Day 2 of 15~12 min이거 주세요, 추천해 주세요, 이 인분 and how spicy you want it.
Romanisation help
주문하시겠어요?, 이거 주세요, 뭐가 맛있어요?, 추천해 주세요, 이걸로 할게요, 이 인분, 덜 맵게 해 주세요, 안 맵게 해 주세요, 드릴까요?
Ordering runs on the 주세요 from day 11 of the daily course. Today adds asking what is good and letting the staff choose, ordering by the portion, which is how many dishes are sold, and asking for something milder. By the end you can order a dish cooked at the table, in the right quantity, at a heat you can eat.
Choosing a dish
When staff ask 주문하시겠어요? (jumunhasigesseoyo?), 'ready to order?', any of these works:
이거 주세요
igeo juseyo
This one, please.
From day 11 of the daily course, with a finger on the menu or the picture on the wall. No reading needed.
뭐가 맛있어요?
mwoga masisseoyo?
What's good here?
Literally 'what is tasty?'. Staff usually name one or two dishes, or the one the place is known for.
추천해 주세요
chucheonhae juseyo
What would you recommend?
추천 is 'recommendation'. 하나 추천해 주세요 asks them to pick a single dish.
이걸로 할게요
igeollo halgeyo
I'll have this one.
이걸로 is spoken 이거 plus (으)로, 'with this'. How you settle on a choice after asking.
Why it works
뭐가 맛있어요? takes daily day 4's subject marker 가, not 를, because 맛있어요 'there is taste' is a describing verb like daily day 12's 매워요: the dish is what is tasty, not something anyone acts on. 추천해 주세요 is daily day 26's -아/어 주세요, 'recommend it for me'. 이걸로 할게요 is literally 'I'll do it with this', and N(으)로 하다 is the everyday way to say 'go for'.
The two-portion rule
A lone diner tries to order a dish cooked in a pan at the table:
Staff
주문하시겠어요?
jumunhasigesseoyo?
Are you ready to order?
주문 'order', with the honorific 시.
Customer
닭갈비 일 인분 돼요?
dakgalbi il inbun dwaeyo?
Can I get one portion of dakgalbi?
닭갈비 is spicy chicken stir-fried in a pan at your table.
Staff
죄송해요. 닭갈비는 이 인분부터 돼요.
joesonghaeyo. dakgalbineun i inbunbuteo dwaeyo.
Sorry, dakgalbi is a minimum of two portions.
부터 is 'from'. Menus write it 2인분 이상 (i inbun isang), 'two portions or more'.
Customer
그럼 이 인분 주세요. 많이 매워요?
geureom i inbun juseyo. mani maewoyo?
Two portions, then. Is it very spicy?
그럼 is 'in that case'. 많이 asks how spicy, not whether.
Staff
조금 매워요. 덜 맵게 해 드릴까요?
jogeum maewoyo. deol maepge hae deurilkkayo?
A bit. Shall I make it milder for you?
드릴까요? is the staff side of 주세요, 'shall I do it for you?', with humble 드리다. Daily day 66 builds it.
Customer
네, 덜 맵게 해 주세요.
ne, deol maepge hae juseyo.
Yes, less spicy, please.
Staff
네, 알겠습니다.
ne, algetseumnida.
Certainly.
Why it works
Portions are counted with 인분, literally 'person's share', so 이 인분 is food for two, whoever eats it. Dishes cooked in one pan or pot at the table, such as 닭갈비, many stews and barbecue, are often sold only from two portions up, because the pan, burner and work are the same whatever you order. A lone diner who really wants the dish can order two and have the rest boxed up with daily day 11's 포장해 주세요. Places that sell single portions will say 일 인분도 돼요 (il inbundo dwaeyo), 'one portion is fine too'.
Numbers and heat
Four slips English speakers make, and the fix:
two portions
Learner's slip
두 인분
du inbun
What people say
이 인분
i inbun
인분 is Sino-Korean, so it takes daily day 8's 일, 이, 삼, not the native numbers that go with 명 and 개.
two portions of pork belly
Learner's slip
이 인분 삼겹살
i inbun samgyeopsal
What people say
삼겹살 이 인분
samgyeopsal i inbun
Dish first, then the amount, as in 비빔밥 하나 on day 11 of the daily course.
less spicy, please
Learner's slip
덜 매워요 주세요
deol maewoyo juseyo
What people say
덜 맵게 해 주세요
deol maepge hae juseyo
매워요 is a finished sentence, 'it's spicy', and cannot sit before 주세요. 맵게 says how to cook it.
not spicy, please
Learner's slip
안 매워요 주세요
an maewoyo juseyo
What people say
안 맵게 해 주세요
an maepge hae juseyo
The same fix with 안 'not'. Some dishes cannot be made with no chilli at all, so 덜 is safer.
Why it works
-게 turns a describing verb into a word for how something is done: 맵다 'to be spicy' becomes 맵게 'spicily', and 해 주세요 asks the kitchen to do it that way, so 덜 맵게 해 주세요 is 'please do it less spicily'. The number slip has a tidy explanation too: Sino-Korean words such as 인분, 원 and 분 'minute' take Sino-Korean numbers. Many menus print a heat scale instead, 순한 맛 (sunhan mat) 'mild', 보통 (botong) 'medium' and 매운맛 (maeunmat) 'hot', and pointing at one does the same job.