How much do you need the change for

[tufguy]

If somebody asks me for the change then can I say "How much do you need the change for"?

 

[Rover_KE]

If somebody asks me for [STRIKE]the[/STRIKE] change then can I say "How much do you need [STRIKE]the[/STRIKE] change for"?

Who's asking? A beggar? I can't imagine anybody else asking for change without saying why they want it.

 

[tufguy]

Who's asking? A beggar? I can't imagine anybody else asking for change without saying why they want it.

It happened a few years ago. I was coming back from the gym and standing at a juice shop. A girl came and asked for the change. There were two girls in the auto rickshaw and they didn't have the change to give to the auto driver. Auto driver didn't have the change either.

 

[SoothingDave]

The person who needs to make change normally would ask with enough detail.

"Can you make change for a ten?"

"Do you have 4 quarters for a dollar?"

 

[Lynxear]

If somebody asks me for the change then can I say "How much do you need the change for"?

This is not a good sentence.

A better way is : "How much change do you need?"

I might also ask:

What do you need the change for? (to separate the truly needy from beggars)
What size of bill do you want changed? ( to determine how much change is needed)

If someone confronts you and asks you just for change (especially spare change), they are begging.

Hey man, have you got any spare change?

 

[tufguy]

The person who needs to make change normally would ask with enough detail.

"Can you make change for a ten?"

"Do you have 4 quarters for a dollar?"

Can we say "Can you make change for a five hundred" or "Do you have double for thousand (if we need two five hundred notes)"?

 

[emsr2d2]

Can we say "Can you make change for a five hundred?" or "Do you have double for thousand?" (if we need two five hundred notes)?

The first is OK (unnatural for us because we don't have notes in denominations of 500!). I wouldn't understand the second if you said it to me. It sounds to me like it should be "Do you have two five hundreds for a thousand?"