☀️ Breakfast - Desayuno
Beginner Spanish · Breakfast and café ordering
Breakfast in Spanish
Breakfast vocabulary becomes much more useful when you can say what you eat, talk about what you drink in the morning, and order a simple breakfast at a café.
Your next small win: name common breakfast foods, describe a simple morning habit, ask whether something is available, and order breakfast politely.
Start with a useful breakfast set
Common Breakfast Foods
These foods give you enough vocabulary to describe several simple breakfasts without learning a huge list first.
Eggs
Bread
Toast
Cereal
Butter
Jam
Fruit
Yogurt
Oatmeal
Choose a simple breakfast
Say that you want eggs and toast.
Quiero huevos y pan tostado.
More breakfast foods
Bacon
Pancakes
Banana
Cheese
Pastries
Add something to drink
Breakfast Drinks
Coffee
Milk
Orange juice
Tea
Coffee with milk
Hot chocolate
Regional vocabulary: jugo de naranja is common in much of Latin America, while zumo de naranja is commonly used in Spain.
Choose a morning drink
Say “coffee with milk and orange juice.”
Café con leche y jugo de naranja.
Talk about your morning
Breakfast Habits
Use these complete phrases to talk about what you normally eat or drink in the morning.
I drink coffee every morning.
I eat cereal with milk in the morning.
I eat fruit and yogurt for breakfast.
I always drink coffee with milk in the morning.
Pancakes with honey are delicious.
Strawberry jam is my favorite.
Describe your morning
Say that you drink coffee every morning and eat fruit and yogurt for breakfast.
Tomo café todas las mañanas.
Como fruta y yogur para el desayuno.
Use breakfast Spanish at a café
Ordering Breakfast
A few reusable patterns let you order, ask what is available, and choose food or drinks.
I would like a coffee with milk, please.
I want eggs with toast.
For me, an orange juice.
Is there any orange juice?
Do you have oatmeal for breakfast?
I want toast with butter.
Useful distinction: ¿Hay...? asks whether something is available or exists. ¿Tienen...? asks whether the café or restaurant has something.
At breakfast
What do you want for breakfast?
I want eggs and toast.
At a café
What would you like to drink?
A coffee with milk and an orange juice, please.
Order your own breakfast
Order one breakfast food and one drink. Then ask whether the café has oatmeal.
Quisiera una tostada con mantequilla, por favor.
Para mí, un café con leche.
¿Tienen avena para el desayuno?
More breakfast in context
I want two eggs for breakfast.
Oatmeal is a popular breakfast option.
Breakfast varies by region: what people eat for el desayuno differs widely across the Spanish-speaking world.
Your turn · 8 quick questions
Practice: Breakfast
Choose the answer that fits each situation. Focus on breakfast foods, drinks, availability questions, morning habits, and café ordering.
Practice complete
You can talk about breakfast and place a simple café order.
A few breakfast phrases to revisit
One last step: order breakfast without choices.
Choose one food and one drink. Order them politely, then ask whether one other breakfast item is available.
Quisiera huevos con pan tostado, por favor.
Para mí, un café con leche.
¿Hay jugo de naranja?
Someone asks what you want for breakfast. You want eggs and toast. What do you say?
- Quiero huevos y pan tostado.
- Quiero cereal con leche.
- Quiero fruta y yogur.
- Quiero una tostada con mermelada.
Quiero huevos y pan tostado directly answers that you want eggs and toast.
Quiero huevos y pan tostado.
A server asks what you would like to drink. You want coffee with milk and orange juice. What do you say?
- Un café con leche y un jugo de naranja, por favor.
- Un té y un vaso de leche, por favor.
- Un chocolate caliente, por favor.
- Un café y agua, por favor.
The correct answer orders both café con leche and jugo de naranja.
Un café con leche y un jugo de naranja, por favor.
You want toast with butter. Which sentence matches?
- Quiero una tostada con mantequilla.
- Quiero una tostada con mermelada.
- Quiero cereal con leche.
- Quiero fruta con yogur.
Mantequilla means butter, so una tostada con mantequilla is toast with butter.
Quiero una tostada con mantequilla.
You want to know whether orange juice is available. What do you ask?
- ¿Hay jugo de naranja?
- ¿Hay café con leche?
- ¿Tienen avena para el desayuno?
- ¿Qué va a tomar?
¿Hay...? asks whether something exists or is available.
¿Hay jugo de naranja?
You want to know whether the café has oatmeal for breakfast. What do you ask?
- ¿Tienen avena para el desayuno?
- ¿Tienen cereal para el desayuno?
- ¿Tienen pan para el desayuno?
- ¿Tienen fruta para el desayuno?
Avena is oatmeal in this breakfast context.
¿Tienen avena para el desayuno?
You drink coffee every morning. Which sentence matches?
- Tomo café todas las mañanas.
- Tomo té todas las mañanas.
- Como cereal con leche por la mañana.
- Como fruta y yogur para el desayuno.
Tomo café todas las mañanas means “I drink coffee every morning.”
Tomo café todas las mañanas.
You eat fruit and yogurt for breakfast. Which sentence matches?
- Como fruta y yogur para el desayuno.
- Como cereal con leche por la mañana.
- Quiero huevos con pan tostado.
- Tomo café con leche por la mañana.
Como fruta y yogur para el desayuno directly describes eating fruit and yogurt for breakfast.
Como fruta y yogur para el desayuno.
Which phrase is commonly used for orange juice in Spain?
- zumo de naranja
- jugo de naranja
- café con leche
- chocolate caliente
Zumo de naranja is commonly used in Spain, while jugo de naranja is common in much of Latin America.
jugo de naranja / zumo de naranja = orange juice