cashier.
2. We finished the shopping and checked out at the cashier.
3. We had finished the shopping and were checking out at the cashier.

 

[tedmc]

You do not need "the" before "shopping".

 

[Rover_KE]

None of them sounds right to my BE ear. We don't say 'check out at the cashier'.

We say 'pay the cashier' or 'pay at the till' where I live.

 

[J&K Tutoring]

I see your point, RobertJ. Wedged into a narrow and very specific time frame, the original might certainly be commonly heard. The OP did ask if it was correct. I stand by my opinion that it is not actually correct and would be best if slightly altered.

Ju: My #1 suggestion is closest to the original. In spoken English, we have would be contracted to we've and, when followed by a word that begins with the same mouth configuration (finished), the "v" of we've would get rather lost (would not be voiced), so it would quite likely sound like we finished...

 

[andrewg927]

The OP sounds fine to me as well.

Cross posted with JK.

 

[Barb_D]

This is one of the times when the US version of English uses the simple past (or present perfect - both are fine) where our British friends use present perfect.

It's actually not that uncommon when someone knows I'm at the grocery store to get a call. "Hey Mom, are you still at the store?" "Well, yeah, but I finished shopping and I'm line to pay/and the cashier is ringing me up now -- what do you need?"

 

[Tdol]

None of them sounds right to my BE ear. We don't say 'check out at the cashier'.

We say 'pay the cashier' or 'pay at the till' where I live.

But another BrE term for the cashiers/till is check-out. I use it as a noun, but not as a verb in the supermarket context.

 

[Ju]

But another BrE term for the cashiers/till is check-out. I use it as a noun, but not as a verb in the supermarket context.

You meant:

I clear the bill at the check-out in the supermarket.

Thanks.

 

[GoesStation]

I clear the bill at the check-out in the supermarket.

You don't "clear the bill". In a place where a bill exists, you pay it. That doesn't happen at a supermarket though. It happens at a bar or a restaurant, or any place where you could be presented with a statement of expenses you have to settle.

You could say I pay the cashier at the check-out at the supermarket.

 

[andrewg927]

In the case of a bar or a restaurant, you could say "pick up the tab/check".

 

[Barb_D]

In the case of a bar or a restaurant, you could say "pick up the tab/check".

In my use, "picking up" the tab means you pay for other people. You are "treating them."

If it's just you/your family, you would not use "pick up."

 

[andrewg927]

That's right. I use it if I pay for other people.