Prendere And Volere To Order Food/drinks In Italian | Learn With Lucrezia

Tutorial Transcript

Hello everyone and welcome to my channel! Before we start, turn on subtitles in Italian or English! In today’s video lesson I would like to talk about how to order food and drinks at a restaurant, bar or any place that sells food. We often talk about complex linguistic and grammar structures, so today I thought I would talk about something that might be obvious for many, but could be new for others. I thought many of you might want to learn some practical sentences to use during your trips to Italy, since summer is approaching! There are mainly two verbs we can use to order food or drinks. And we use the two verbs "prendere" and "volere". There are obviously other expressions, but if you don't feel creative enough, I'd only use easier sentences. Let's start with "prendere". "Prendere", to order food, is conjugated at the indicative presente tense. If I am the subject, I'll say "io prendo". If I talk for a bigger group of people, then I'll say "prendiamo", if we all order the same thing. We coniugate "prendere" at the present tense of the indicative mood. For example: Prendo una birra, per favore (I'll have a beer, please). Prendo una carbonara (I'll have carbonara). Prendo un caffè (I'll have a macchiato). This verbs solves many problems, because it is a polite form to order food and then you can always add "per favore" at the end, if you want to be more polite. Waiters and baristas often ask you: "Che cosa prende?". They also use "prendere", so you can use it in your answers. Then, there is "volere". "Volere" cannot be conjugated at the present tense of the indicative mood. I cannot say "voglio un caffè (I want a macchiato)", because it is very rude. In Italian we say: "L'erba-voglio non cresce neanche nel giardino del re" (I want doesn't get)". If you know this idiom, comment below! "Volere" to order food and Kindly request something is conjugated at the present tense of the conditional mood. So we say "Vorrei un caffè" (I would like a coffee). So please, don't say "voglio", because it is perceived as very rude. These two verbs are very simple and can help you out in many situations, so that you don’t have to point the dishes you want on the menu to show the waiter what you’d like to order. "Prendere", present tense, indicative mood. "Volere", present tense, conditional mood. If you have eaten in Italy in the past, what expressions did you use to order your lunch, dinner or aperitivo? Let me know in the comments below. I hope this video is useful for all of you, from beginners who try their best, to more advanced students who want to review. Thank you so much for watching this video! I'll see you in my next video, ciao!