Any Spanish speakers around, please?

[MirandaGoshawk]

I'd just like a bit of advice. Going to Spain next month. Is it usual/polite to say '"I want..." rather than "I would like..." in a restaurant? So, is Quiero un café, por favor? normal/polite? When I learnt French I was taught to use Je voudrais instead of Je veux. Is there a usual Spanish equivalent? I found 'gustar' but for some reason the conjugations aren't listed in my book, and I'm wondering if it means that I actually like coffee, rather than dislike it, and not that I'm asking for one. Thanks!

I very very rarely use Usted, last time I did was with an elderly Lawyer from Madrid - unfortunately I also got the words for Sister in law and c**t mixed up!

Spanish is much more direct. They laughed at me when I lived there and told me I said please and thank you too much. Apparently most of the time it's implied. As others have said things like "I want this" or "give me this" aren't rude in Spanish

What are they @Hoppinggreen ? I have an A in Spanish A Level but didn't get that far!

@Growingboys: cunada and cono :) Both have the accent over the 'n' like the n sound in onion.
I once embarrassed myself trying to say I loved poppies. Poppy in Spanish is amapola. Trouble is the verb to love is amar and the slang for d**k is polla. I made the person I was speaking to blush :)

Agree with pps: para mi, para ella etc.
I realised I had aged when I went back to Spain last summer and found myself being referred to in the usted form by waiters and receptionists etc. It never happened when I was younger 😆
I tend to feel more comfortable using the imperative in polite form when making an order to an older stranger, but otherwise informal is fine- they won’t bat an eyelid at ‘dame un café’.

Chocolate I shouted out ‘¡oooo coños! recently in a Spanish supermarket. I meant ¡oooo conos! as in the lovely 3-ds crisps (I don’t normally get excited by crisps but I used to love eating them when I lived in Spain many moons ago). Happened to be standing next to a woman in her sixties who looked quite shocked 😳

Ps Ella I think you might be getting your conditionals and imperfects confused. I used to like coffee is actually ‘me gustaba el cafe’

I’m Spanish and I’d just say “ponme un café solo/con leche/americano”. And maybe a por favor afterwards but it’s definitely not obligatory.

Gracias @chocolate08 - and how funny!

I once joined in a Parisian taxi driver's rant about paedophiles, heartily agreeing with him about how awful they were as he drove me home, only to wake up the next morning and realise he'd been ranting about gays, not paedophiles. The horror.

It’s way more colloquial to say dame.

I live in Italy and "dammi un caffè" is very normal. I can't help myself and usually resort to "mi dai un caffè per piacere?" You can take the girl out of England.....
On the Spanish, I'll ask my Cuban colleague tomorrow!

I'm really sorry to say this but most of the advice given above is wrong. Spanish is less formal than French, but not really much less so than English. What a non-Spanish speaker won't see, as witnessed by this thread, is that politeness is implied in the verb form and also in how the sentence is constructed. That's why sorry and other "polite" expressions aren't used so much whereas in English they are truly needed in order to modulate the tone and register.

That is also why you shouldn't say "Dame" (give me) because it's rude, use the conditional form (Querría) or the subjunctive mode (Quisiera) because they both imply politeness.

By the way, "usted" is commonly used among strangers but you don't hear the actual word so much because the subject is often implied in the verb form and can be done away with unless the conversation is very formal. Notice how it's "quisiera" and not "yo quisiera" as the verb ending clearly indicates the first person singular.

The trouble with these phrases is when you hear someone say it, you have no idea of their relationship with the barista. They may well be cousins and the informal "give me" is totally normal between themselves!!

And please don't say "ponme un café" unless you're a regular. No one will really take offence because they will see that your trying your best, but if you're going to memorise a sentence, at least don't choose one so overly familiar.

That being said, if you intend to have breakfast at the same bar every day or something similar, then by all means use it ... after a couple of days.

you're trying your best, obviously.

I live in Spain and struggle along. Its difficult as Catalana is the usual language here. I manage both but not always correctly. I know the locals think all the" please and thank you" is amusing.

I don't think I've ever heard anyone say "querria un cafe" and I used to live there, in a very un-touristy place at the time. It depends how you are being served and what you are asked and are responding to.

Querrìa is not right and translates as 'I would want a coffee'
Honestly, dame or dème un cafe is normal, or even traigame.
It's true that as you drop the subject, the politeness is shown in the ending of the verb of you choose usted.
But it is also true that Spanish is much less formal than English, and the swearwords used upthread are unlikely to have caused much offence. Swearing is normal, and speech is much more direct.
I once tried to take a jumper back to Mango in Madrid as it had a hole in it. The shop assistant said 'Coño, cosalo'.
French is much more formal.

@andromache77 you know the poster you corrected about ponme IS Spanish right?

I lived there for years and never heard anyone use the words you're saying. Maybe they're regional differences?

Poetryinaction all your accents are pointing the wrong way

When ordering in Spain just say the thing you want, e.g. 'cafe con leche/coca cola' no extra words e.g ponme/quiero etc, and then say Gracias as they walk away at the end of the order if you want to be polite.

I know they are but I can't work smartphones very well!

If you are learning Spanish to use as a tourist or in general chit chat then do yourself a favour and don't bother with usted! It's hardly used and just adds complication! I've lived here years, fluent before I started living here so my language level is quite high. I've honestly only used it a handful of times in formal situations (that a tourist wouldn't encounter) and never had it used for me outside of that.

Pps are right, just say "un cafe... (they will say something)... Gracias"

Andromache77 you need to tell me that you’re Spanish (and even if you are, I’m assuming you’re about 80 years old) as everything you have posted is entirely contrary to what I have been taught by my Spanish teachers (who are Spanish).
Though I can imagine Don Quixote coming out with some of that “quisiera” and “querria” stuff.

I live in Argentina for half the year "Dame" is quite popular. They don't make it sound rude though.

I'm a native speaker, yes. And while no one would take offence at any of the proposed options because you would be seen as making an effort, that doesn't make them correct in this particular context, i.e. total stranger v. regular or at least local-looking person. But just do your best and you will be doing far more than the usual tourist.