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Alex and Giulia eat out near Campo de' Fiori.
Pasta shapes are plural in Italian and take a plural verb: gli spaghetti sono buoni, le lasagne, i rigatoni. la pasta itself is singular and general. Water comes two ways and you will be asked every time: naturale still, frizzante or gassata sparkling. Tap water is rarely served in restaurants. da bere is literally to drink and is the fixed way a waiter asks — E da bere? Da before an infinitive often means for the purpose of: qualcosa da mangiare, something to eat. il conto is the restaurant bill. Do not use fattura, which is a formal invoice, or ricevuta, the printed slip.
How do I read these pronunciations? See the pronunciation guide.
1. Ordering
Three ways, all ordinary. Per me plus the dish — the shortest, and extremely common round a table: Per me gli spaghetti. Prendo plus the dish, from prendere, which in a restaurant means to have rather than to take: Io prendo il pesce. And Vorrei from Lesson 2, the most polite. The waiter's side is worth recognizing too: Avete prenotato? Che cosa prendete? E da bere? Desidera? Any of them can be answered with a bare noun phrase.
2. mi piace — the verb that works backwards
Italian does not say I like pasta. It says pasta is pleasing to me — Mi piace la pasta. That means the thing liked is the subject, and the verb agrees with IT, not with you. One thing: mi piace la pasta. More than one: mi piacciono i funghi. This catches every learner, because the English subject becomes the Italian object. With a verb, always the singular: mi piace cantare. To negate, non goes in front of everything: Non mi piacciono i funghi.
3. The shape of an Italian meal
A full menu runs antipasto, primo, secondo, contorno, dolce. The primo is pasta, rice or soup; the secondo is meat or fish and arrives alone, with the contorno — vegetables or salad — ordered separately and served alongside. Nobody is obliged to order all five, and having just a primo is completely normal. The vocabulary matters because a menu is organized under these headings rather than by starters and mains, so knowing them is how you read it.
4. di, da, and asking for the bill
di links a container to its contents with no article: una bottiglia di vino, un bicchiere di acqua, un piatto di pasta. da before an infinitive means for: qualcosa da bere, niente da mangiare. And the bill: Il conto, per favore, or Ci porta il conto? You have to ask — in Italy the bill is never brought unprompted, because doing so would imply the restaurant wants the table back.
A. Fill in the Blank · Completa
Fill in the blank with the correct form.
- 1.Mi molto la pasta.is pleasing (one thing)
- 2.Non mi i funghi.are pleasing (more than one)
- 3. me gli spaghetti.for (in "… for me")
- 4.Una bottiglia vino rosso.of (linking a bottle to its contents)
B. Multiple Choice · Scegli
Choose the correct Italian.
- 1.Which is right for "I like mushrooms"?
- 2.Which is right for "I like pasta"?
- 3.How do you ask for a table for two?
- 4.Which is the bill?
C. Word Order · Metti in ordine
Put the words in the right order.
- 1.Tap tiles below…
- 2.Tap tiles below…
- 3.Tap tiles below…
- 4.Tap tiles below…
D. True or False · Vero o falso
Decide whether each statement about the dialogue is true.
- 1.They have a reservation.
- 2.Giulia orders pasta.
- 3.Alex likes mushrooms.
- 4.Alex wants dessert as well.
E. Matching · Abbina
Match each line to the reply that fits it.
F. Translation · Traduci
Translate between Italian and English.
- 1.I really like pasta.
- 2.I don't like mushrooms.
- 3.Un tavolo per due, per favore.
- 4.Il conto, per favore.
Generate a brand-new dialog on any topic, using this lesson's 16 vocab words — plus any words you add below.
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Coperto is not a tip
An Italian bill usually carries a coperto, a fixed cover charge of one to three euros per person for bread, the tablecloth and the seat. It is not a service charge and it is not a scam: it must be shown on the menu, and it is normal everywhere except parts of Lazio, where local rules have restricted it. Tipping on top is optional and modest — rounding up, or leaving a couple of euros for a good meal. The fifteen to twenty percent expected in the United States would be startling. Two more things that surprise visitors. Service is unhurried by design: the table is yours for the evening, courses arrive when they arrive, and nobody will try to move you on, which is the flip side of having to ask for the bill. And the famous restrictions are real but gently held — no cappuccino after a meal, no parmesan on fish, no chicken on pasta. Break them and you will be served anyway, with at most a raised eyebrow. What genuinely matters is eating at Italian hours: a kitchen that opens at half past seven is early, and one that stops at ten is normal.