How Do You Order Food In Icelandic?
This post will teach you how to ask for, order and buy food in Icelandic.
The opening
After you greet the server with góðan daginn or a similar greeting, there are a few main options for the opening phrase. The first option is the most common--and can be made more polite by using the subjunctive gæti instead of get--and will serve you very well most of the time.
- Get ég fengið... - (Can I get...)
- Ég ætla að fá... - (I intend to get...)
- Get ég keypt af þér... - (Can I buy off of you...)
The food
After the opening, the phrasing is going to change depending on what you are ordering. For most countable food items, you simply list off the item/s in the accusative case. You can, of course, add any number of such items you want.
Example 1: Gæti ég fengið einn bjór? - (Could I have one beer?)
Example 2: Gæti ég fengið tvö hvítvínsglös? - (Could I have two glasses of white wine?)
Example 3: Get ég fengið sneið af ostaköku? - (Can I have a slice of cheesecake?)
But there are some things that don't come in neat countable units, like fries and soup. For these items, it's best to ask for a skammtur af them. Skammtur translates to an order, portion or helping.
Example 1: Get ég fengið skammt af kjötsúpu? - (Can I get a helping of meat soup?)
Example 2: Get ég fengið lítinn/stóran skammt af frönskum? - (Can I get a small/large order of fries?)
Side dishes
To add a side dish to your food order, you use the word með with the dative case. Additionally, you could use a simple og to connect multiple items.
Example 1: Get ég fengið steik með körtuflum? - (Can I get a steak with potatoes?)
Example 2: Get ég fengið ostborgara með litlum skammti af frönskum? - (Can I get a cheeseburger with a small order of fries?)
Example 3: Get ég fengið pönnukukur og kaffi? - (Can I get pancakes and a coffee?)
Ingredients
Not to be confused with a side dish, some dishes or foods can be specified by their ingredients. This can be important if the restaurant offers multiple ways to prepare a dish or if you are making a modification. This is done with með and the dative case too.
Example 1: Get ég fengið vatnsglas með sítrónu? - (Can I get a glass of water with lemon?)
Example 2: Get ég fengið lasanjað með rjómaosti? - (Can I get the lasagne with cream cheese?)
Example 3: Get ég fengið pönnukökur með engu smjöri? - (Can I get pancakes with no butter?)
General questions
After you have successfully placed your order, the worker may have some additional questions.
Example 1: Eitthvað fleira? - (Anything else?)
This question will probably come up at the end of your order, and a simple já or nei will suffice as an answer.
Example 2: Hvernig viltu borga? - (How do you want to pay?)
This is another common question, and it invites a dative case answer. The most common answers would be cash or card, which are peningur or kort, respectively. Be sure to inflect peningur to peningum and kort to korti.
Example 3: Stakur eða máltíð? - (By itself or a meal?)
This question would only come up in a place that does combo meals, such as a fast food restaurant. You can get ahead of it by adding the adjective stakur before the item or adding the noun máltíð to the food item to form a combo, such as hamborgaramáltíð.
Another common question is whether you want the food for here or to go.
Example 4: Borða hér eða taka með?
You can just answer by repeating the phrase that you desire.