Asking for things at a counter in Japanese

Level A1

Asking for things at a counter in Japanese

By the end of this lesson you can ask for something at a Japanese counter and say how many you want. There is one recipe: say the thing with を (o), add the number if you need one, and close with ください (kudasai) or お願いします (onegai shimasu). That gives you 水をください (mizu o kudasai), "Water, please", and これをふたつお願いします (kore o futatsu onegai shimasu), "Two of these, please".

A quick warm-up: what you'll be using

Here is what you'll reuse in your orders, even if this is the first time you've seen it. すみません (sumimasen) gets someone's attention and お願いします (onegai shimasu) asks politely; in the first line, もう一度 (mō ichido), "once more", turns that into asking someone to repeat. In 水を飲みます (mizu o nomimasu), "I drink water", the particle を (o) comes right after the thing and the verb closes the sentence. To count things, use ひとつ (hitotsu, one), ふたつ (futatsu, two) and みっつ (mittsu, three), which you hear in the last lines. On signs and menus these words also appear as 一つ, 二つ and 三つ.

The ordering words: ください and what to ask for

ください (kudasai) is the new word: it politely asks someone to give you something. 水 (mizu) is water, お茶 (ocha) is tea and コーヒー (kōhī) is coffee. これ (kore) is "this", the thing near you, and it lets you point at what you can't name.

At the station counter

A customer asks for water at a station counter and confirms the number with はい (hai), "yes". Then she points at some sandwiches in the display without knowing what they're called: これ does the job. The clerk hears three, and she corrects him with いいえ (iie), "no". The thing drops out of the sentence once both people know what they're talking about, as in ひとつですか (hitotsu desu ka), "One?" At the end he thanks her with ありがとうございます (arigatō gozaimasu), "thank you".

Asking for one thing: 水をください

Compare 水を飲みます with 水をください (mizu o kudasai): を stays after the thing and only the ending changes. 飲みます (nomimasu) says what you do; ください asks someone to give you the thing. English "please" can open or close a request, but ください closes the sentence. There is no "a" or "the" either, so 水 stands on its own. If you don't know the name, point and say これをください (kore o kudasai). Later on, ください also comes after verbs, in another lesson; here it only asks for things.

水をください。

Saying how many: the number after を

The number goes after を and before the ending: これをふたつお願いします. English puts the number before the noun, as in "two coffees"; Japanese runs thing, を, number. The noun has no plural: in 水をふたつください (mizu o futatsu kudasai), 水 stays the same. ください and お願いします fit the same spot and both are polite; お願いします sounds a little softer. When the thing is already clear, say just the number: いいえ、ふたつお願いします (iie, futatsu onegai shimasu). ひとつ, ふたつ and みっつ are enough for these orders; people and some objects have counters of their own, which come later.

これをふたつお願いします。

Your turn: three orders at the counter

Say each order out loud before you look at its line below. First, ask for tea, with no number. Then point at something in the display and ask for three. Finally, the clerk asks みっつですか (mittsu desu ka), "Three?", but you want two: correct him with いいえ and ask again. To keep going, swap the thing for 水 or コーヒー and the number for ひとつ or ふたつ.

In short: the order of a request

Thing, を, the number if you need one, then ください or お願いします at the end. 水をください asks with no number; これをふたつお願いします asks with one. The two endings can swap places in these sentences.

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