A1.2 · 22 of 36

Höflich bitten & bestellen

Lesson · 4 rules · about 5 min

Order a coffee, ask for help, pay the bill: three polite chunks get you through every counter, café and phone call.

  1. 1Ich hätte gern + thing
  2. 2Könnten Sie … + verb at the end?
  3. 3Ich würde gern + verb at the end
  4. 4Ich will is not polite
Why this matters

Three fixed phrases make you polite in every shop, café, office and train: Ich hätte gern … (I'd like …), Könnten Sie …? (could you …?) and Ich würde gern … (I'd like to …). They belong to the Konjunktiv II, a grammar topic that comes much later — but you need them now, because you cannot live in a German-speaking country a single day without them. So learn them as chunks, like Guten Tag: hätte gern + a thing (accusative), Könnten Sie + a verb at the end, würde gern + a verb at the end, and möchte as the everyday alternative. Add bitte, and you have the whole register of politeness people expect at a counter or on the phone. The umlaut is what makes these polite (hätte, not hatte; könnten, not konnten), so it is checked strictly here — type ae/oe/ue if your keyboard has no umlauts.

Question 1 of 10 · eins
eins1zwei2drei3vier4fünf5sechs6sieben7acht8neun9zehn10

Höflich

I'd like a coffee.

Ich einen Kaffee.

I'd like a coffee.