German language question

For saying "excuse me please" I find that saying "entschuldegen, bitte" really works well.

Hi, Yes, the form considered more polite when ordering in a restaurant is "Ich hätte (haette) gern." Traditionally, to say "Thank You , sir" one would say, "Danke, mein Herr." But I don't think that's used very much any more, haven't heard very often. Just say "Danke" or to be more polite, " Ich bedanke mich."

First post is pretty correct. "Ich moechte" is more like "I want to have", where as "Ich haette gern" is translated to "I would like to have", making the 2nd version a bit more polite. No one would blink an eye at the 1st version though, as it isn't rude or anything. If you want to be extra polite, when saying thank you, or excuse me, adding on a sir or ma'am would be a bit odd. You could use the Sie form while doing this, which comes across better with strangers. "Ich danke Ihnen" for a polite thank you or just a "Danke sehr" for a more emphatic thank you and "Entschuldigen Sie bitte", for the excuse me please.

Thanks, Fred and Jo. Or rather, danke sehr! :)

Teresa, "Gerne geschehen"....equivalent to "you're welcome, don't mention it"

In most German restaurant the Polish waitresses don't really care if you "would like to have" or if "you're having" ;-) Very common is "ich nehme das Steak, meine Frau nimmt die Ente" (I'm having the steak, my wife is having the duck). Regarding "Sir or Ma'am": We don't have this concept over here. We're all equals now. If you had come to Germany in the 1950s or 60s you'd have used words like "mein Herr" or "mein Fräulein" or called the waitress simply by yelling "Fräulein" across the entire restaurant. Today you either just wave, establish eye contact or call him/her by saying "Entschuldigen Sie bitte" or even "Entschuldigung". Same goes for "the bill please". It's considered as polite to either say "die Rechnung bitte" or just "zahlen bitte".

I'm a bit late on this post but I wanted to warn you against saying thank you to a waiter or waitress as you are handing over your money to pay a bill. As tips are usual in most places, saying thank you at this point can be taken as meaning 'keep the change' as I found to my cost when I first arrived here.

Shoni's right. If you say "thank you" when you hand a waiter money, it's usually interpretted as, "keep the change." Normally I'll round up a little, give that amount, and say thank you to indicate I don't expect anything back.

Thanks for the warning, Shoni & Brad.

"... I find that saying "entschuldegen, bitte" really works well ..." But it's grammatically incorrect. It should be "Entschuldigen Sie bitte!" (the formal version, as already mentioned by Jo). The informal version would be "Entschuldige bitte!", but I would stick with the formal one. You could do away with the "please" and just say "Entschuldigung!" ("Pardon!") -- simpler phrases are probably easier to remember in the second after you've stepped on somebodies foot or so :-)