6.3 In a café and a restaurant — Epoché
What you will be able to do Order food and drink in a café or a restaurant with the three formulas a German speaker actually uses: Die Speisekarte, bitte. · Ich hätte gerne Fisch. · Für mich bitte Weißwein. Answer the question every waiter in Germany asks when two people want to pay: Zusammen oder getrennt? Ask for the menu, say that the food is good — Alles schmeckt gut. — and ask for the bill: Die Rechnung bitte! Read two exchanges built entirely out of real sentences, and say what makes them formal: Haben Sie reserviert? , Möchten Sie bestellen? Prerequisites : 6.2 — introducing yourself, and 5.4 — food and drink. You need the words for the things on the table. Eating out is where a beginner's German is tested first and most often, and it is also the easiest conversation to prepare for, because it is almost entirely fixed. The waiter asks the same four things, you answer with one of three formulas, and the transaction ends with a question that has no English equivalent and catches every visitor once. Who is speaking to whom A waiter and a customer are strangers, so both exchanges below are formal throughout. That is the safe default in any shop, café or restaurant in the German-speaking world, and it stays formal even when the waiter is visibly twenty years younger than you. The exception is worth knowing because you will meet it: in a student bar, at a festival, or in parts of Berlin, a waiter of your own age may open informally. If that happens, follow — answer in the same register the other person chose. What you should not do is open informally yourself. Three ways to order German has three formulas for ordering, and they differ in politeness rather than in meaning: The plainest is simply to name the thing with bitte , as in the customer's first line in the first exchange below, Die Speisekarte, bitte. It is not rude; it is what most people say. The politest is the subjunctive, Ich hätte gerne … , literally I would have gladly and meaning I would like — the safest thing for a learner to use, because it cannot be too casual. A third, common when several people order at a table, begins Für mich — for me — and names the thing without any verb at all. English speakers are often taught to use the first person of the verb for want , and it is worth saying plainly: that form is grammatically correct and sounds blunt, in the way that I want a coffee sounds blunt in English. Use the subjunctive and the problem never arises. Exchange one — ordering, formal A restaurant, early evening. The customer has not booked. Haben Sie reserviert? [1] Have you made a reservation? Die Speisekarte, bitte. [2] The menu, please. Möchten Sie bestellen? [3] Would you like to order? Ich hätte gerne Fisch. [4] I would like some fish. Etwas zu trinken? [5] Something to drink? Für mich bitte Weißwein. [6] White wine for me, please. Schmeckt es? [7] Does it taste good? Alles schmeckt gut. [8] Everything tastes good. Two things to notice. The waiter's third line offers a drink without a finite verb — something to drink? — only trinken with zu , and a short phrase like this is normal in speech. And the customer's answer about the food uses a verb that English has no single word for: it means to taste good , so that a German can say everything tastes and be paying a compliment. Exchange two — paying, and the question that catches visitors The same table, forty minutes later. Two people are eating together. Die Rechnung bitte! [9] The bill, please! Zusammen oder getrennt? [10] Together or separately? Ich übernehme die Rechnung. [11] I'll take care of the bill. Ihre Rechnung, mein Herr. [12] Here's your bill, sir. Mit Karte, bitte. [13] By card, please. The waiter's first line is the one to learn by heart: Zusammen oder getrennt? — together or separately? In most of Europe a waiter assumes one bill; in Germany, Austria and Switzerland the assumption runs the other way, and each person at the table is normally asked and normally pays for what they had. A group of six will pay six times, in cash, with the waiter doing the arithmetic at the table, and nobody finds it strange. The other thing to know is the tip. It is not left on the table: you say the total you want to pay, rounded up, as the waiter takes the money. Ten per cent is generous; rounding to the next whole euro is normal for a coffee. Cards are now accepted nearly everywhere in Austria and Switzerland and in most German cities, but small cafés and some restaurants in Germany are still cash-only, and the sign on the door will say so. The customer's line above asks to pay by card; the answer may be no. Sitting down, and the water Two customs decide the first thirty seconds. You seat yourself in most cafés and in many restaurants: waiting at the door to be shown to a table marks you as a visitor, and in a busy place it may mean waiting a long time. If a table has a reserved card on it, take another; otherwise sit, and the waiter will come. In a formal restaurant, and in Switzerland more often than in Germany, waiting is correct — the rule of thumb is to look at what other people are doing as they come in. It is also normal to share a large table with strangers if the place is full. The question to ask is whether the seat is free, and the answer is usually yes with no further conversation implied. English speakers find this uncomfortable for about a week. Water is not free and does not arrive by itself. Tap water is rarely served in Germany and asking for it can produce a puzzled look; what you order is bottled water, and you will be asked whether you want it with gas or without. That question is the second one that catches visitors. If you want tap water, ask for it explicitly — you will usually get it, especially in a café, but do not expect a jug on the table as a matter of course. One more piece of furniture in the German day: coffee and cake in the middle of the afternoon is a fixed institution, with its own name, and a café at four o'clock will be full of pe