Jasmine
Hello everyone. I’m currently living in the U.S. I’m a Japanese native speaker. Now I have a question. If I go to the buffet style restaurant and want to be served some breads..meats, vegi... which would be the best way for me to say to staffs. 1.One potate and a piece(?) of tomato, please. 2.I want one potate......, please. 3.Can I get one potate.....? 4.Can I have one potate....? 5.May I be served one potate....? I am a married woman and in my 30s. Thank you for your help🥰
Oct 24, 2020 8:25 AM
Corrections · 13
1
Hello everyone. I’m currently living in the U.S. I’m a Japanese native speaker. Now I have a question. If I go to the buffet style restaurant and want to be served some breads..meats, vegi... which would be the best way for me to say to staffs. 1.One potate and a piece(?) of tomato, please. 2.I want one potate......, please. 3.Can I get one potate.....? 4.Can I have one potate....? 5.May I be served one potate....? I am a married woman and in my 30s. Thank you for your help🥰 Hi Jasmine :) If I were in that situation I would either use ‘Could I get...’ or May I have...’ I’m not a hundred percent sure about what would be most natural in the US, so I’ll just explain for the UK! In British English ‘Could I get one/a/some potato and one/a/some tomato please?’ would be a nice combination of polite (‘could I’) and friendly/colloquial (‘get’) Your tone and intonation is actually the main thing that makes it sound ‘polite’ to the listener in requests. However if I wanted to be more clearly polite make I would use ‘May I have...’ I realise it seems strange to suggest ‘a/one/some’ potato. In that context or situation (being served at a buffet, being served by a friend at a dinner table etc) it is a sort of shortened version of ‘one portion’ or a portion’. E.g Could I have a (portion of) potato please? May I have a (slice of) mushroom (pizza) and a (slice of) margarita please? Hope that helps in some way!
October 26, 2020
1
Hello everyone. I’m currently living in the U.S. I’m a native Japanese speaker. Now I have a question. If I go to a buffet style restaurant and want to be served some breads..meats, veggies... which would be the best way for me to say to staff. 1.Can I have one potato and a tomato, please. 2.I would like one potato, please. 3.Can I get one potato, please? 4. Please can I have one potato? 5.May I be served one potato, please? I am a married woman and in my 30s. Thank you for your help🥰
I hope this helps a bit!
October 24, 2020
1
Hello everyone. I’m currently living in the U.S. I’m a Japanese native speaker. Now I have a question. If I go to the buffet style restaurant and want to be served some breads..meats, vegi... which would be the best way for me to say to staffs. 1.One potate and a piece(?) of tomato, please. 2.I want one potate......, please. 3.Can I get one potate.....? 4.Can I have one potate....? 5.May I be served one potate....? I am a married woman and in my 30s. Thank you for your help🥰
You can say I want a potato and a tomato.
October 24, 2020
Hello everyone. I’m currently living in the U.S. I’m a Japanese native speaker. Now I have a question. If I go to the buffet-style restaurant and want to be served some bread, meats, veg.,etc... which /what would be the best way for me to say to /ask the staff ? 1.One potate /potato and a [piece(?) of] tomato, please. 2.I want one potato......, please. 3.Can I get one potato.....? 4.Can I have one potato....? 5.May I be served one potato....? I am a married woman and in my 30s. Thank you for your help🥰
#1 is good and so is #4, or you could say 'I'll have a potato and a tomato, please'.
October 24, 2020
Hello everyone. I’m currently living in the U.S. I’m a Japanese native speaker. Now I have a question. If I go to the buffet style restaurant and want to be served some breads..meats, vegi... which would be the best way for me to say to staffs. 1.One potate and a piece(?) of tomato, please. 2.I want one potate......, please. 3.Can I get one potate.....? 4.Can I have one potate....? 5.May I be served one potate....? I am a married woman and in my 30s. Thank you for your help🥰
Could you serve a potato and a tomato. Please? I believe it would be more polite way to ask.
October 24, 2020
Show more
Want to progress faster?
Join this learning community and try out free exercises!