Learn Spanish (Spain): Siempre pido un café solo.

In Spanish, when you are at a restaurant or café, you use the verb pedir (to ask for) to say that you are ordering food or drinks. While ordenar exists, it is more commonly used to mean "to organize" or "to give a command" rather than ordering a meal.

Wait, what is the dictionary form of pido?

It comes from the verb pedir (to ask for). This is a stem-changing verb, meaning the e in the middle changes to an i when you conjugate it for most forms. So, instead of saying "pedo", you say pido.

Does solo actually mean "black" in Spanish?

Literally, solo means "alone." In Spain, when you ask for un café solo, you are asking for a coffee "alone"—meaning just the coffee with no milk added. This is the standard, natural way to order a black coffee.

Why does solo come after café?

In Spanish, descriptive words (adjectives) usually come right after the noun they describe. Since solo describes the type of café, it is placed directly after it.