Hola! Welcome back to part 6 of the
Rocket Spanish 6 Day Course!

In this final lesson you’re going to learn how to actually do something in Spanish, like order a cup of coffee at a café. This lesson will conclude with three powerful words that everyone traveling to a Spanish-speaking country needs to know. ¿Listo? Are you ready?

Getting What You Want

The three most important verbs in Spanish for you to learn to get around in a Spanish-speaking country are I need, I want, and I would like.

Use “necesito” to tell people that you need a room in a hotel, need information, or need to find a bathroom!

Use “quiero” to tell people that you want those shoes, want to go shopping, or want to do a tour.

Use “me gustaría” (or its equivalent quisiera) to order food at a restaurant, offer an opinion about what you would like to do, or talk about what you would like to do someday.

Take a look at the conversation you learned in the previous part of the course to see how these three important phrases are used.

In English, this conversation goes as follows:

How to Order in Spanish

When you’re ordering food at a café or restaurant, it’s only polite to tell the waiter what you’d like to order … rather than what you want. When traveling in a foreign country, you don’t want to be seen as demanding! So it’s good to get into the habit of using me gustaría or quisiera.

Literally, me gustaría means, “It would please me.” It would please me to have the chicken. It would please me to have a coffee.

It is often used to request something in a polite way. For example…

Always append your request with the two magic words that will increase your chances of better, faster, and more gracious service: por favor ... please!

For example,

When the waiter returns your order, it’s only polite to add, “Thank you.”

Something to Drink

Ordering algo para tomar, or something to drink, is one of the most basic ordering experiences and is a good way to try out your Spanish. Imagine you are in a cafetería, or a coffee shop. What will you order and how will you say it? Here are some options.

Me gustaría…

If you want to streamline your Spanish even further, you don’t actually have to tell a waiter, “I would like a cup of coffee.” You could just say, “A coffee, please.”

Please note that it can be easy to confuse what “café” means in Spanish with what the same word means in English. A café, in English, is a place where coffee is sold. Un café, in Spanish, is the actual coffee drink.

Emergency! I Need Help!

If you are going to spend any time in a Spanish-speaking country, you need to know how to ask for help. So memorize this essential word:

If you don’t remember any other words from this section, remember that if you’re in trouble you can always shout, “¡Ayuda!” and be understood.

If the help you need isn’t of an essential nature, here are the two most useful phrases you can have at your disposal.

If you need help with something, just add “con“ and the thing you need help with to the end of either of the above phrases. Look at the following sentences. To understand them, you need to know that “las maletas” are the suitcases.

Let’s see how you could put these words into use. Imagine that you have just checked into a hotel. The bellboy (el botones) asks you if you need help with your bags.

Did you understand that? You told the bellboy that you didn’t need help, thank you. Or, you could have just said, “No, gracias.” No, thanks.

It’s nice to be able to ask for help in these circumstances, but in real emergencies you will need something a bit stronger than, “I need help.” Here are three powerful words that will catch everyone’s attention

Before you travel to any Spanish-speaking country, I recommend that you commit these three words to memory. They will be your safety net if you get caught in a dangerous situation.

There’s Even More Ahead!

This is just the beginning of your Spanish education. There’s so much more to learn … like how to go shopping, how to get a hotel room, how to fill out forms, how to set up a time to meet your new Spanish friends, even how to flirt and how to argue! Rocket Spanish teaches you Spanish in an innovative, comprehensive learning package based on how people actually say things. My premium services give you access to the full 31-lesson Interactive Audio Course, plus an incredibly useful Conversation Course chock-full of words and phrases you can start using immediately. You’ll get cutting-edge software that will make learning new vocabulary a snap, whether you choose to use our included vocabulary lists or design your own. If you need extra help with grammar, you’ll also get our fully-illustrated, easy-to-read grammar guides.

If you ever thought that learning a language would be boring and dry, you haven’t tried out Rocket Spanish. Developed with a writer’s sense of storytelling, Rocket Spanish gives you a context for what you’re learning by showing you ways to use it in real life. You’ll participate in conversations that will make you smile, laugh, and want to jump ahead to the next one. If you want to use your Spanish in real life and have conversations with Spanish-speaking friends, then Rocket Spanish has what you need.

Bueno, qué tengas un buen día, y ¡espero hablar contigo otra vez! Have a great day, and I hope to chat with you again!

Atentamente,

Mauricio Evlampieff
Rocket Spanish

Previous Newsletters
01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05

About the Authors:

Originally from Chile, Mauricio Evlampieff is a native Spanish speaker who is passionate about his country’s culture, language and heritage. He is best known for his enthusiasm and insights into the language of his homeland, and has shared this love of the Spanish language and culture with students the world over. His product contains a complete interactive audio course designed to get you speaking conversational Spanish in the quickest time possible. You’ll receive four e-books crammed with grammar lessons, useful words and phrases, vocabulary, exercises, and more! It doesn’t end there. You'll also receive the Rocket Spanish MegaVocab, MegaAudio, and MegaVerbs software-based learning gamess, which you can modify to suit the vocabulary that YOU need to learn. Together, this dynamic and comprehensive Rocket Spanish package will completely transform how you think about learning another language.

Amy Waterman became fluent in Spanish while living and working in the Andes Mountain region of Ecuador. Her extensive experience in Spanish learning systems led her to formulate the concept behind the Interactive Audio component of Rocket Spanish.