gustar,querer, poder, politness

Hola amigos. Tengo una pregunta sobre los verbos "gustar"," querer" y "poder". As I understand : Me gustaria un cafe, I would like a coffee, pero, queiro un cafe es ,I want a coffee o puedo un cafe? Can I have a coffee? Correcto? Otra pregunta: Is" gustariamos" correct for" we would like"? Por ejemplo : Gustariamos la ensalada primero por favor. Un de mis cunados vivio en Mexico por diez anos. El habla espanol muy bueno pero el dijo "gustariamos" sounds odd and wrong to him. He is fluent but learned espanol en los barrios de ciudad de Mexico. Any help would be welcome. Muchas gracias, Ricardo

Que verguenza! I misspelled "politeness " y "quiero". But now that I'm back here, otra pregunta. In my pocket Oxford Dictionary above the "u" in verguenza there is an accent two periods an ur sound in German ,Danish etc. How is that pronounced in Spanish? Otra vez gracias por ayuda. Ricardo

[quo]*Quote from * Rich In my pocket Oxford Dictionary above the "u" in verguenza there is an accent two periods an ur sound in German ,Danish etc. How is that pronounced in Spanish?[/quo] Hola Ricardo. The two dots above the u (ü) in Spanish indicate that the u should be pronounced. In "vergüenza," for example, the pronunciation is (very roughly) ver-GWEN-sa. Without the two dots, the u would simply indicate that the g is hard rather than soft (ver-GEN-sa rather than ver-JEN-sa). One site I've found very helpful for explanations is spanish.about.com. It's a huge site, and often you have to search for a while to find what you want, but the explanations tend to be helpful. Here's what that site has to say at __http://spanish.about.com/od/writtenspanish/a/accentonaccents_2.htm__: "The umlaut (or dieresis) is used above the u when the u is sounded in the combinations of güi or güe. Without the umlaut, known as la diéresis or la crema in Spanish, the u would be silent, serving only to indicate that the g is pronounced as a hard g rather than similar to the j. Among the words with umlauts are vergüenza, shame; cigüeña, stork or crank; pingüino, penguin; and agüero, prediction."

[quo]*Quote from * Rich Tengo una pregunta sobre los verbos "gustar"," querer" y "poder". As I understand : Me gustaria un cafe, I would like a coffee, pero, queiro un cafe es ,I want a coffee o puedo un cafe? Can I have a coffee? Correcto? Otra pregunta: Is" gustariamos" correct for" we would like"? Por ejemplo : Gustariamos la ensalada primero por favor.[/quo] Hola otra vez. I'm not at all fluent in Spanish, and I think your question should probably be answered by someone who knows a lot more than I do. However, since fools rush in where angels fear to tread, I'll take a stab at it and then refer you to what I think is probably a better place to seek an answer. First of all, I should note that I don't recall ever having heard "puedo un café," though perhaps it's used and I just don't know that. But it sounds strange to me, as if you were saying "Am I able a coffee?" I almost always see "puedo" followed by an infinitive, as in "no puedo dormir." There's the expression "no puedo con," as in "no puedo con este niño" (I can't cope with this child), but that's one of the few times when I haven't seen "puedo" followed by an infinitive (except. of course, when it's used alone, as in "no puedo" (I can't) ). My understanding is that both "me gustaría un café" and "quisiera un café" are polite ways to ask for a coffee (adding "por favor," of course :) ). They both translate as "I would like a coffee." As for gustaríamos, I simply don't know. You might want to ask at the WordReference forums; IMHO, they are the very best for Spanish usage: __http://forum.wordreference.com/__. I think I first learned about them from Amy in this Rocket Spanish forum. They're super! When you ask a question, you'll usually get answers very quickly from a wide variety of native Spanish speakers (who don't always agree :D ) as well as people who have learned Spanish as a second or third or umpteenth language. You can ask in Spanish or English. You can also consult the WordReference dictionary, which includes (at the end of each entry) links to all discussions in the WordReference forums that have your search words in the subject header. The URL for the dictionary is __http://www.wordreference.com/es/translation.asp?tranword=welcome__. It's a little less overwhelming that going straight to the forums.

Nohablo, muchas gracias por tu ayuda. What a wealth of information. You even provided the spelling of " umlaut ", which I couldn't recall. Regarding poder, I meant to write " puedo tener un cafe ". I think that is right. What wonderful resources you suggested. Otra vez, muchas gracias. Rich

Hola Rich. I'm glad I could help.