Learn Hardcore Spanish (Latin America): Voy a pedir agua fría en el restaurante. - I am going to order cold water at the restaurant.

Ir a + infinitive
- Voy a pedir = I’m going to ask for / I’m going to order
- Very common in spoken Spanish
- Often used for plans or near future actions
- Feels natural and conversational
Simple future
- Pediré = I will ask for / I will order
- Also correct, but:
  - Sounds a bit more formal or more distant in time
  - More common in writing or when talking about predictions, promises, or less immediate future

In everyday Latin American Spanish, voy a pedir is usually more natural for something like ordering in a restaurant, especially if it’s a plan you’re about to carry out soon.

What’s the difference between pedir and preguntar? Both mean “to ask,” right?

English uses “ask” for two different ideas; Spanish separates them:

pedir = to ask for something / to request / to order
- Voy a pedir agua fría. – I’m going to ask for cold water.
- Le pedí dinero. – I asked him/her for money.
preguntar = to ask a question / to inquire
- Voy a preguntar dónde está el baño. – I’m going to ask where the bathroom is.
- Le pregunté la hora. – I asked him/her the time.

So in a restaurant, when you order food or drinks, you use pedir, not preguntar.

If it’s el agua, why is it agua fría and not agua frío?

This is a classic “tricky noun” issue.

Agua is grammatically feminine.
- You can see that with plural and adjectives:
  - las aguas frías – the cold waters
  - mucha agua – a lot of water
  - esta agua – this water
In the singular, it takes el instead of la:
- el agua (not la agua)
  This is only to avoid the clash of sounds between la and the stressed a of agua.
  The same happens with words like el águila, el hacha, el alma.

But the gender stays feminine, so adjectives must be feminine:

✅ el agua fría (feminine adjective)
❌ el agua frío (masculine adjective – incorrect)

In your sentence, agua fría is correct because fría agrees with the (feminine) noun agua.

Why is there no article before agua? Why not Voy a pedir el agua fría or un agua fría?

Spanish often omits the article with uncountable/mass nouns when you mean them in a general, non-specific way:

Voy a pedir agua fría.
= I’m going to ask for (some) cold water.
(Not referring to a specific bottle or glass.)

Compare:

Voy a pedir el agua fría.
= I’m going to ask for the cold water
(a specific water both speakers know about – e.g., “the cold water on the table.”)
Voy a pedir un agua fría.
– Very common in many parts of Latin America in restaurants
– Means “one cold water” (one serving, one bottle, one glass)
– You’re treating agua as a countable unit here (one drink from the menu).

So, in your sentence:

Without article (agua fría) = some cold water in general – totally natural.
With un (un agua fría) = one portion/serving – also natural in a restaurant.
With el (el agua fría) = a specific, already-identified water.

Is Voy a pedir un agua fría correct in a restaurant?

Yes, it’s very natural in Latin America in a restaurant context.

Voy a pedir un agua fría.
= I’m going to order a cold water (one bottle/glass).

Use un agua fría when:

You’re talking about one drink from the menu.
You see water as “one item” (like “a Coke”, “a coffee”).

Other similar examples:

Un agua sin gas, por favor. – A still water, please.
Dos aguas frías. – Two cold waters.

So both sentences are correct, but slightly different in focus:

Voy a pedir agua fría. – I’ll ask for (some) cold water.
Voy a pedir un agua fría. – I’ll ask for a cold water (one serving).

Why is the adjective after the noun: agua fría and not fría agua?

In Spanish, the default position for most descriptive adjectives is after the noun:

agua fría – cold water
café caliente – hot coffee
comida deliciosa – delicious food

Putting the adjective before the noun is possible in some cases, but:

It’s often stylistic, poetic or emotional
It can slightly change the meaning or emphasis

For temperature adjectives like frío/fría, caliente, tibio/tibia, the standard, neutral way is:

Noun + adjective → agua fría

Fría agua would sound poetic or unusual in normal speech. Stick with agua fría in everyday language.

Why is it en el restaurante and not al restaurante?

The prepositions mean different things:

a = to (movement, destination)
- Voy al restaurante. – I’m going to the restaurant.
en = in / at (location where something happens)
- Voy a pedir agua fría en el restaurante.
  – I’m going to order cold water in/at the restaurant.

In your sentence, you’re not talking about going to the restaurant, but about what you will do there, so you use en.

In English you say “at the restaurant”; in Spanish this is usually just en el restaurante, not a el restaurante.

Can I drop el and say en restaurante, like “at restaurant”?

No, not in standard Spanish.

With a singular countable noun like restaurante, you usually need an article:

✅ en el restaurante – at the restaurant
✅ en un restaurante – at a restaurant
❌ en restaurante – sounds incorrect or incomplete

There are a few nouns where Spanish often drops the article, like:

en casa – at home
en clase – in class
en misa – at mass

But restaurante is not one of these. Use el or un:

Voy a pedir agua fría en el restaurante. – at the (specific) restaurant
Voy a pedir agua fría en un restaurante. – at a (non-specific) restaurant

Is restaurante pronounced like “restaurant” in English?

Not exactly. In Latin American Spanish:

restaurante is pronounced roughly: rehs-tah-RAN-teh
- re like “reh”
- s always like English “s” (never “z”)
- au here is more like “a” then “n”: tah-RAN
- te like “teh”
- The stress is on -ran-: res-tau-RAN-te

Other pronunciation notes from the sentence:

voy – like English “boy” but with a softer v/b sound
pedir – peh-DEER (stress on -dir)
agua – AH-gwa (stress on AH)
fría – FREE-ah (two syllables)
restaurante – rehs-tah-RAN-teh

Everything is clearly pronounced; no silent letters like in English “restaurant.”

Is this how I would actually order in a restaurant, saying Voy a pedir agua fría to the waiter?

Not usually. Voy a pedir agua fría is more what you’d say to someone else you’re talking to, not to the waiter:

Voy a pedir agua fría en el restaurante.
– I’m going to order cold water at the restaurant. (Talking to a friend.)

To actually place an order, people usually say things like:

Un agua fría, por favor. – A cold water, please.
Me trae un agua fría, por favor. – Can you bring me a cold water, please?
Quisiera un agua fría, por favor. – I’d like a cold water, please.
Para mí, un agua fría. – For me, a cold water.

So your sentence is good Spanish, but it’s more about describing your plan than directly ordering.

Do I need an indirect object pronoun with pedir here, like Le voy a pedir agua fría?

You can add one, but you don’t have to.

Voy a pedir agua fría.
– I’m going to order/ask for cold water.
(Focus on what you will ask for.)

If you want to mention whom you’re asking (e.g., the waiter), you add:

Le voy a pedir agua fría al mesero.
– I’m going to ask the waiter for cold water.

Here:

le = to him/her
al mesero = to the waiter (Latin America; in Spain typically al camarero)

So:

Without pronoun/person: fine, general statement about ordering.
With le … a [person]: emphasizes whom you’re asking.

Can I say Voy a ordenar agua fría instead of Voy a pedir agua fría?

You can say it, and people will usually understand you, but:

In many parts of Latin America, pedir is the most natural verb for ordering food or drinks.
- Voy a pedir agua fría. – I’m going to order cold water.
Ordenar literally means “to put in order / to arrange / to command / to order (as a boss).”
It’s also used in some places as a calque of English “to order (food),” but it can sound a bit less natural or more formal depending on the country.

In a restaurant context, you’re safer and more idiomatic using pedir:

Pedir comida, pedir una pizza, pedir agua fría.

So: Voy a pedir agua fría en el restaurante is the best, most standard choice.