how to say "Can you give me cutlery please"

[chaiwei]

when in restaurant, the waitress serve me the food, but they didn't provide me the cutlery, so how should I said in proper english?

Can you give me the cutlery please?
Can you give me the spoon and fork please?

Actually the dinner knife is call knife right?

 

[Bridie]

Hi,

I'd say:

"May I have some cutlery please"

If just a spoon was needed or just a fork:

"May I have a spoon please"
and
"May I have a fork please"

You are correct that we would just say "knife" not "dinner knife". If you were eating something that required a particualr type of knife the waiter/waitress would know anyway.

Hope this helps.

 

[Barb_D]

In the US, it's expected that your place setting is there when you sit down. If it's missing, you could say "Excuse me, we seem to be missing our silverware."

If, for example, you dropped your fork on the ground, or they forgot to include a steak knife with your meal (instead of the butter knife, which should have been there originally), just say it in normal terms. "Excuse me, I dropped my fork. Could I please get another?" or "Excuse me, could I get a steak knife?"

 

[5jj]

Could I please get another?" or "Excuse me, could I get a steak knife?"

That use of 'get' used to sound odd to me. I use only 'have', but I notice an increasing use of 'get' among younger people.

If I ask "Could I please get another?", I want to know if can go to where the knives are, pick up one and bring it back to my place.

 

[Ouisch]

That use of 'get' used to sound odd to me. I use only 'have', but I notice an increasing use of 'get' among younger people.

If I ask "Could I please get another?", I want to know if can go to where the knives are, pick up one and bring it back to my place.

For whatever reason, "get" is the most common verb used in AmE when asking for silverware in restaurants. For example, if you order steak and eggs for breakfast, and your place setting only consists of the traditional fork, spoon and butter knife, you would ask your server "Can I please get a steak knife?" Technically speaking "May I have..." is more grammatically correct, but for some reason "Can I get..." has become the popular phraseology. For example: "I dropped my fork on the floor, can I get another one, please?"