Hello again!
Well, I have searched various sites and pages on the internet and have found any number of «answers» to my question. Maybe it has to do with regional differences or maybe you just can’t trust anything you read on the internet, but each one says that the other is incorrect.
Basically, I just want to know how to express the idea that I am not going to pick the pizza up at the store, on the contrary, I want my pizza to be delivered to me, when I am ordering it on the phone.
Typically, the conversation goes something like this:
Ring, ring.
Pizza place: Hello, Dominick’s pizza. How can I help you?
Me: Hello. I’d like to order a pizza for delivery, please. [This is the sentence I am looking for.] (This means, I want them to deliver the pizza to my house/office, etc. I already know that they have a/offer delivery service and I want to have them bring it to me.)
Sometimes it’s just:
Me: I’d like to order a pizza, please.
Pizza place: Will this be pick up or delivery?
Me: Delivery, please.
Pizza place: Okay, what’s your address?
etc.
Usually when ordering food on the phone, it turns out being a disaster. Based on what I found on the internet, I usually blurt out something like:
«Quiero ordenar una pizza para la entrega, por favor.»
I have seen the following listed as possibilities:
1.
Quiero pedir una pizza
or
Quiero ordenar (Mex.) una pizza [this seems to be more common here where I am]
2.
para entrega (or: para la entrega ?)
para entrega a domicilio (or: para la entrega a domicilio ?)
or
3.
«para llevar». (Which I understand is supposed to be the opposite of «para recoger». That is, «for delivery» as opposed to «for pick up».)
What confuses me here is, if I am placing my order in the pizza shop and I say «para llevar» I know this means «to go»/»to take away». But now on the phone it seems to mean «for delivery» in some places, at least.
I’d be really interested in hearing how you do it and where you are.
Many thanks!
Hello Gerardo!
1.
Me gustaría/Quiero pedir una pizza, por favor is fine everywhere.
In Spain we’d never use ordenar that way. To me ordenar meaning pedir is pure Spanglish (order) and I’d avoid it. However, if it’s used in Mexico and USA, fine.
2.
What I’d say: para entrega(r) a domicilio.
Para la entrega makes no sense alone and para entrega sounds incomplete to me (para entrega: ¿dónde? ¿a quién?).
3.
You’re right: para llevar means to take away and you use it when you are in the pizza shop. We, in Spain, use traer in this case, and not llevar. Colloquially I’d say on the phone: Me gustaría/Quiero pedir una pizza para que me la traigan/me la traigan a casa, etc.
But If I were the pizza shop assistant (salesperson, sales clerk; what do you call them over there, Gerardo?), I might use llevar: ¿para recoger o para llevar a casa? This may be confusing for you. Llevar is take something to the place where the person at the other end of the line is (the client). So: la pizzería lleva una pizza a mi domicilio (casa, oficina, etc.). A mí me traen una pizza (a mi domicilio). Me llevo una pizza (de la pizzería a mi domicilio).
Looking forward to what others say.
Hello Blasita!
As always, many thanks for your response. I always learn something from what you write.
All of this makes complete sense to me.
«Ordenar» is typical Mexican usage. It is very common around these parts. Historically, the derivation is from the English usage, I am sure.
The options I gave (and which you cleared up) are things I have found online in various sites. I was not convinced by any of them.
I did see that «para que me la traigan…» phrase somewhere but couldn’t remember it when I posted. It seems to me that that is probably the best way to say it on the phone. Somewhere, it seems to me, I remember reading that «la entrega a domicilio» refers to the service itself and the «para que me la traigan» phrase is what you actually say on the phone.
Just to make sure I have this right…
How do I order the pizza on the phone and tell them I want to go to the shop and pick it up and bring it home myself?
Quiero ordenar una pizza para que la lleve. ???
Oops. I forgot to answer your question about what the person is called here.
It’s funny. I never really thought about that. Personally, I would not call this person a «salesperson» or a «sales clerk» or a «shop assistant».
A shop assistant sounds more like something you would hear in British English.
A salesperson is someone in a higher-end store. This person is actively helping customers. S/he is not standing behind a counter. (Same for a sales clerk.)
If I have to name this person, I simply say:
The guy or girl I placed the order with
Ex.
When I placed the order, the guy/girl I talked to/placed the order with said it would be ready in 30 minutes.
That’s not really a direct answer to your question but it’s what we say…
Hope that helps.
Thanks a lot for that, Gerardo. I always learn something from what you write too!
Glad it helped. There are other ways of saying it. I could also say e.g: para casa/para domicilio (shorter but still effective).
The only food I’ve ever used a delivery service for has been the occasional Chinese. (I’m only talking about 3 or 4 local experiences), They generally ask me if it’s «pala recogel o pala servicio a domicilio». Yo les digo que para lo segundo. ¡Y nos entendemos a la perfección!
Hello nibbles!
Sorry, it has been a while since I saw your answer.
This is exactly what I want. What do you say, exactly, when they ask this? «Para servicio a domicilio, por favor.» ??
And would/could you say this when ordering?
Ex.
«Quiero hacer un pedido para servicio a domicilio, por favor.» ???
Thanks!
I must be lazy, Gerardo, because I usually wait for them to ask – they always do. And then I just choose the option I want. So, yes, (Para) servicio a domicilio, por favor seems like a good reply to me. (I’m not absolutely convinced about the word «para». Maybe our Spanish-speaking friends will tell us if it’s necessary or if it could even be substituted by «con»).
Hola, Nibbles y Gerardo. Para servicio a domicilio se entiende perfectamente, pero yo no lo usaría en este caso. A mí tampoco me gusta el para en esa frase, Nibbles, ni tampoco con. Quizá para servir a/en domicilio, aunque tampoco sería algo que diría como cliente en esa situación. No sé si será porque normalmente es una frase (servicio a domicilio) que suele usar la empresa o tienda al anunciarse y no el cliente, o porque sea más formal. El caso es que, desde luego, no sería mi preferencia.
A ver lo que dicen los compañeros.
¡Hola, Gerardo!
Esas últimas me suenan algo raras, Gerardo y Nibbles, yo tampoco las diría. Si quieres hacer un pedido por teléfono, creo que lo normal en España es que sea para entregar a domicilio. Por lo tanto suele ser suficiente con decir: «Quiero hacer un pedido», «Quiero pedir una pizza tal y cual«. Ya te preguntarán el domicilio o si no les queda claro, si es para entregar a domicilio o recoger allí.
Sobre tu «con», Nibbles, no sé si me suena mejor o peor en esa frase porque repito que no diría en esa situación: “Quiero hacer un pedido con o para servicio a domicilio, por favor”. En todo caso «para servir a domicilio».
Gerardo, para lo que querías expresar al principio de este hilo, Blasita ya ha dado las frases que yo misma usaría.
Saludos cordiales para todos
Hola monic!
Estoy muy agradecido por tu ayuda.