Always ask for permission
I was in a bar in Santo Domingo and wanted to pay so I said to the waiter quiero ordenar. To my surprise he pointed at the gents. After some further confusion I realised that he thought he heard me say quiero orinar, I want to urinate. However, I managed to pay for the bill in the end.
Editor's note: In Spain, you say quiero pedir.
Sent by: Alan
Comments
If they are slow presenting the bill, say:
Ordenar has two meanings in Spanish:
One is to tidy up and the other is to give and order, as a command. When you want to order something you have to use the verb pedir "to aks for"
For instance: "Quiero ordenar my habitación", I want to tidy up my room.
"Quiero pedir un café", I want to order a coffee".
But still, quiero ordenar means I want to order. To say I want to pay you should have said quiero pagar.
Ian of Brighton has it.
A Spaniard will say "La cuenta" adding "Por favor" identifies the speaker as English.
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