Restaurant reservations (Advanced): Number of guests

💬 With müsste, the main action verb ändern goes to the very end. Swap it: Ich müsste das leider absagen "Unfortunately I'd have to cancel that".

💬 After mit, viele picks up an extra -n to become vielen. Plural nouns often take -n here too: mit den Kindern "with the children".

💬 denn in a question is a softener showing interest, not a real "then". It makes the question sound friendlier, and you can leave it out without changing the meaning.

💬 zu plus a number ending in -t means "as a group of": zu zweit "two of us", zu viert "four of us". Watch the one odd form: zu dritt "three of us".

💬 wären "would be" makes this sound like a tentative update rather than a fixed fact. Plain Wir sind jetzt zu neunt works too, but sounds more blunt.

💬 The verb is dazukommen "to join", but dazu splits off and lands at the end. Same with Mein Bruder kommt auch dazu "My brother is joining too".

🇩🇪 Restaurants and businesses routinely use the 24-hour clock, even in speech. neunzehn Uhr is exactly what staff will say for 7 pm.

💬 When a sentence starts with a time like Um 19 Uhr, the verb wird jumps ahead of das. Same with Morgen geht es nicht "Tomorrow doesn't work".

💬 After unser, groß takes -er to become großer. After der, it would be der große Tisch instead.

💬 vergeben here means "taken" or "already booked", but the same word also means "to forgive". Context makes it clear.

💬 ginge is the polite "would" form of gehen, used here to mean "work" or "be possible". The plainer version is Geht es? "Does it work?".

💬 halb neun means half way to nine, which is 8:30, not 9:30. So halb sieben is 6:30.

💬 After wegen, das Kind becomes des Kindes. In everyday speech many people say wegen dem Kind, which is also widely accepted.

🇩🇪 Asking with man "one" instead of Sie keeps the request impersonal, so it doesn't put the staff member on the spot. It's a common, polite way to ask for a favour.

💬 zusammenstellen splits in a normal sentence: Wir stellen zwei Tische zusammen "We push two tables together". It only stays joined after helpers like könnte.

🇩🇪 Despite the cautious wording, this is a real yes. Germans often agree in this understated way, especially in service settings.

💬 am is a short form of an dem "at the". You'll hear it constantly: am Fenster "by the window".

🇩🇪 Most German restaurants keep high chairs, and you don't pay extra for them. Mentioning a child when you book means one can be set up before you arrive.

💬 Verbs ending in -ieren skip the usual ge- when talking about the past: notiert, not genotiert. Same with Ich habe reserviert "I've reserved".

💬 Wiederhören swaps the "see" in Auf Wiedersehen for hören "hear", since you can't see each other on the phone.

💬 After für, Ihre stays as it is. Compare mit, which changes it to Ihrer.

🇩🇪 This is warmer than a plain danke. It's a nice way to end a call when staff went out of their way, for example squeezing in a larger group.