One bowl, one extra, then the bill. You start お会計.
In this lesson you will
- Answer 何名様ですか with 一人です / 二人です
- Order a bowl and accept or refuse an extra with お願いします / なしで
- Call the bill: お会計お願いします
お会計 is the bill as a noun you request. Do not mime a writing sign unless the shop is loud. Try the words first.
Today’s scene
How it works
The scene is one meal at the counter, not a tour of every restaurant type. 何名様ですか is how many people. 一人です is a complete answer. Then the bowl: 醤油ラーメンをお願いします. Noun plus お願いします, same machine as the passport and the onigiri.
味玉はいかがですか / ニンニクは？ are offer questions. はい、お願いします accepts. なしでお願いします refuses a topping without a speech. で here marks the condition: “as none.”
Later, スープを追加できますか asks if extra soup is possible. できますか is “can you / is it possible?” お会計お願いします starts the bill. カードは使えますか checks the tool. 現金のみです is a です sentence you must hear without taking it as rudeness.
Ticket machines exist. If you already bought a ticket, これです and a seat are enough. This scene assumes a human counter so the language has someone to answer.
A ramen counter is a small room with a fast clock. This lesson is one meal, from the empty seat to the cash. We will not hand you a column of “restaurant phrases” for every cuisine in Japan. If you can sit, order, add one thing, and pay here, you can reuse the same mouth in a curry shop tomorrow.
The cook opens with いらっしゃいませ. If they also say 何名様ですか, answer the number: 一人です, 二人です. 名様 is polite counting for people in a shop. You do not need to say 名様 back. 一人です is enough. In this scene Mina folds the number into the order because the seat is obviously one. Both timings are correct. What is not correct is standing silent in the door while they hold a menu in the air.
醤油ラーメンをお願いします is the same noun-plus-request you used for the passport and the onigiri. Learn one bowl name from the ticket machine or the photo. 醤油, 味噌, 塩, 豚骨 are types, not grammar. Pointing at the photo plus これをお願いします is legal. Saying a name is kinder to a busy cook.
味玉はいかがですか is an offer. いかがですか is softer than ますか and very shop-like. はい、お願いします accepts. ニンニクは？ is the short noun question, same family as 袋は？ なしでお願いします refuses. なし is “none.” で marks the condition of the bowl. You are not announcing a life without garlic. You are setting this order.
Mid-meal, すみません resets the room. スープを追加できますか asks if extra soup is possible. 追加 is add-on. できますか is possibility. Some shops say 替え玉 for extra noodles. If you want that later, 替え玉できますか is the cousin. Do not stack five extras in one breath on the first night. One extra is a conversation. Five extras is a negotiation.
少々お待ちください is “please wait a little.” You already know てください. 少々 is the shop’s “a moment.” Nod. Do not say はい、待ちます unless you like sounding like a textbook.
お会計お願いします is you starting the end. In some ramen shops you pay first. In this scene you pay after, which is still common at counters. If you are unsure, お会計は今ですか — “is the bill now?” — is a clean question. カードは使えますか uses the potential 使えます. 現金のみです is a complete answer. Have cash from travel-01’s ATM. Do not look betrayed. Many good bowls are cash rooms.
水をください is allowed. おいしかったです is optional and kind, past adjective from beginner-18. Do not perform a food show. A small ごちそうさまでした when you leave is the traditional close. It is not required from a foreign guest. It is welcome.
Do not photograph the cook’s hands without asking — that is travel-12. Do not shout うまい！ unless the room is already doing that and you know the temperature. Keep です/ます as the floor.
Korean speakers: 계산이요 is the cousin of お会計お願いします. The Japanese noun is お会計, not 계산 said with Japanese vowels. Chinese speakers: 几位 is 何名様. Answer with 一人, not with 一个. English speakers: “Can I get the check?” is お会計お願いします, not チェックください, which sounds like a hotel or a US import. Spanish speakers: 一人 is one person, not “a person” in the English article sense. The number is the news.
Practice sitting on a chair at home: number, bowl, one refuse, bill. Four beats. If those four are in your mouth, the steam will not erase them. Next we take the same polite request into a hotel — check-in, then an extra towel.
Ticket-machine ramen is a cousin scene, not a betrayal of this one. You buy a ticket, hand it over, sit. これです. The extras may still arrive as 味玉はいかがですか. Pay first or pay later — the language of the extra and the language of なしで do not change. If you only train on machines, you will freeze when a human asks ニンニクは. That is why this classroom sat you at a counter.
Water is often self-serve. Watch the next stool. If it is not, 水をください. Some shops shout いらっしゃいませ when you enter and never look up again until the bowl lands. That is not coldness. That is a kitchen with one pair of hands. Your すみません should be timed for a pause, not for the moment they lift a kettle.
If you share a table with a stranger, 失礼します is the sit-down line. We did not put it in the dialogue because Mina took an empty counter seat. Keep it for the day the room is full. Do not put your backpack on the counter. The counter is their kitchen edge.
Vietnamese and Thai-adjacent travelers (and anyone from a chopstick culture): you already know the bowl. The Japanese you still need is the bill and the cash-only landing. Arabic and Hindi readers: お会計 is the noun. Do not search for a translation of “check” on the wall. Say the noun. Portuguese speakers: 一人です is one person, not “I am alone” as a feeling. The cook asked a number.
When you leave, a small bow does more than a new sentence. If you want one more line, ごちそうさまでした is the traditional close. Optional. Kind. Then the street. The meal was one room. You finished it in Japanese. That is the win, not a photo of the broth.
If the counter is full, wait by the door until they look up. 何名様ですか may come from across the room. Hold up one finger and say 一人です. The finger is not a replacement for the sentence. It is a friend of the sentence. Then sit when they point. The bowl will find you. Your Japanese already did the work of entering.
Sit and order
何名様ですか。→ 一人です。
醤油ラーメンをお願いします。
味玉はいかがですか。→ はい、お願いします。 / なしでお願いします。
Extra and bill
スープを追加できますか。
お会計お願いします。
カードは使えますか。→ 現金のみです。
Sentences you can use
Close, but not this
OK なしでお願いします。
NG ニンニク、嫌い。
嫌い is a feeling essay. The cook asked for a topping setting. Give the setting.
OK お会計お願いします。
NG お金！
The bill is a request, not a shout. お会計 is the noun shops expect.
Say it out loud
They greet you. You are alone. Order soy-sauce ramen.
Show answer
一人です。醤油ラーメンをお願いします。 — One person. Soy-sauce ramen, please.
They offer garlic. You want none.
Show answer
なしでお願いします。 — None, please.
Ask for the bill.
Show answer
お会計お願いします。 — The bill, please.
You have eaten. You still need a bed. Next is the hotel: check-in, the passport again, then an extra towel without sounding like you are giving orders.
Write one sentence today
A quiet reading for what is on your mind
Set Japanese aside for a moment. This is our in-site counseling page: a gentle five-element (saju) reading of what is on your mind. A nickname is enough to start.
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