Breakdown of Wir möchten die Speisekarte sehen, bitte.
wir
we
sehen
to see
möchten
would like
bitte
please
die Speisekarte
the menu
Questions & Answers about Wir möchten die Speisekarte sehen, bitte.
Why is sehen at the very end of the sentence?
When you use a modal verb like möchten (would like), it takes the normal second position in the sentence. The main action verb, which is sehen (to see) in this case, gets pushed to the very end of the sentence in its dictionary form (the infinitive).
Could I use wollen instead of möchten here?
You could say Wir wollen... (We want...), but it sounds very direct and a bit demanding for a restaurant setting. Wir möchten (We would like) is the standard, polite way to ask for things in German.
Is Speisekarte a compound word?
Yes! German loves combining words. Die Speise means the dish or food, and die Karte means the card or map. Put them together, and the food-card becomes the menu.
Why is it die Speisekarte? Did the word 'die' change because of the grammar?
Here, the menu is the direct object (the thing being seen), so it needs to be in the accusative case. Luckily, feminine nouns like Speisekarte keep the article die in both the subject (nominative) and object (accusative) cases, so it does not change!
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