At a Café

This original A1 service dialogue shows how a café order is built rather than memorized. The customer requests counted items, adds quantities with da, answers a choice question, hears a price, and names a payment method. Read the whole dialogue first; the annotations then separate object marking from plural agreement and quantity structure.

The two main systems are reviewed separately under direct objects and the quantity preposition da.

The complete dialogue

Kliento: Bonan tagon! Mi petas unu kafon kaj du fromaĝajn sandviĉojn.
Kelnero: Ĉu vi volas lakton aŭ sukeron en la kafo?
Kliento: Iom da lakto, sed neniom da sukero, dankon.
Kelnero: Ĉu ion alian?
Kliento: Jes, ankaŭ glason da akvo.
Kelnero: Jen. Tio kostas dek unu eŭrojn kaj kvindek cendojn.
Kliento: Mi pagos per karto.
Kelnero: Bone. Bonan apetiton!
Kliento: Dankon!

The dialogue uses neutral international Esperanto. Actual ordering, table service, tipping, currencies, and payment customs differ by country; the exchange intentionally assumes only that a staff member takes an order and accepts a card.

Bonan tagon: an accusative formula

Both words end in -n: bona-n tago-n. The conventional greeting is historically understood as an elliptical wish, roughly Mi deziras al vi bonan tagon “I wish you a good day.” In everyday use, learn it as a complete greeting.

Bonan tagon is neutral and slightly more formal than Saluton, making it natural when addressing staff. A fresh model is:

Mi petas: a direct but polite request

Peti means request or ask for. Here mi is the subject, petas is present tense, and the food-and-drink phrase is its coordinated direct object. English often uses a conditional such as I'd like; neutral Esperanto Mi petas ... already functions politely in service encounters.

For softer or more tentative wording, Mi ŝatus ... “I would like ...” is also common. Donu al mi ... is a grammatical command, but without bonvolu it can sound abrupt to a stranger.

These are choices of pragmatic tone, not degrees of grammatical correctness. Mi petas is concise and neutral; mi ŝatus is gently deferential; bonvolu + infinitive frames a polite request for an action.

One coffee: a counted serving and an object

The form unu kafon contains no indefinite article. Esperanto has no word equivalent to English a/an. Unu is a number and is used because the customer genuinely orders one serving.

• unu — cardinal number, unchanged
• kaf-o-n — noun + singular noun ending + accusative

Although kafo can name the substance as a mass, café context allows a count reading: unu kafo means one cup or serving of coffee. The accusative -n appears because the serving is what the customer requests.

Two sandwiches: plural and accusative stack

After du, the noun is plural. The whole noun phrase is also a direct object, so both adjective and noun show plural -j followed by accusative -n:

• fromaĝ-a-j-n — cheese-related + adjective + plural + accusative
• sandviĉ-o-j-n — sandwich + noun + plural + accusative

The order -j-n is fixed; -n-j is impossible. The number du itself never takes either ending.

This imitation sentence uses the same pattern with a past-tense verb and a different number.

Ĉu ... aŭ ...?: asking about alternatives

Ĉu makes the clause a question. Vi is subject and volas is the finite verb. Lakton and sukeron are coordinated alternatives, and both are direct objects of volas, so each takes -n. En la kafo locates the addition; static en does not take directional accusative.

The question may pragmatically allow “both” even though aŭ presents alternatives. If exclusivity matters, say nur unu el la du “only one of the two.”

In that fresh model, the shared noun panon appears once, while both adjectives describe the alternatives.

Iom da and neniom da: quantity before substance

Iom means an unspecified small amount. Neniom means no amount and carries negation itself. Da links a quantity expression to the substance being measured:

• iom da lakto — some amount of milk
• neniom da sukero — no amount of sugar

The word after da does not receive object -n. The quantity phrase as a whole fills the understood object position of mi volas, but da governs the substance form.

Do not add ne before neniom for a single neutral negative. Neniom already excludes every quantity.

Do not confuse quantitative da with partitive de or el. Mi volas iom de la lakto means “I want some of the already identified milk.” In the dialogue, milk is introduced as an indefinite substance, so the natural form is iom da lakto.

Ĉu ion alian?: ellipsis keeps the important material

The full question would be Ĉu vi volas ion alian? Service context makes vi volas predictable, so it is omitted. Io means an unspecified thing; as the understood object, it becomes ion. Alia describes it and agrees in accusative: alian.

The answer uses the same ellipsis:

The understood frame is Mi petas .... Glason is the requested container/serving and takes -n. Akvo follows da and does not.

That fresh model places the added object first, then uses mi petas as a courteous afterthought.

Jen presents what is now available

Jen is a presentative word: it directs attention to something appearing or being handed over. It needs no form of esti. With an explicit item, one can say Jen via kafo “Here is your coffee” or Jen la kvitanco “Here is the receipt.”

Possessive viaj agrees with plural sandviĉoj, while singular via agrees with akvo.

The price takes accusative measure marking

Tio refers to the order as a whole and is the subject. Kostas takes the price as a measure phrase. Esperanto marks that measure with -n: eŭrojn, cendojn. Because both amounts are greater than one, the nouns also carry plural -j.

The fresh contrast shows singular unu eŭron beside plural dudek cendojn. Currency formatting differs by locale, but the spoken grammatical pattern remains the same.

Per karto names the payment means

Pagos is future tense: the payment is the customer's next action. Per introduces an instrument or means, so per karto means “using a card.” No accusative follows an ordinary preposition.

For cash, per kontanta mono is explicit, though kontante is a concise neutral alternative.

Bone and bonan apetiton

Bone evaluates the situation as acceptable: “good / all right.” It is adverbial because it does not describe a noun. Bonan apetiton is another conventional accusative wish, literally “good appetite.” The final Dankon closes the service exchange politely.

Information flow and service register

The customer first gives the core order, then answers a staff question, then adds one item. The staff member uses ellipsis—Ĉu ion alian?, Jen—because the service frame makes full clauses unnecessary. This is efficient, not rude.

No honorific title is required. Politeness comes from the greeting, mi petas, dankon, calm turn-taking, and an appropriate tone. In (formal) hospitality, staff may use longer phrases such as Kion mi povas alporti al vi?; the grammar of objects and quantities remains the same.

Common Mistakes

Omitting accusative on the requested item

Forgetting plural agreement after a number

Using de after a quantity

Leaving a price measure unmarked

Translating “with a card” as accompaniment

Key Takeaways

• Requested items take accusative -n; counted items above one also take plural -j.
• Use da after quantities and containers: iom da lakto, glason da akvo.
• Prices after kosti are accusative measure phrases.
• Use per for the means of payment and conventional formulas to frame the exchange politely.