whether you're visiting italy for a dream holiday or you're planning to move to il bel paese literally the beautiful country knowing how to order food in italian is essential imagine how special and rewarding your travel experiences will be when you can greet locals in italian and then confidently order your morning coffee and croissant or pizza for dinner in this video you're going to learn how to order food and drink in italian and then let them know if you have any special dietary requirements franti are you ready let's get started hi my name is michelle i'm
the intrepid guide your guide to language learning for travel and if you're new to my channel make sure you hit the subscribe button and click on the bell notification so you get an alert when i post more videos like this one so let's start with italian meals or pasta italiani now italians eat three meals a day la prima colacione el pranco lunch and la chiena dinner for italians il pranso lunch is the most important meal of the day and in some parts of italy especially in the south italians will go home and have a long
lunch with their family before returning to work in the late afternoon and dinner times vary around the country for example restaurants in venice stop serving dinner much earlier than those in rome where you can still go out to eat as late as 9 p.m or 10 pm next up we have il bad so italians start their day either having breakfast akaza at home or albar at the cafe now the italian bar is what the english-speaking world calls a cafe now italians usually order un cafe un cornetto a coffee and a croissant for breakfast and then
they stop by later in the day in the afternoon for a panino a sandwich or a salty snack before enjoying a before dinner drink with friends and this is called an aperitivo now italian croissants come in five variations and they can be simply sure plain salata savory or filled with marmalade which is gem they also have crema custard or chocolate or chocolate drinking coffee is a way of life in italy and has its own culture that is different from what you're probably used to now when you ask that barista or il the waiter for un
caffe a coffee you'll get an espresso now this is italy's preferred and most common way to drink coffee so how do you order an italian coffee not sure what your favorite coffee is called in italian well here is a list of common coffee terms to keep in mind when you're ordering your coffee albat at the bar unca this is a super popular brand for instant decaffeinated coffee when you order un caffe you automatically get an espresso un cafe stretto this is a very strong and concentrated espresso uncaffed this is a double espresso a cafe lungo
espresso with more water to make it less concentrated especially with a bit of cognac or another liqueur un cappuccino espresso with frothed milk espresso with plenty of milk espresso with a dash of milk hot milk with a dash of espresso a cafe americano a strong american style coffee un cafe de cafe nato de caffeinated coffee unca fedorzo this is an espresso style caffeine free roasted grain beverage made from ground barley and you can have it strong or light cafferedo cafe querato iced coffee now here are some tips for ordering drinks in italy now coffee doesn't
come in various portion sizes so don't ask for a large or super-sized cappuccino the next tip is italians mostly drink their coffee standing at the bar because if you sit down the price will be higher italians don't drink milk any time after breakfast this includes cappuccino now it's considered a faux pas to order a cappuccino any time after 11 a.m so if you want the latter you have to ask for a cafe latte because latte on its own is just that it's just milk the next one is italians are not big tea drinkers they generally
only drink it before going to bed or when they are sick instead of milk they will add lemon so if you want milk in your tea you have to ask for umpo di latte freddo a little bit of cold milk if you're not a big coffee drinker you can also order chocolate calda hot chocolate tea teferedo iced tea latizana a herbal tea una camomilla chamomile a fresh squeezed fruit juice a freshly squeezed orange juice aqua water aqua minerale mineral water you may also want your drink congeacho with ice when you order a drink in italy
you may want to specify how much you would like and you can use these following phrases um a glass of una a bottle of una carafadi a carafe of un mezzo litrodi half a litre of next up when do you pay quando si paga now when you go to an italian bar it can be tricky to know when you need to pay as a general rule of thumb in small italian bars with just a couple of people behind the bar you generally order at the bar first then tell the cashier afterwards what you had and
pay then in larger bars you generally have to pay at la casa at the cash register first you get a receipt called and take the receipt over to the barista to place your order so how do you order breakfast albar now to feel like a local during your trip to italy i highly recommend finding a bar that you like and going there each morning this way il barista the barman will get to know you and engage in conversation now here is a short but common exchange in dialogue that you're likely to encounter when placing an
order at your local bar buongiorno uncafe in italy there are various types of eating establishments to choose from each with a unique dining experience now here is a list of the most common eateries you'll come across in your travels ulsteria this is a moderately priced restaurant with a short menu of simple foods like pasta grilled meat and wine this is a step up from an osteria and typically run by a family and serving rustic home-cooked meals restorant this is a higher-end full-service dining establishment inoteca this is a wine bar sometimes also serving small plates pizzeria
now these specialize in making pizza and they are a relaxed and cheap way of dining out and ideal for big groups now both lunch and dinner usually consists of several courses these include unantipasto an appetizer which is usually served hot or cold and antipasti vary from region to region first course now il primo is when you get your pasta your risotto and mine estra a soup the second which is the second course is where you either get carne meat peshe fish and is served and prepared in a wide variety of ways side dishes or a
side dish now the second course doesn't come with anything other than the meat or fish that you order so vegetables need to be ordered separately the dessert now dessert can be un dolce so a sweet frute fresca fresh fruit or una macedonia a fruit salad so let's take a look at ordering with the verbs prendere and volere so when ordering food in italian the verb that you should use is prendere which literally means to take but in this context it means to have and you use the conjugated form of prendere whenever you order food or
drinks so whenever you speak you change verbs to reflect the subject of the verb specifying who was doing the action now this process of changing verbs is called conjugating for example if you say she'll have a pizza then she is the subject she is the person conducting the action now let's take a look at how to conjugate the verb prendere to take what to have in the present tense another verb that you can use when ordering food and drink is volero to want to express politeness when ordering food italians will also use the conditional tense
of volere which means would like now here is the conjugation for the verb volere to wand using the conditional tense for tips on how to conjugate italian verbs in three simple steps just check out my video which i've linked to in the description below prego versus prague now the many meanings of prego let's discuss them now prague is one of the most used and versatile words in the italian language and it carries several meanings all of which depend on the context in which it's used now you can say prego in response to grazia thank you
which means you're welcome and shop assistants and servers and waiters will also say prego to ask what you would like or if they can help you you'll often hear prego as a question when you enter a store or prego as another question when you're next in line somewhere you can also use prego when you're giving something to someone in this context it means here you go or who you are now parego is also a polite reply when asking for permission so here are a few examples of how prego is used grazie prego pocentrare so here
are some other useful italian phrases you may hear or want to use do you have a reservation no we don't have a reservation can i make a reservation i would like a table for tonight near the window please for what time per cuante persona for how many people sono vegetariano i'm a vegetarian male sono vegetariana i'm a vegetarian female sono allergico i'm allergic to male son i'm allergic to female lactose latticini dairy farina flower frumento wheat so there we have it how to order food and drink in italian buon appetito enjoy a meal now if
you're serious about learning a tone make sure you check out my free guide seven common mistakes in italian and how to avoid them just click on the link in the description below and i'll send you your free guide and if you have a trip coming up to italy you might also want to check out my course intrepid italian which is specifically designed to get you speaking italian ahead of your trip there is a private facebook group email access to me and you get lifetime access to the online materials in the meantime hit that like button
subscribe to my channel and turn on those notifications so you're gonna let when i post more videos like this one until next time thanks for watching and happy language learning ciao