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!

Poor explanation sorry. Mid bedtime.
They may or may not actually be tame, therefore subjunctive.

@Poetryinaction Thanks! I do understand the theory of the subjunctive - it's just putting it into practice that I find a challenge. I think I said 'son' because I had been talking about specific cats that aren't tame, therefore there was no 'may or may not be tame' in my mind. However I realise now that the sentence, on its own, is generalising about people and cats in the abstract as it were, so I get now why is 'sean'. Too late to go back and correct myself though . This is the problem I have when speaking other languages, my mind insists on going over everything I've said in minute detail later and makes me cringe at my mistakes, consequently I become a much more cautious speaker than is probably good for me.

Wish, command, necessity,
Doubt, regret and shame,
Sorrow, anger, fear and joy
All subjunctive claim.

Our A Level Spanish teacher taught us that.

Oh yes. Is this a specific group of cats? So they want the tame ones, not those other ones? If so, son it is!
If it were a general statement, sean.
I expect that hasn't helped!

@wowfudge I like that. But the sentence 'people don't want to adopt cats that aren't tame' doesn't seem to fit with any of those things! (well maybe fear of an aggressive cat )

Ok, so I asked my 100 percent Spanish colleague today. No hesitation "un cafè por favor". She said "dame" was a bit rude. My Italian colleagues told me "dammi" is also a bit "maleducato" in Italian and it's better to say "mi fai un caffè per favore?" (Will you make/do me a coffee please).

@Poetryinaction OK, this is getting very in depth . So the context was - she asked me if I would be able find homes for some cats that I had trapped and neutered. I said no, as they're not tame - and people don't want to adopt cats that aren't tame.

So, does that change things?

Well, if you think about it they are cats which may not be tame so there is doubt therefore use sean. The thing to remember is that a literal word for word translation may not be the best way to express something in another language and sometimes it's easier to rethink what you are trying to express and find a different way.

La gente no quiere adoptar gatos salvajes for example.

@wowfudge This is frying my brain. I actually think the best way to approach it would just be to relax and not worry too much about making mistakes. People still understand. I just need to stop myself dissecting everything I've said and then cringing. I still cringe at specific mistakes I made in Spanish over 20 years ago. I'm sure that's not normal.

'salvaje' has a slightly different meaning though. A wild animal isn't quite the same thing as one that's not tame ...

@thecatneuterer, I think there is implied doubt in that sentence, because really when we say "people don't want to adopt cats that aren't meek", we mean "I believe/doubt that a person would want to adopt a cat that is not meek".
Because obviously we don't mean all people, just an average person wouldn't want to do it. If a "would" is implied, it's generally subjunctive. It's hard for English speakers, as we don't have a subjunctive and express these things a load of other ways. In fact, this is my reasoning but I may be a million miles away!

As wow said, sean.
But it sounds like son right? It doesn't matter!

I have to say I think it's 'sean' too. It just sounds right. And because of the implied doubt as you say. I have literally been thinking about this on an off all day - and changing my mind back and forth. I really need to get a life!

Anyway, I (sort of) successfully live and work here in italy, making a shit load of errors no doubt, I get laughed at (with?!) by colleagues, and all while avoiding the subjective wherever I can! It doesn't matter - they understand me (mostly), I understand them, when I get it wrong we all have a laugh. No one is going to carve these words onto your headstone. I told someone they'd made "rubbish" (rifiuto) in a document the other day instead of a "mistake" (rifuso). I honestly don't care! Comes with the territory of speaking in the real world.

That's the spirit! And the only way to learn a language!

@Pluckedpencil The thought of having my grammatical errors carved into my headstone made me smile. Just imagine!

Watch Spanish with Paul on YouTube much better than duolingo.
Hola un cafe con leche
Grande?
Si Es muy neccisito
Claro
*brings coffee
Gracias....errr pardona tienes azucar morena
Si
Gracias
De nada

Perro with rolled r is dog
Perro without is but
I thought for ages it was butt 😂

If your going to Catalonia you can get away with speaking some French I lived there and found it much easier to understand than Spanish as I knew some French. Depends where you go though very annoying to ask a question in Spanish and to answered in Catalan

The Spanish tend to keep it short and direct and its unlikely there will be any por favors or gracias . They dont bother much with it.

La gente prefiere adoptar gatos domesticados?

Salvaje means feral as I've used it upthread.

I really appreciate your taking time to think about this and post, folks. That thing from YouTube is also very helpful, Nameis. I'm just going to go with saying 'Un café por favor' or similar, with a smile :) and forget about dame and quisiera, etc. Gracias a tus!

Exactly!

Yeah Paul is great! The yeah it’s necessary to have a big coffee is a bit of a joke as I have a toddler, but yeah keep the the politeness to a minimum they just don’t bother with it tbh.