Differences with 値,価格,価値 etc. regarding value, price

Hi,

In level 22, there have been two new kanji for value and several vocabulary words related to price, and value.

価 (あたい)value, price
値(ね)value, price
価格(かかく)price, value, cost
価値 (かち)value, worth, merit
物価(ぶっか)prices

I am totally confounded on how these are used in Japanese, as in how they differ from each other. The context sentences do very little to help here.

  1. In a store, which word do I use to talk about an item’s price?
  2. Which word is appropriate for e.g. talking about global oil prices?

Any help is appreciated!

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One you don’t have on your list. 値段 (ねだん).

This is the most general, casual term for the price you pay in a store.

あたい and 価値 refer to more general value, which isn’t necessarily correlated to a currency demanded in a store. The difference between あたい and 価値 is that あたい is of Japanese origin, and 価値 is of Chinese origin. They may be more or less common in various expressions or contexts. I think ね appears in news reports, at least I recall seeing it. Like 値が高騰している (a price is rising). I’ve never heard someone use it in conversation.

価格 is also the literal price of something in currency, like 値段, but it’s not a casual word. You wouldn’t use it in conversation at the store, but you might see it in store advertisements or articles about prices.

物価 is a word for the general prices in an area, like when talking about how it’s more expensive to live in Tokyo than a rural village.

For the second one, about global oil prices, I think 価格 would be appropriate, since you generally only discuss oil prices in relatively serious contexts.

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