Money is an abstract representation of goods and services. Its easier to carry than a chicken or a bushel of wheat, and doesn’t take as long to exchange as washing dishes for your supper.
True, but when the government prints more currency than the total production of goods and services, they decrease the worth of each currency unit.
Let's say I make $10 per hour and with this $10 I can buy 10 widgets. Now the government steps in and prints out a whole bunch of money. I still make $10 an hour, but I am now able to only buy 5 widgets with the same $10.
You can say that you lost half of your hourly purchasing power. You can also say, and I like this one better 'cause it makes me madder, the government just cut your hourly wage by 50%.