Phrase · 🍽️ Ordering food and drink

Buenas tardes, ¿qué desea?

Good afternoon, what would you like?

A1waiter taking an orderformallearned as a wholeAudio · coming soon

Why every word is where it is

Buenas1adjectivegoodbueno · fem. · pl.tardes1nounafternoonstarde · fem. · pl.,¿qué2pronounwhatdesea3verb(you) wishdesear · present · 3rd sing.?

Word for word: “Good afternoons, what do you wish?”

The notes match the numbers above.

1
Greetings are plural, and tarde is feminine: buenas tardes. Nouns: gender and number →
2
Question words carry an accent: qué. Questions and negation →
3
The waiter uses usted, so the verb is third person: ¿Qué desea? = what would you like? Subject pronouns and forms of address: tú, usted, ustedes →