French: Eating out

Food is an important part of French culture.

Different regions of France have their own dishes, but there are also some popular dishes that are eaten all over France and in the UK too.

Learn some useful phrases to help you to order food in French.

Here are some foods you would find in a bakery (une boulangerie) in France.

The English language has borrowed a lot of these words from French so they look very similar in both languages.

Did you notice that these words have un or une in front of them?

This is the same as saying ‘a’ in English but in French, we use either un for masculine nouns or une for feminine nouns.

French foods at a café

Here are some typical French café and restaurant foods. Again, a lot of words are borrowed from French. Are there any that you’ve heard of before?

Similarly, the French language has also borrowed some food words from English.

Did you notice that all the words in the two tables above begin with either le, la, or l’? This means ‘the’ and it is called the definite article.

You can learn more about this in Indefinite and definite articles.

If you go to a restaurant or café in France, here are some phrases to help you order your food.

You can ask for a table for four, five or six.

Une table pour quatre, s’il vous plaît – a table for four, please

Une table pour cinq, s’il vous plaît – a table for five, please

Une table pour six, s’il vous plaît – a table for six, please

You can ask for the menu.

La carte, s’il vous plaît – the menu please

The waiter might ask:

Qu’est-ce que vous voulez manger ? – What would you like to eat?

You can reply by saying either:

Je prends – I’ll have

Je prends le steak-frites – I’ll have the steak and chips

or

Je voudrais – I would like

Je voudrais le steak-frites – I would like the steak and chips

These phrases come from the verbs prendre (to take) and vouloir (to want).

Here are some more words for the different courses of a meal (le repas).

You can say:

Pour l’entrée, je prends – For the starter, I’ll have

Pour le plat principal, je prends – For the main course, I’ll have

Pour le dessert, je prends – For dessert, I’ll have

Pour l’entrée, je prends la salade niçoise – For the starter, I’ll have the salad niçoise

If you want to ask for a specific flavour of something, then you use à before the flavour or ingredient.

The à changes its spelling depending on whether the flavour or ingredient is masculine, feminine, whether it begins with a vowel or the letter h or whether it is plural:

So you say:

un sandwich au fromage – a cheese sandwich

un sandwich au jambon – a ham sandwich

un sandwich au poulet – a chicken sandwich

un pain au chocolat – a pain au chocolat

une glace au chocolat – a chocolate ice cream

une glace à la fraise – a strawberry ice cream

une glace à la noisette – a hazelnut ice cream

une glace à l’orange – an orange ice cream

un pain aux raisins – a pain aux raisin

Here are some other useful words when eating out.

Did you know?

If you want to ask for a cup, glass or bottle of something, then you also need the word de – of.

If de is followed by a vowel or the letter h, you remove the e and add an apostrophe – d’. This makes it easier to say.

un verre d’eau – a glass of water

une tasse de thé – a cup of tea

une bouteille de jus d’orange – a bottle of orange juice

You might want to check the price of something.

C’est combien ? – How much is it?

C’est combien la ratatouille ? – How much is the ratatouille?

C’est dix euros – It’s ten euros

C’est combien pour les crêpes ? How much are the crepes?

C’est trois euros – They are three euros

At the end of the meal, you can ask for the bill.

L’addition, s’il vous plaît – The bill, please

Below are some important French sounds that you have heard in this topic. Try practising them yourself out loud.

e

There are different ways of saying and writing e in French. One way sounds like the er at the end of the English word mother.

It can be written as e before one consonant or in a one syllable word.

le – the

de – of

Nasal i sounds

Some vowels are called nasal vowels as you say them through your nose. Nasal i sounds can be written as in, im, ain, aim, ein, eim, yn or ym.

This sounds more like the English an in ran. Put your mouth in the position to say an, then allow the air to come down your nose.

le pain – bread

o at the end of a word, ô, au and eau

These letters make a sound not found in English. Make your lips into a round shape and sound as if you have had a shock.

l’eau – water