Ordering food in German can be a fun and practical way to practise your language skills. In this blog post, we’ll cover essential phrases and vocabulary that will help you place your order in a café with confidence. 

Whether you’re craving something savoury or have a sweet tooth, these tips will guide you to sample all sorts on the menu! As always, you can listen to the podcast while reading the article to improve your pronunciation skills!

Ordering food in German: how to place your order

Ich möchte… This means “I would like…” and is a polite way to express what you want. For example: Ich möchte einen Döner I would like a döner kebab.

Another common way to order is by saying Ich nehme..., which means I’ll take…. Check out this example: Ich nehme ein Sandwich mit Käse I’ll take a sandwich with cheese.

The server might ask you the question Was möchten Sie?, which means What would you like?. For example: Was möchten Sie essen? What would you like to eat?

Was möchtest du? is the informal version of the question above, used when talking to someone you know well. You could say: Was möchtest du trinken? What would you like to drink?

More ways of ordering food in German

There are, of course, more ways than the ones we have already looked at to say what you want to eat and drink. Here are a couple of other options for ordering food in German:

• Zum Essen nehme ich eine Bratwurst. For food/To eat, I’ll take a fried sausage.

Just as you’d hear Was möchten Sie essen? you’d be asked Was möchten Sie trinken? What would you like to drink?

You could answer the question above using the construction Zum Trinken…

• Zum Trinken möchte ich ein Wasser. To drink, I would like a water.

What you might see on the menu

Here is some German food vocabulary you might find in a café in a German-speaking place. There may be a variety of types of sausage available:

• eine Wurst (f) a sausage
• eine Currywurst (f) a curry sausage
• eine Bratwurst (f) a fried sausage
• eine Bockwurst (f) a bockwurst, a type of sausage
• ein Salat (m) a salad

Ich möchte einen kleinen Salat. I would like a small salad.

It’s worth noting the change here in the word for “a”. This is because for masculine nouns the indefinite article, the word for “a”,  changes from ein to einen in the accusative case. We will go into greater detail what the different cases are and when we need to use which one in future lessons.  For now just remember the just mentioned change when ordering food or drinks using Ich möchte… or Ich nehme… . You might have noticed already that the adjective klein small, also had the added ending -en.

Again, this is because of the accusative case.

• Ich möchte einen großen Salat. I would like a large salad.

Ich nehme ein Sandwich. I’ll take a sandwich.

There are many possible sandwich fillings, of course. We’ve listed a few popular ones. The good news is that you don’t need to remember a gender for each filling. They simply follow the word mit.

• …mit Käse with cheese
• …mit Hähnchen with chicken
• …mit Schinken with ham
• …mit Pute with turkey

ein Stück (n) Pizza a slice of pizza

Pizza can be found everywhere and in German, you don’t need to say “a slice/piece of pizza”. This makes it more straightforward. Literally, it’s “a piece pizza/cake”. Have a look at some different types of cakes you might see below:

• ein Stück Kuchen a piece of cake
• ein Stück Apfelkuchen a piece of apple cake
• ein Stück Apfelstrudel a piece of apple strudel
• ein Stück Käsekuchen a piece of cheesecake

Are you ready to order? Practise with this example

Let’s see how a typical conversation might go when ordering food in German in a café:

• Server: Was möchten Sie essen?
• You: Ich möchte eine Currywurst und einen großen Salat.
• Server: Was möchten Sie trinken?
• You: Zum Trinken nehme ich ein Wasser, bitte.

Or with something sweet:

• Server: Was möchten Sie essen?
• You: Ich nehme ein Stück Apfelkuchen und ein Eis.
• Server: Und zum Trinken?
• You: Eine Cola, bitte.

By practising these phrases and familiarising yourself with the vocabulary for ordering food in German, you’ll be able to enjoy your café experience and hopefully get what you want to eat with no problem. Guten Appetit!

And how about going out for a meal in a restaurant? Do you have any idea how to order food in a German restaurant? If you need some help with key vocabulary, check out the blog post we prepared on the subject, and feel even more confident in your next holiday!