How exactly do you buy a bottle of water in Italian? What’s more appropriate to say depending on the relationship between you and the other person? What do you have to ask to buy a bottle of sparkling water? How about asking how much that bottle is?
In this lesson, we will take a look at the different ways you can buy a bottle of water during your visit to Italy so you may never be thirsty. Read on to learn them all!
Let’s start! Iniziamo!

How do you buy a bottle of water in Italian?
Say buongiorno or buonasera
Whenever you meet someone you are not on familiar terms with, such as a bartender at the counter selling soft drinks and sandwiches, you will need to greet them in a formal way.
There are many greetings in Italian, but the ones you have to pay attention to here are just two:
Pronunciation: boo-on-jor-noh
Buongiorno, buon giorno
Good morning
Compound: From buono, “good”, and giorno, “day”
Buongiorno is suitable to use in the morning and throughout the day until the sun sets, just as the English greetings Good morning and good day.
Buongiorno. Un caffè, per favore.
Good morning. A coffee, please.
Buongiorno, mi può cambiare queste banconote?
Good morning, could you change these bills for me?

The other greeting, which you will use only after sunset, is buonasera.
Pronunciation: boo-on-ah-seh-rah
Buonasera, buona sera
Good evening
Compound: From buona, “good”, and sera, “evening”
Buonasera, vorrei un Martini.
Good evening, I would like a martini.
Buonasera a tutti!
Good evening everyone!

Una bottiglietta d’acqua…
Next in your quest of buying a bottle of water in Italian, is the request itself. Start by saying una bottiglia/bottiglietta d’acqua.
Una bottiglia d’acqua…
A bottle of water…
Una bottiglietta d’acqua…
A small bottle of water…
Hang on. What’s happening here? What’s the difference between bottiglia and bottiglietta?

They differ in quantity. A bottiglia holds 1.5L of water, while a bottiglietta contains 0.5L of water!
If you are out and about and need a quick refresher at a café, ask for a bottiglietta. If you are at a restaurant, let the waiter bring a bottiglia to your table. A bottiglia is too heavy and cumbersome to travel with in your bag.
Now, what kind of water do you prefer? Still water or sparkling water?
Acqua naturale
Still water
Acqua frizzante
Sparkling water
Sparkling water is also known as acqua gassata.
Acqua gassata
Sparkling water (“gassed water”)
For example, if you want a small bottle of natural water, say…
Una bottiglietta di acqua naturale.
A small bottle of still water.

Of course, you might want more than one bottle of water. In this case, you need to use the plural form of bottle in Italian, which is bottiglie or bottigliette depending on the size. You will also need a number: in the table below I’ve listed the first 10 Italian numbers.
Italian numbers 1-10
1 | Uno |
2 | Due |
3 | Tre |
4 | Quattro |
5 | Cinque |
6 | Sei |
7 | Sette |
8 | Otto |
9 | Nove |
10 | Dieci |
Wondering why it’s una bottiglia and not uno bottiglia? Learn why in the Italian indefinite articles lesson!
Now, how do you ask for, let’s say, two bottles of still water at the restaurant?
Due bottiglie di acqua frizzante.
Two bottles of sparkling water.
Or four small bottles of still water?
Quattro bottigliette di acqua naturale.
Four small bottles of still water.

Say per favore and grazie
When you buy a bottle of water in Italian, or ask a stranger for anything, it’s always a good idea to add per favore, please, at the end of your request or question, and grazie after your request has been fulfilled. Polite manners will be much appreciated!
So your full request will become…
Tre bottigliette di acqua naturale, per favore. Grazie!
Three small bottles of still water, please. Thank you!
Now let’s see how to ask how much is a bottle of water in Italian.
How much is it?
When you buy a bottle of water in Italian, you might also want to know how much you are going to spend.
To ask how much one bottle costs, say…
Quanto costa una bottiglia di acqua naturale?
How much does a bottle of still water cost?
Quanto costa una bottiglietta di acqua naturale?
How much does a small bottle of still water cost?
Quanto costa una bottiglia di acqua frizzante?
How much does a bottle of sparkling water cost?

If you need to buy more than one bottle, say…
Quanto costano [num] bottiglie di acqua naturale?
How much are [no.] bottles of still water?
To ask how much anything costs, always begin your sentence with either quanto costa, if you are talking about something in the singular number, and quanto costano if you want to know the price for something in the plural number (numbers higher than 1).
Buying a bottle of water in Italian will never give you anxiety again! 🙂
And that’s it, now you know how to buy a bottle of water in Italian!
What next?
Now that you’ve seen how to buy a bottle of water in Italian, you might want to keep learning Italian online with these free Italian resources:
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