Reference · module 4
At the café
Everything this module explains, on one page.
Je voudrais
Order food and drinks politely.
- Je voudrais means I would like, and it is the polite way to order anything: je voudrais un thé. Je veux, I want, sounds demanding to a waiter.
- Useful words: un café is a small black coffee, un crème is coffee with milk, un thé, une eau minérale, un croissant, un sandwich, une salade.
- When you are done, ask for the bill: l'addition, s'il vous plaît. In France the waiter rarely brings it without being asked — lingering is normal.
The mistake you are about to make
Je veux un café.
Je voudrais un café.
I want sounds blunt in English too, yet learners reach for je veux because it is shorter. Order with je voudrais.
Some: du, de la
Talk about an amount of something you cannot count.
- For things you do not count — bread, water, coffee — French uses du for masculine and de la for feminine: du pain, de la confiture. Before a vowel both become de l': de l'eau.
- Russian and English often use no word at all here: I eat bread. French always needs one: je mange du pain. Without it the sentence sounds broken.
- After an amount the article shrinks to de: un verre de vin, un kilo de pommes, beaucoup de sucre. Before a vowel it is d': un verre d'eau.
The mistake you are about to make
un verre de l'eau
un verre d'eau
Of the water feels right after glass. After an amount French drops the article: un verre d'eau, un kilo de pommes.
I like, I don't like
Say what you like and what you do not.
- J'aime means I like or I love: j'aime le chocolat. With a person it means love, so for a friend you like people say je l'aime bien.
- The negative wraps the verb: je n'aime pas le café. Ne becomes n' before a vowel. In speech ne often disappears — j'aime pas — but write it.
- After aimer, French uses le, la, les for things in general: j'aime le thé, je n'aime pas les tomates. Here the article means tea in general, not some tea.
The mistake you are about to make
J'aime café.
J'aime le café.
English says I like coffee with no article. French needs le here: j'aime le café.