How to buy a bottle of water in Italian

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!

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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 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, vorrei un Martini.
Good evening, I would like a martini.

Buonasera a tutti!
Good evening everyone!

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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.

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?

Sparkling water is also known as acqua gassata.

For example, if you want a small bottle of natural water, say…

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.

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?

Or four small bottles of still water?

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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…

Now let’s see how to ask how much is a bottle of water in Italian.

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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…

If you need to buy more than one bottle, say…

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!

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