¿Alguien quiere café?

Does anyone want coffee?

Breakdown of ¿Alguien quiere café?

• el café: the coffee
• querer: to want
• alguien: anyone

Questions & Answers about ¿Alguien quiere café?

Why is it quiere and not quieren if alguien could refer to more than one person?

In Spanish, alguien (someone / anyone) is grammatically singular, even though in real life there might be several possible people.

Because it’s singular, the verb must also be singular: quiere (3rd person singular), not quieren.

• Correct: ¿Alguien quiere café?
• Incorrect: ¿Alguien quieren café?

The idea is: Is there someone who wants coffee? Grammatically you’re talking about “one person” in an abstract way, so the singular is required.

Can I change the word order and say ¿Quiere alguien café??

Yes, you can say ¿Quiere alguien café?, and it’s grammatically correct, but:

• ¿Alguien quiere café? is more natural and common in everyday speech.
• ¿Quiere alguien café? can sound a bit more formal or stylized, and in normal conversation it may sound slightly unusual.

For everyday Latin American Spanish, stick with ¿Alguien quiere café? when offering coffee to a group.

Why is there no article before café? Why not un café or el café?

In this sentence, café is being used like an uncountable mass noun: “coffee” in general.

• ¿Alguien quiere café? ≈ “Does anyone want (some) coffee?”

But you can use articles depending on what you mean:

• ¿Alguien quiere un café? – “Does anyone want a coffee (one cup)?”
• ¿Alguien quiere el café? – “Does anyone want the coffee?” (a specific coffee, maybe already made or mentioned)

So the version in the sentence is a general offer of coffee, not a specific cup.

What’s the difference between ¿Alguien quiere café? and ¿Quién quiere café??

Both are possible when offering coffee, but the focus is slightly different:

• ¿Alguien quiere café? – “Does anyone want coffee?”

  • You’re just checking if there is at least one person who wants coffee.
  • Neutral, slightly yes/no oriented.

• ¿Quién quiere café? – “Who wants coffee?”

  • You assume that at least one person probably does.
  • You’re asking which people want coffee, maybe to know how many cups to prepare.

In practice they’re both very common in Latin America; choice depends on what you want to emphasize.

Could quiere here mean “you want” instead of “someone wants”?

By itself, quiere can mean:

• he/she/it wants
• you (usted) want

But in this sentence, the subject alguien is explicitly stated:

• ¿Alguien quiere café?
  Literally: “Does someone want coffee?”

Because alguien is the subject, quiere can’t be interpreted as “you (usted) want.” It’s clearly someone wants.

Why is there an upside-down question mark at the beginning (¿)?

Spanish uses two question marks for direct questions:

• ¿ at the beginning
• ? at the end

The opening ¿ tells you right away that a question is starting, which is useful in longer sentences with flexible word order.

So:

• ¿Alguien quiere café? – correct
• Alguien quiere café? – understood, but incorrect in standard written Spanish

How do you pronounce alguien and café, and what does the accent mark do?

alguien

• Pronunciation: roughly ahl‑gyen
  
  • al like “al” in “Albert”
  • gui pronounced like gi in “guitar” (the u is silent)
  • Soft g (like in “get,” but a bit softer)
  • Stress on the first syllable: AL‑gien

café

• Pronunciation: kah‑FEH
  
  • Stress on the last syllable fé
  • The accent mark on é (é) tells you to stress that vowel: ca‑FÉ

Without the accent (cafe), the stress would normally fall on ca, which would be wrong for this word.

Why is café written with an accent mark on the é?

Spanish has regular stress rules. For words ending in a vowel, n, or s, the stress normally falls on the second-to-last syllable.

• cafe (if it had no accent) would be stressed CA‑fe.

But the correct pronunciation is ca‑FÉ, with stress on the last syllable, which breaks the normal rule. To show this, Spanish uses a written accent:

• café = stress on the é.

So the accent mark is there to indicate the correct stress pattern.

Is alguien masculine, feminine, or both?

Alguien is an indefinite pronoun that does not change for gender. It can refer to:

• a man
• a woman
• a person of unknown or unspecified gender

Context tells you who it refers to, but the word itself stays the same:

• ¿Alguien quiere café? – could include men and women.

If you later clarify, you use gendered words:

• Sí, ella quiere café. – “Yes, she wants coffee.”
• Sí, él quiere café. – “Yes, he wants coffee.”

Is there a difference between alguien and alguno in a sentence like this?

Both can appear in similar contexts, but they’re not identical:

• ¿Alguien quiere café? – Very common, neutral, “Does anyone want coffee?”
• ¿Alguno quiere café? – Feels more like “Does any (one) of you want coffee?” and often assumes a specific group that’s already clear (e.g., the people in front of you).

In everyday Latin American speech, ¿Alguien quiere café? is more frequent and natural.

Alguno also changes form (algún, alguna, algunos, algunas) and works more like an adjective or pronoun tied to a noun or group:

• ¿Alguno de ustedes quiere café? – “Do any of you want coffee?”

Is quiere polite enough, or should I use something like quisiera or gustaría to be more polite?

Querer in the present tense is already polite in this kind of offer:

• ¿Alguien quiere café? – perfectly fine and very common in Latin America.

More “softened” or formal options:

• ¿Alguien quisiera café? – “Would anyone like coffee?” (more tentative / polite)
• ¿A alguien le gustaría café? – Also “Would anyone like coffee?”, but a bit less common; sounds more formal or careful.

In everyday situations (at home, at work, in a café), ¿Alguien quiere café? is natural and not rude.

How would people usually answer ¿Alguien quiere café? in Spanish?

Common short answers include:

If you do want coffee:

• Sí, yo quiero. – “Yes, I do.”
• Sí, por favor. – “Yes, please.”
• Sí, gracias. – “Yes, thanks.”
• Yo quiero café. – “I want coffee.”

If you don’t want coffee:

• No, gracias. – “No, thanks.”
• No quiero, gracias. – “I don’t want any, thanks.”

In casual contexts, people may just say:

• Sí, porfa. (short for por favor)
• Yo. (like saying “Me” in English to volunteer)

Is this sentence specific to Latin American Spanish, or would it also be used in Spain?

¿Alguien quiere café? is perfectly correct and natural in both Latin American Spanish and Peninsular (Spain) Spanish.

The structure (using alguien with singular quiere and café without an article) is standard everywhere in the Spanish-speaking world.

Regional differences might show up in the surrounding conversation (vocabulary, accent, use of vosotros in Spain), but this sentence itself works the same in all varieties.