Reference · module 5
Food and ordering
Everything this module explains, on one page.
Food and drink
Name what you eat and drink in a day.
- el pan, el queso, la carne, el pescado, el arroz, la sopa, la ensalada, la fruta. Eight words and a menu becomes readable.
- el agua, el té, el café, el zumo, la leche, la cerveza, el vino. Note el agua: the word is feminine but takes el, because agua begins with a stressed a.
- The meals are el desayuno, la comida and la cena, and each has its own verb: desayunar, comer, cenar. Spain eats la comida at about two.
The mistake you are about to make
la agua
el agua
Agua is feminine and ends in -a, so la looks certain. Before a stressed a Spanish uses el: el agua — and still agua fría.
Me gusta
Say what you like, in the shape Spanish uses.
- Me gusta el café is literally coffee pleases me. The thing is the subject and you are the one it happens to.
- So the verb agrees with the THING: me gusta el café, me gustan los libros. One thing takes gusta, several take gustan.
- And the article is needed: me gusta el café, not me gusta café. Spanish names the thing in general with its article.
The mistake you are about to make
Yo gusto el café.
Me gusta el café.
"I like" makes yo the subject, and yo gusto means you are pleasing somebody. The coffee does the pleasing: me gusta el café.
Ordering
Order, ask the price and pay.
- Un café, por favor is enough in any bar in Spain. Adding a verb is optional and the por favor is not.
- With a verb: Quiero un café is direct, and Querría or Me pone are softer. In Spain Me pone un café is what you will hear most.
- ¿Cuánto es? asks the total, and La cuenta, por favor asks for the bill. Both are three words and both work everywhere.
The mistake you are about to make
Un café.
Un café, por favor.
Dropping the verb is fine in a Spanish bar. Dropping por favor is not: without it un café reads as an order barked at the barman.
Some and a lot
Say how much of something there is.
- mucho agrees with what it counts: mucho pan, mucha agua, muchos libros, muchas casas. Four forms for one word.
- un poco de means a little and never changes: un poco de pan, un poco de agua. The de is required and the poco stays as it is.
- demasiado means too much and agrees like mucho: demasiado trabajo, demasiada sal. It is the complaint word of the pair.
The mistake you are about to make
mucho agua
mucha agua
Agua takes el, so mucho looks right. Its gender is still feminine, and mucho agrees with the gender: mucha agua.