If you plan to eat out at a restaurant in Italy, it is very important to know how to order food and drink. In this article, we’ll be looking specifically at how to order a glass of wine in Italian.
Vorrei un bicchiere di vino.
I would like a glass of wine.
Let’s take a quick look at the elements that make up this phrase:
Vorrei
is the first-person present conditional of the Italian verb volere which means to want. (It literally translates as “I would want…“)
This verb form is used when making formal or polite requests, such as ordering food and drink at a restaurant.
un bicchiere
Bicchiere is a masculine noun that means glass or cup, and it is preceded by the masculine singular indefinite article un (a). It can refer to either the physical glass itself, or in the case of this phrase, the contents of the glass.
di vino
Di is a preposition that has many translations, but in this case, it equates to ‘of‘ in English. Vino is a masculine noun that means wine.
Of course, you may wish to be even more specific about the kind of wine you’d like. Here are a few popular choices:
- un bicchiere di vino bianco = a glass of white wine
- un bicchiere di vino rosso = a glass of red wine
- un bicchiere di vino frizzante = a glass of sparkling wine
- un bicchiere di vino rosato / rosé = a glass of rosé
- un bicchiere di vino dolce / da dessert = a glass of sweet / dessert wine
Che cosa desidera, signore? – Vorrei un bicchiere di vino rosso per me e un bicchiere di vino bianco per la signora, grazie.
What would you like, sir? – I would like a glass of red wine and a glass of white wine for the lady, thank you.
If you’re not sure which wine to get, or if you’d like to see the selection the restaurant has to offer, you can ask the following:
- Posso vedere la carta dei vini? = Can I see the wine menu?
- Mi consiglia un vino bianco poco frizzante? = Can you suggest a wine that isn’t overly fizzy?
- Vorrei un vino rosso bello corposo. Cosa mi propone? = I would like a full-bodied wine. What would you suggest?
- Qual è il vino della casa? = What is the house wine?
Heather Broster is a graduate with honours in linguistics from the University of Western Ontario. She is an aspiring polyglot, proficient in English and Italian, as well as Japanese, Welsh, and French to varying degrees of fluency. Originally from Toronto, Heather has resided in various countries, notably Italy for a period of six years. Her primary focus lies in the fields of language acquisition, education, and bilingual instruction.
