Food and drink: at the bakery and the café
Order food and drinks politely at a bakery or café, say whether it is to go, ask for the bill and tip the German way, using the names of the three meals and the most common foods.
Out and about · Start from zero · 18 min · 20 exercises · Start from zero, Living in Germany, Goethe A1
Food is where most beginners first speak German for real: at the bakery counter in the morning, in the Mensa at lunch, in a café with friends. This lesson gives you the names of the meals, a dozen foods and drinks, and the four or five sentences that get you fed: Ich möchte ... bitte, Zum Mitnehmen oder zum Hieressen?, Zahlen, bitte and Stimmt so. No grammar to study, only patterns to copy.
Meals and food
- das Frühstückbreakfast
- das Mittagessenlunchtraditionally the warm meal of the day
- das Abendessendinner, supperoften bread and cheese, also called Abendbrot
- das Brotdie Brotebread, loaf
- das Brötchendie BrötchenrollSemmel in Bavaria and Austria
- die Brezeldie Brezelnpretzel
- der Käsecheese
- die Wurstdie Würstesausage, cold cuts
- das Obstfruitno plural, like fruit in English
- das Gemüsevegetablessingular in German
- der Apfeldie Äpfelapple
- das Eidie Eieregg
- der Kuchendie Kuchencake
- die Butterbutter
Inside the platform every word is read aloud by a German voice.
Drinks and café phrases
- das Wasserwater
- mit Kohlensäuresparkling, carbonatedthe default when you order Wasser
- ohne Kohlensäurestill, not carbonatedalso stilles Wasser
- der Kaffeecoffee
- der Teedie Teestea
- der Saftdie Säftejuice
- die Milchmilk
- der Kakaohot chocolate, cocoa
- die Rechnungdie Rechnungenbill, check
- zum Mitnehmento go, takeaway
- zum Hieressenfor here, to eat in
- Guten Appetit!Enjoy your meal!said before eating, even by the waiter
- Stimmt so.Keep the change.say it when you hand over the money
- die Mensauniversity cafeteriacheap meals with your student card
Inside the platform every word is read aloud by a German voice.
In a café
Lina orders at a small café in Freiburg.
Ordering: Ich möchte ... bitte
To order, say Ich möchte (I would like) or Ich nehme (I will take), then the item, then bitte: Ich möchte einen Kaffee, bitte. The small word before the noun follows its article: der words take einen (der Kaffee: einen Kaffee, der Tee: einen Tee, der Saft: einen Saft), die words take eine (eine Brezel), das words take ein (ein Brötchen, ein Wasser). With a number you need no article at all: zwei Brötchen, bitte. To pay, say Zahlen, bitte or Die Rechnung, bitte.
Ordering with ein, eine, einen
| The word | You order | English |
|---|---|---|
| der Kaffee | einen Kaffee, bitte | a coffee, please |
| der Tee | einen Tee, bitte | a tea, please |
| der Saft | einen Saft, bitte | a juice, please |
| die Brezel | eine Brezel, bitte | a pretzel, please |
| das Brötchen | ein Brötchen, bitte | a roll, please |
| das Wasser | ein Wasser ohne Kohlensäure, bitte | a still water, please |
| plural | zwei Brötchen und drei Brezeln, bitte | two rolls and three pretzels, please |
At the counter
- Ich nehme ein Wasser ohne Kohlensäure.I will take a still water.
- Zum Mitnehmen, bitte.To go, please.
- Was kostet ein Brötchen?How much is a roll?Was kostet from the lesson on prices
- Das macht vier Euro zwanzig.That comes to four euros twenty.the waiter tells you the total
- Die Rechnung, bitte.The bill, please.
- Zum Frühstück esse ich Brot mit Butter und Käse.For breakfast I eat bread with butter and cheese.esse = I eat
Water, the bill and the tip
Water is not free in German cafés and restaurants: you order a bottle, and Wasser alone usually means sparkling, so say ohne Kohlensäure or stilles Wasser if you want it still. The waiter will not bring the bill until you ask: Zahlen, bitte! Tipping (Trinkgeld) is smaller than in the US, about 5 to 10 percent, and you give it while paying, not on the table: say the rounded total (Acht Euro, bitte) or hand over the money and say Stimmt so.
Bread, Brötchen and the Mensa
Germany registers more than 3,000 kinds of bread, and the bakery (Bäckerei) is part of daily life: people buy fresh Brötchen in the morning, and most bakeries open for a few hours even on Sunday, when almost every other shop is closed. Lunch is traditionally the warm meal; students eat it in the Mensa, the university cafeteria, where a full meal costs only a few euros with a student card. Before anyone eats, you will hear Guten Appetit! or, at work, Mahlzeit!
Bitte at the end of your order is not optional: it turns a demand into a request. If you want to sound even more polite, use Ich hätte gern (I would like to have) instead of Ich möchte: Ich hätte gern einen Tee, bitte. Both are perfect; Ich möchte is simpler to remember.
Never order with Ich will (I want): it is grammatically correct but sounds like a small child stamping its foot. Use Ich möchte or Ich hätte gern. And do not wait for the check to arrive on its own, as in an American diner: in Germany the bill comes only when you ask for it, so catch the waiter and say Zahlen, bitte.
The exercises of this lesson
20 corrected exercises in two sessions (discovery, practice), including listening items read aloud by a German voice: multiple choice (4), fill in the gap (5), matching (3), sorting (2), word order (1), translation (3), find the mistake (1), gap text (1). Every answer is corrected immediately, with the rule that applies.