At a café or a bakery counter, ordering takes one short sentence. Learn the polite ways to ask, and the questions the person behind the counter will ask you.

Your turn

Three ways to order a coffee. Do they all work?

Un café, por favor. / Quiero un café, por favor. / Quisiera un café.

The main idea

Un café americano, por favor.
An americano, please.
Quisiera un café con leche.
I'd like a coffee with milk.
¿Me da un jugo de naranja, por favor?
Can I get an orange juice, please?
Quiero un té, por favor.
I'd like a tea, please.

Quisiera (kee-SYEH-rah) is a soft, polite form of querer (to want). ¿Me da…? means "Do you give me…?", and as a question it sounds polite, not pushy.

At the counter

Before work, Ben and his colleague Sofía stop at a café.

Barista: Buenos días, ¿qué van a querer?
Good morning, what can I get you?
Sofía: Un café con leche, por favor.
A coffee with milk, please.
Ben: Y para mí, un café americano grande.
And a large americano for me.
Barista: ¿Algo más?
Anything else?
Ben: Sí, ¿me da una galleta de chocolate?
Yes, can I get a chocolate cookie?
Barista: Claro. ¿Para aquí o para llevar?
Sure. For here or to go?
Sofía: Para llevar, por favor.
To go, please.
Barista: Aquí tienen.
Here you go.

Two more answers you'll need at a counter:

¿Algo más?
Anything else?
No, es todo, gracias.
No, that's all, thanks.
¿Para aquí o para llevar?
For here or to go?
Para aquí, por favor.
For here, please.

Para mí… ("for me") is how you order when several people order together. The barista says Aquí tienen to both of them; to one person it is Aquí tiene.

Quick check

Your turn

Which is the natural way to ask for a coffee?

Your turn

Use the polite form from this lesson to say I'd like an orange juice:

un jugo de naranja.
Your turn

The barista asks ¿Algo más? You don't want anything else.

Your turn

You want to drink your coffee at the café. The barista asks ¿Para aquí o para llevar? Answer:

Your turn

Put the words in order to ask for a coffee, with por favor at the end:

Your turn

You're at a café counter. Order a drink and something to eat, and say it's to go.

Take with you

Quisiera un café americano.
I'd like an americano.
¿Me da un jugo de naranja, por favor?
Can I get an orange juice, please?
Un café con leche, por favor.
A coffee with milk, please.
Para mí, un té.
A tea for me.
No, es todo, gracias.
No, that's all, thanks.
Para llevar, por favor.
To go, please.
Aquí tiene.
Here you go.

At a counter, Quisiera… or ¿Me da…? with por favor is all you need.