February 17th, 2007
CoffeeBreakSpanish.com
In this edition:
visiting the
restaurant and
ordering food
Lesson 17
Notes
¿Tiene una mesa para cuatro?
Lesson 17
Programme Notes
Welcome to Coffee Break Spanish, the podcast
aimed at independent learners of Spanish. In
Coffee Break Spanish we’ll be guiding you
through the basics of the Spanish language and
helping you to learn to communicate in Spain
and Spanish-speaking countries.
We’re now moving from the cafe to the
restaurant and it’s time to ask for tables and
order food. These notes should help you get the
most from this week’s programme.
Tengo hambre
In Spanish to say “I am hungry” you have to
change the construction and say “I have
hunger”:
tengo hambre
I am hungry
You therefore use the verb tener in any of its
forms to talk about other people:
¿tienes hambre?
are you hungry? (informal)
¿tiene usted calor?
are you hot? (formal)
Equally, you can add the word demasiado, which
means “too”:
¿tiene usted demasiado calor?
are you too hot? (formal)
You can use the language that you already know
to ask if there is a restaurant nearby:
The same construction is used for “I am thirsty”,
literally translating as “I have thirst””
tengo sed
I am thirsty
¿hay un restaurante por aquí?
is there a restaurant near here?
When you arrive at the restaurant you may need
to ask if they have tables:
Indeed, in Spanish this type of construction is
quite common. To say “I am hot” or “I am cold”
you would use the following phrases:
tengo calor
I am hot (lit. I have heat)
tengo frío
I am cold (lit. I have cold)
¿tiene una mesa?
do you have a table?
Note that tiene is the formal version of the
question.
You may be asked:
¿para cuántas personas?
for how many people?
Note that the word for “how many” ends in -as,
which means that it looks the same as the ending
1
of personas. This is because it has to “agree” with
personas. The word is feminine plural, and
therefore you have to choose the feminine plural
form of cuánto / cuánta / cuántos / cuántas to go
with it.
In this conversation the phrase hemos cerrado
means “we are closed”. In fact, it literally means
“we have closed”, but it would be more normal
in Spanish to use this construction.
hemos cerrado
we are (have) closed
You can answer by repacing the word cuántas
with a number:
para cinco personas
for five people
You could equally say para cinco.
You may then be asked if you’d like a table in the
smoking or non-smoking section of the
restaurant:
¿fumadores o no fumadores?
smoking or non-smoking?
Conversations
A further conversation includes another
situation:
Mark: Hola, buenas tardes.
Kara:
Buenas tardes. ¿Tiene una
mesa para dos, por favor?
Mark:
A ver... Lo siento. Estamos
llenos. Hay que esperar.
Mark: Good evening.
Kara:
Good evening. Do you have a
table for two, please?
Mark:
Let’s see... I’m sorry. We’re
full. You’ll have to wait.
Here is conversation 1 included in the lesson:
Mark: Hola, buenas tardes.
Kara:
Buenas tardes. ¿Tiene una
mesa para dos, por favor?
Mark:
Sí, un momento. ¿Fumadores
o no fumadores?
Kara:
No fumadores, por favor.
Mark:
Sí, por aquí.
Mark: Good evening.
Kara:
Good evening. Do you have a
table for two, please?
Mark:
Yes, just a moment. Smoking
or non-smoking?
Kara:
Non-smoking, please.
Mark:
Yes, come this way...
Conversation 2 includes a different situation:
The phrase a ver... is extremely common in
Spanish. It means something like “let’s see...”
and is used as a filler, just as in this conversation.
You may be told:
estamos llenos
we are full
Note that the -mos ending is linked to the “we”
part of the verb: estamos means “we are”, and is
part of the verb estar. We’ve already come across
some other parts of this verb which is one of two
meaning “to be”:
estar: to be
estamos
estás
está
Mark: Hola, buenas tardes.
Kara:
Buenas tardes. ¿Tiene una
mesa para dos, por favor?
Mark:
Lo siento. Hemos cerrado.
Mark: Good evening.
We’ve listed the verb above in a grid which we’ll
be seeing more of in the coming episodes. Each
verb in Spanish has six standard forms in each
tense, each form used by a different person. The
forms are split into “singular” and “plural”, with
singular on the left and plural on the right in this
grid.
Kara:
Good evening. Do you have a
table for two, please?
The grid below helps to explain which box refers
to which person:
Mark:
I’m sorry. We’re closed.
Coffee Break Spanish: Lesson 17 page 2
singular
1
plural
4
I
¿cuánto hay que esperar?
how long do I have to wait?
we
2
Can you bring us...?
5
you (informal)
3
you (informal)
6
he / she / it
you (formal)
they
you (formal)
There are a few things to note about conjugating
verbs. The first is that different forms are
sometimes used in different countries. For
example, the “you plural informal” form (in box
5 above) is not used commonly in many countries
in Latin America, being replaced by the form in
box 6. In Coffee Break Spanish, however, when
we refer to verbs we will always include the six
forms of the verb to ensure that listeners visiting
Spain will know what they need to know.
As an alternative to estamos llenos you may hear:
no tenemos mesas
we don’t have (any) tables
You’ll immediately note that the word tenemos
also ends in -mos, just like estamos. Again, this is a
“we” part of the verb. Let’s put tenemos into a
grid with the other forms we’ve already come
across:
In episode 16 we learned the phrase:
¿nos trae...?
can / will you bring us...?
We can therefore ask for the menu:
¿nos trae la carta, por favor?
can you bring us the menu, please?
There are other items you may require, for
example:
¿nos trae una sillita para el bebé?
can you bring us a baby chair?
You may need to ask for a menu in English:
¿tiene una carta en inglés?
do you have a menu in English?
¿nos trae una carta en inglés?
can you bring us an English menu?
tener: to have
tengo
tenemos
tienes
tiene
From the table you can see that tengo means “I
have”; tienes means “you (informal) have”, tiene
means “you (formal) have”, or indeed “he has”
or “she has”.
We’ll add the remaining forms to these grids in
future programmes.
You also heard the phrase:
hay que esperar
you have to wait
It doesn’t literally mean “you have to...”, rather
“it is necessary to...”. You may remember this
phrase from the line hay que festejar in our
Christmas song: “you have to celebrate”.
You could ask:
Coffee Break Spanish: Lesson 17 Ordering your food
In previous episodes we’ve come across two ways
of asking for food or drinks:
quiero...
I want
para mí...
for me...
We can add a third example today:
quisiera...
I would like...
You could point to something on the menu and
say:
page 3
quiero esto
I want this
quisiera esto
I would like this
estoy comiendo carne
I am eating meat
Imagine the situation where you went into a
restaurant and met a group of your friends who
were all eating something which looked very
appetising. You could ask them:
You may also want to find out what a particular
dish contains:
¿qué lleva?
what does it contain?
¿qué lleva este plato?
what does this dish contain?
You will then be told that the dish contains tomate
(tomato), ajo (garlic), etc.
You may also see someone else eating something
which you’d like for yourself. You could ask the
waiter or waitress:
¿qué están comiendo ellos?
what are they eating?
¿qué estáis comiendo?
what are you eating?
This is a new form of the verb estar and it’s
linked to the “you plural informal” part which
was mentioned earlier. Note that in Latin
America, even with friends, you’re more likely to
use:
¿qué están comiendo?
what are you eating?
This is the same as the “they” part, but it would
be clear from the context who you were talking
to.
We’ve now come across all the parts of the verb
estar. Let’s put these into our verb grid:
estar: to be
Note that están comes from the verb estar and
means “they are”.
The verb estar can be combined with the word
comiendo or indeed many other words ending in iendo or -ando and this gives the meaning “to be
doing something”, in this case “to be eating”:
¿estás comiendo?
are you eating?
estamos cantando
we are singing
estoy
estamos
estás
estáis
está
están
Finally, one other phrase may come in useful for
the restaurant situation:
¿qué me recomienda?
what do you recommend?
Note that in Spanish you have to include the me
here: it means literally “what do you recommend
to me?”
We also heard the “I am...” form on the
recording:
CoffeeBreakSpanish: Lesson 17 - Basic Vocabulary
tengo hambre
I am hungy
tengo sed
I am thirsty
tengo calor
I am hot
tengo frío
I am cold
Coffee Break Spanish: Lesson 17 page 4
¿tiene una mesa?
do you have a table?
¿para cuántas personas?
for how many people?
para cuatro personas
for four people
¿tiene una mesa para cuatro
personas?
do you have a table for four people?
¿fumadores o no fumadores?
smoking or non-smoking?
hemos cerrado
we are closed
cerrar
to close
estamos llenos
we are full
lleno
full
no tenemos mesas
we don’t have any tables
hay que...
you have to... / it is necessary to...
esperar
to wait
una sillita para el bebé
a baby chair
una carta en inglés
an English menu
un menú en inglés
an English menu (LAm)
quisiera...
I would like
¿qué lleva?
what does it contain?
¿qué lleva este plato?
what does this dish contain?
¿qué están comiendo?
what are they eating?
¿qué me recomienda?
what do you recommend?
CoffeeBreakSpanish: Lesson 17 - Bonus Vocabulary
a ver...
let’s see...
quisiera una mesa...
I’d like a table...
... en la terraza
... on the terrace
... fuera
... outside
¿hay...
is there...?
un menú para los niños
a children’s menu
un menú del día
a set menu
¿cuál es la especialidad local?
what is the local speciality?
para mí lo mismo que él
I’ll have the same as him
para mí lo mismo que ella
I’ll have the same as her
para mí lo mismo
I’ll have the same
estamos listos para pedir
we’re ready to order
Coffee Break Spanish: Lesson 17 page 5