Asking for food politely
Say I wanted an apple. I could say "Quiero una manzana, por favor." But can this be said more politely? Like an equivalent of "May I please have an apple?" Or is my original sentence considered polite? ¡Gracias!
3 Answers
"Me gustaría una manzana", would be more polite, as would "quisiera una manzana". Me gustaría literally being "it would please me..." and quisiera "I would like" and of course adding por favor is always nice. Quiero is simply "I want" which could be taken as rude.
I would say "Quisiera una manzana, por favor." This is along the lines of " I would like an apple, please."
Depends on the context/situation. If you simply walk into a store and say "Quiero una manzana.", that's would be rather abrupt/peremptory. Adding "pro favor" would soften it somewhat but still ... On the other hand if a waiter/salesclerk asks you "¿Qué quiere usted?" / "¿Cómo puedo servirle?" / "¿Qué se le ofrece?", "Quiero una manzana, por favor." would be a quite reasonable response.
On the third hand, if you were visiting at the house of a friend and your friend's mother posed any of the forgoing questions, you have a different problem (not of grammar but of etiquette). Now you don't want to ask for something that they cannot offer (no matter how you phrase the request) because that would embarrass them (cast a sleight on their hospitality). However (fortunately for you), if they are polite they won't simply ask "What would you like?" but, rather, say "We can offer you X, Y or Z, what would you like?" (because [if they are polite] they will wish to spare you the embarrassment of embarrassing them by asking for something that they can't offer).
