Ordering a coffee Part 2 (Advanced): Indicates whether the coffee is for in-store or to be taken out.

💬 それとも (soretomo) joins two questions into "A, or B?", and you just answer with the option you want.

🇯🇵 You'll hear this almost word for word at every café counter. Replying 店内で "eating in" or 持ち帰りで is enough.

💬 って after a word is a casual way to bring up a topic, like a softer は: トイレって "About the restroom..."

💬 空いてます (aitemasu) here means "free" or "empty", not "open". Ending with かね makes it a gentle, wondering question rather than a demand.

🇯🇵 This is a relaxed but polite way to ask, the kind of thing a regular customer would say before deciding whether to stay.

💬 Same word as the greeting ただいま "I'm home!", but staff use it as a polite "right now".

💬 Read it (manseki): 満 "full" + 席 "seat".

🇯🇵 Ending with でして trails off apologetically and leaves the "sorry" unsaid. Staff expect you to pick up the hint and choose to wait or take your order away.

💬 お待ちいただく literally means "to receive the favor of you waiting". It is a polite way for staff to ask you to wait.

💬 Put it after almost anything to add "maybe": 雨かもしれません "It might rain", 満席かもしれません.

💬 やっぱり signals a change of mind back to an earlier idea: "on second thought". The small っ is a held beat: (yap-pari).

💬 Swap in 店内でお願いします to say you're staying. The same 〜でお願いします frame works for any choice.

💬 やっぱり (yappari) "after all" signals that you're changing back or settling on a decision. It's the natural word to use when your plans shift mid-order.

🇯🇵 Say お会計お願いします to ask for the bill at a sit-down place. At cafés you normally pay at the counter when you order.

💬 Read it (zeikomi). The opposite on price tags is 税抜き (zeinuki) "before tax".

💬 になります literally means "becomes", but at a till it's just a polite "that's". The number is read (yonhyaku hachijū roku en).

🇯🇵 Prices shown in Japan must include tax. Chains can still charge a slightly different tax rate for eating in versus taking away, which is one reason they ask.

💬 で marks how you pay. Swap in other methods, like 現金で "in cash".

💬 Read it (futa).

💬 Add てもらえますか to the end of a verb's te-form for a polite "could you...?": 温めてもらえますか "Could you heat it up?"

💬 When staff put お before their own action, as in お閉めする, it's a humble way of doing something for you. しておきます adds "I'll take care of it".

🇯🇵 Contactless payment is now common, but staff may also ask which type, such as an IC transit card like Suica, so have yours ready.

💬 大丈夫 (daijōbu) covers "OK", "fine" and "no thanks", so これで大丈夫ですか works for checking anything, from payment to a form.

💬 お makes the noun polite; staff say お飲み物 (o-nomimono) for "drinks" in general.

💬 あちら is the polite form of あそこ "over there". It points to something far from both you and the speaker.

💬 Staff put お before a verb and add します to humbly describe what they'll do for you. 渡す means "hand over".

🇯🇵 At chain cafés you pay at one counter and collect at another, so move along after paying rather than waiting at the till.