Vorrei un tè, per favore.
I would like a tea, please.
An item follows vorrei; per favore means please.
Make a request with vorrei
Order something or ask to do something without assembling a sentence word by word from English. Learn how a request changes when you speak for two people.
What you will be able to do
Build requests with an item or an action, distinguish vorrei from vorremmo, and complete a short café exchange.
Lesson 1 of 2 in this Italian path.
Before you start
Read the Latin alphabet and recognize un caffè (a coffee), un tè (a tea) and due (two). The accent in caffè and tè is part of the spelling. No prior knowledge of the conditional is required.
How to use this lesson
- Compare the item and action patterns below.
- Read the café exchange and explain who is speaking in each line.
- Try the four exercises without looking at the answers, then write your own two-person order.
Learn the pattern
Ask for an item
Vorrei means “I would like”. It is a conditional form of volere (to want), used here to soften a request. Put the item after it: Vorrei un caffè. Voglio means “I want” and can sound insistent when requesting something; it is not grammatically wrong. Vorrei is a useful courteous starting point.
Ask to do something
An infinitive names an action without identifying its person: pagare (to pay), ordinare (to order), prenotare (to reserve). Use vorrei directly before the infinitive: Vorrei pagare. Do not insert English “to” as Italian a or di, and do not change pagare to pago in this pattern.
Speak for yourself or for a group
Vorrei is singular I; vorremmo is we would like. The number of items does not choose the verb: Vorrei due caffè still has one speaker. Vorremmo ordinare presents a request for the group. Both caffè and tè have the same spelling in singular and plural.
Worked examples
Vorrei prenotare un tavolo.
I would like to reserve a table.
Prenotare supplies the action; un tavolo is a table.
Vorremmo ordinare.
We would like to order.
Vorremmo represents the group, while ordinare remains unchanged.
Vorrei due caffè.
I would like two coffees.
Two drinks can be requested by one person. Caffè does not gain a plural ending.
Build it step by step
- At the café, begin Buongiorno (good morning/good day). State your order: Vorrei un caffè, per favore.
- If the other person asks Altro? (Anything else?), you can answer Un tè, per favore (A tea, please), or No, grazie (No, thank you).
- To speak for both people before ordering, use Vorremmo ordinare. You have changed the speaker from I to we, not the action.
- At the end, Vorrei pagare, per favore asks to pay. This exchange is an original practice scenario, not a recording or a guarantee of the exact words a server will use.
Try it before looking
Write or say each answer first. Open the explanation to check the pattern, then close it and try again. These are self-checks; your answers are not stored by this page.
1. Complete “I would like to pay”: Vorrei ___. Use pagare or pago.
Show answer and explanation
Vorrei pagare.
Pagare is the infinitive. Pago means I pay and does not fit directly after vorrei.
2. Two people jointly say “We would like to order.”
Show answer and explanation
Vorremmo ordinare.
Change vorrei to vorremmo to represent we. Ordinare does not change.
3. One person requests two coffees. Does the request require vorremmo?
Show answer and explanation
No. Vorrei due caffè is correct.
The verb refers to who is making the request, not the number of drinks.
4. Reply to Altro? when you want nothing else.
Show answer and explanation
No, grazie.
This declines the offer and adds thanks. It completes the interaction instead of repeating the original order.
Keep and use the result
Vorrei + item requests a thing. Vorrei + infinitive requests an action. Vorremmo changes I to we. Keep the item count separate from the speaker.
Write a greeting, a two-drink request and a closing response. Then replace the drinks with a table reservation using prenotare un tavolo. Keep this short dialogue in your notes and return to grammar practice for person and number.
Sources and scope
Grammar references checked October 25, 2026. Teaching examples and exercises are original. This is a focused learning unit, with no recorded audio or human teaching review claimed.