Low carbon footprint conjugations

Question

As the most effectivce part of my learning strategy I come up with practical phrases that I can actually put to use with native Spanish speakers in my area.

When ordering food to go at the restaurant, I usually stick to my eco-friendly guns and specify no plastic bags, silverware or napkins, etc. Just the food and the container it comes in. For this I want to (politely) say,

"Do not include any napkins or silverware"

For this I struggle with the conjugation of the verb "to include" or "incluir". What should I base the conjugation on?

It seems I am issuing a command and wonder if the imperative form would a good place to start.

Should I conjugate "incluir" off of what to include such as "Do not include THOSE" ) and in that case should I be thinking in terms of how one would say:

1) Do not include this (singular). 2) Do not include these (plural) 3) Do not include those (plural)

-OR-

Could it be best to conjugate "inlcuir" off of who the people are responsible for satisfying my request to exclude as in:

1) You people (Ustedes) or specifically you (Usted), do not include those.

Finally, would just the Gerund or Participle work nicely, or at least enough to get my point across:

1) No incluido servilletas o cubiertos

I run into these types of conjugation problems all the time and in constant search of some set of general rules that would apply in these cases.

Answer 1

Gerund or Participle about the plastic, etc. sounds unnatural.

To ask someone in this restaurant if they can do something as part of their service (poder) also sounds unnatural. This is "political correctness" from English that in Spanish we don´t do because we can be polite without this nonsense.

When ordering, querer doesn´t sound "pushy" as in English, but you can also make it a little softer by saying Quisiera. There are various ways to give your request. The simpliest way would be: "Quisiera / Hoy se me antoja / Quiero ............ pero sin / no cubiertos ni sirvilletas ni bolsa de plástico."

Thanks Julian: I modified my original post based on your post. :) - DilKen, Apr 4, 2017

A "non-offensive" way to say things in Spanish might be a better term for me to use when phrasing new posts (instead of "polite"). - Al_Carbón, Apr 5, 2017

As I have been practicing Julian's examples, I noticed that sirvilletas is spelled servilletas (spanishdict.com) - Al_Carbón, Apr 7, 2017

Answer 2

Rather than using the imperative, you should consider using the more polite form of asking for such things. These are all questions, so you would ask them with the same type of raising of the voice at the end of the sentence that you use in English.

The formulas are:

¿Me puedes + infinitive + remainder of the sentence? (informal, tú)

¿Me puede + infinitive + remainder of the sentence? (formal, usted, tú)

¿Me podrías + infinitive + remainder of the sentence? (conditional, informal, tú)

¿Me podría + infinitive + remainder of the sentence? (conditional, formal, usted)

Por favor, ¿Me puede(s) incluir sólo la comida en la caja?
No quiero servilletas, ni cubiertos plásticos, nada más, sólo la comida. Gracias.

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Based on feedback from Julian, a native Spanish speaker, using poder as above is not very common in Spanish when you are asking someone to do something which is part of their job. I decided to leave the above because these constructions with poder are used quite frequently when asking someone for a favor. e.g Can I borrow your.... , can you tell me, explain to me, etc.

However, the situation may be different in Spain. I paste below from a native Spaniard's website. I have watched dozens of her videos and she is very good.

1. You can also add the verb “Poder” (can) to questions using “Poner” and “Traer”. For example: ¿Me puedes poner una cocacola?, ¿Me puede poner una cocacola?, ¿Me puedes traer un poco de pan? or ¿Me puede traer un poco de pan?
   

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Another alternative is to use the verb querer. The first, using the present indicative, is considered perfectly polite by Spanish speakers even though "I want" sounds kind of pushy in English.

Quiero sólo la comida en la caja.
(you can use por favor, and the second sentence from above in addition to this if you want)

Quisiera sólo la comida en la caja.

The last one is "extra polite" and uses the imperfect (past) subjunctive form of querer. It doesn't make much sense (in my opinion) to use this conjugation instead of the conditional: querría, but that's how it's usually done.

Here's a slightly lengthier way of saying it, and you can show off your knowledge of the subjunctive.

Por favor, quiero que ponga(s) sólo la comida en la caja.

Por favor, quisiera que pusiera(s) sólo la comida en la caja.
Por favor, quisiera que pusiese(s) sólo la comida en la caja.

Please correct my Spanish if necessary.

Answer 3

I'll also answer your questions about the use of the imperitive.

When speaking to one person, you should conjugate it based upon the person you are talking to, either informal or formal 3rd person singular, as the case may be. It has nothing to do with the number of objects that you are talking about (the utensils, napkins, etc.)

Positive imperatives:

incluye (tú)
incluya (usted)

Negative imperatives:

no incluyas (tú)
no incluya (usted)

But I would go with one of the polite forms as suggested in my first reply.

And no, I don't think it would make any sense to use the past participle or the gerund form. Yes, they would understand you, but if you want to practice your Spanish, you should try to do it correctly, as I am sure you will agree.

The infinitive can be used in commands / imperatives, but it is an impersonal form, not appropriate when you are talking to someone person to person.

Example:

Fumar prohibido
Smoking forbidden