AHola, ¿qué quieres?
BUn café con leche, por favor.
A¿Para llevar?
BSí, para llevar.
A¿Algo más?
BUn vaso de agua, gracias.
A0 · Absolute Beginner
Ordering at a Café
En el café: pedir un café
Sep 8, 20261 min readGraded Spanish · word-by-word audio
Read along
A
Hola, ¿qué quieres?
Hi, what would you like?
B
Un café con leche, por favor.
A coffee with milk, please.
A
¿Para llevar?
To go?
B
Sí, para llevar.
Yes, to go.
A
¿Algo más?
Anything else?
B
Un vaso de agua, gracias.
A glass of water, thanks.
Key vocabulary
- cafém.
coffee
“Quiero un café solo.”— I want a black coffee.
Pattern café con leche — coffee with milk
Noun; plural: cafés.
💡 From Arabic qahwa, passed into Spanish via Turkish.
- lechef.
milk
“Me gusta la leche.”— I like milk.
Pattern café con leche — coffee with milk
Noun; plural: leches.
💡 From Latin lac, related to English lactose.
- llevarv.
to take away; to carry
“Para llevar, por favor.”— To go, please.
Pattern para llevar — to go; takeaway
Compare tomar (to have/drink in the café)
Infinitive; present tense: llevo, llevas, lleva.
💡 llevar literally means 'to carry'; in cafés it usually means 'to go'.
- vasom.
glass (drinking glass)
“Un vaso de agua, por favor.”— A glass of water, please.
Pattern vaso de agua — a glass of water
Compare copa (wine glass)
Noun; plural: vasos.
💡 vaso is related to English vase, but the meaning is different.
- aguaf.
water
“El agua está fría.”— The water is cold.
Pattern agua mineral — mineral water
Feminine noun, but used with el agua (because it starts with stressed a).
💡 From Latin aqua; note el agua but las aguas.
At the café
In Spain, ordering coffee often depends on whether you stand at the bar (en barra) or sit at a table (en mesa), and prices can differ. In Latin America, you'll hear ¿para llevar? more often. Use para llevar for takeaway and para tomar aquí for drinking in. These phrases are common across Spanish-speaking cafés.
Source: Adapted from common café usage in Spain and Latin America.
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