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Just curious about this one. I'm never sure what to say when I ask for
chopsticks in Japanese. I know that "by-the-book", you can count them with
～そろい （揃い) or ～ぜん （膳）. So I always say 「お箸を 一揃い（ひとそろい）／一膳（いちぜん） お願いします。」 to ask
for a pair. But as with other things I say in Japanese, I'm afraid that this
sounds too "textbookish".

So I'm just wondering how native speakers ask for chopsticks (if they ever
need to). Do they use these counters, or the basic ひとつ／ふたつ／．．． counters, or
something completely different? I hate sounding too textbookish.
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2011-06-05T02:53:22.840
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2011-12-27T00:52:08.113
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counters phrases
Counter for chopsticks
In a restaurant it is usually enough to simply ask for お箸を下さい. It is perfectly
understood that that means _"enough chopsticks for me [and my companions],
please"_. Anything more specific is usually unnatural.

If you do need to specify how many pairs of chopsticks exactly, you'd usually
use 〜膳 _-zen_.
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2011-06-05T03:04:52.280
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The zen counter is the correct counter, but again one of those things that the
avg. Japanese person may not know. There have been occasions where I have used
zen and have been complimented by Japanese people for knowing correct
Japanese. So you won't sound weird if you use zen, but in fact will sound
educated.
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2011-06-05T03:07:31.290
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If you get a number of items from a convenience store in Japan the clerk will
ask you how many chopsticks you want, and even these staff (not always the
most educated of Japanese) will properly ask "ohashi nanzen" お箸何膳, i.e. how
many (pairs of) chopsticks do you want? This is proper and natural and not
bookish. I have never heard anyone use "hon" 本 as a counter for chopsticks.
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2011-06-28T23:10:19.007
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there are correct ways of speaking that mostly we don't use. Although 揃い is
the correct way of counting chopsticks, but actually very rare people use it.
We mostly use it in articles and books, but when it comes to talking, it
sounds very strict.

We mostly count chopsticks with 本(hon). In a restaurant we prefer to ask for
it as: 箸を二つ（三つ、四つ）もらいますか？ it's makes the request more softly than using a very
rare word as 揃.
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2013-03-27T23:48:25.470
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