Ordering fast food: At the counter

🇯🇵 [こんにちは] is less common than in English for a quick fast-food interaction. Staff will usually start with [いらっしゃいませ], and customers often skip a greeting and go straight to the order.

🇯🇵 This is a set store greeting staff say to customers; you do not say it back. In shops and fast-food places, it often replaces any direct [Hello].

💬 The [ご-] at the front makes the word more polite. You'll hear the same pattern in service situations with words like [お会計] and [お持ち帰り].

💬 In [ご注文は？], the [は] is said (wa), not (ha). Here it marks [ご注文] as the topic, giving a short natural question: "As for your order?".

💬 [ひとつ] is the general "one" for ordering single items, and you can swap the number: [ふたつ] for two, [みっつ] for three. In casual counter orders, this often feels easier than using a more specific counter.

💬 [ください] attaches to the thing you want: [コーヒーをください] or [これください]. In fast-food ordering, it's the standard polite way to say "please give me ~."

💬 With [をください], you can ask for an item even without saying a number. If you want to be more specific, insert one before [ください]: [ハンバーガーをふたつください].

💬 Japanese often puts the item first, then the quantity: [ハンバーガーをひとつ]. You can reuse that pattern with other food: [コーヒーをひとつ], [ポテトをふたつ].