A German Phrase for Asking whether a seat is free: "Ist dieser Platz noch frei?"

"Ist dieser Platz noch frei?" means "Is this seat still free?" and it's the basic German expression used for asking whether a seat is free. It's very handy at a cafe or coffee shop. To answer, you can say something like "Ja, bitte setzen Sie sich." (Yes, please sit down). You can keep the conversation going by reacting with something like "Vielen Dank, das ist nett." (Thank you, that's kind of you).