Chapitre 4 — À table — French with Ash

What you’ll be able to do

By the end of this chapter, you can:

Order food and drink in a café or restaurant, and do it politely
Say “some,” the little word French won’t let you skip (du, de la, de l’, des)
Use three verbs you’ll lean on: vouloir, pouvoir, prendre
Say how much you want: a little, a lot, a glass, a piece

Four new ideas, and we keep the pronunciation work going from last chapter. We drill all of it until it sticks.

Start talking now

Read this out loud. Tap to hear it.

— Bonjour! Vous prenez quoi?

— Je voudrais un café et un croissant, s’il vous plaît.

— Un café au lait ou un espresso?

— Un café au lait. Et est-ce que je peux avoir un verre d’eau?

— Bien sûr. Autre chose?

— Non, c’est tout, merci.

English translation

— Hello! What are you having?

— I’d like a coffee and a croissant, please.

— A café au lait or an espresso?

— A café au lait. And can I have a glass of water?

— Of course. Anything else?

— No, that’s all, thanks.

Now make it yours. Order one drink and one thing to eat, then ask for a glass of water. Out loud. Three lines. It doesn’t have to be smooth. Say it anyway.

Words you need

Drinks 0/7 known

un café tap to flip

a coffee English hidden
un café au lait tap to flip

a coffee with milk English hidden
un thé tap to flip

a tea English hidden
un jus d’orange tap to flip

an orange juice English hidden
une bière tap to flip

a beer English hidden
de l’eau tap to flip

(some) water English hidden
du vin tap to flip

(some) wine English hidden

1 / 7

0 known

Français	English
un café	a coffee
un café au lait	a coffee with milk
un thé	a tea
un jus d’orange	an orange juice
une bière	a beer
de l’eau	(some) water
du vin	(some) wine

Food 0/12 known

le pain tap to flip

bread English hidden
le fromage tap to flip

cheese English hidden
un croissant tap to flip

a croissant English hidden
un sandwich tap to flip

a sandwich English hidden
la soupe tap to flip

soup English hidden
la salade tap to flip

salad English hidden
le poulet tap to flip

chicken English hidden
le poisson tap to flip

fish English hidden
la viande tap to flip

meat English hidden
les légumes tap to flip

vegetables English hidden
les fruits tap to flip

fruit English hidden
le dessert tap to flip

dessert English hidden

1 / 12

0 known

Français	English
le pain	bread
le fromage	cheese
un croissant	a croissant
un sandwich	a sandwich
la soupe	soup
la salade	salad
le poulet	chicken
le poisson	fish
la viande	meat
les légumes	vegetables
les fruits	fruit
le dessert	dessert

Ordering 0/8 known

Je voudrais… tap to flip

I’d like… English hidden
Vous prenez quoi? tap to flip

What are you having? English hidden
s’il vous plaît tap to flip

please English hidden
L’addition, s’il vous plaît. tap to flip

The bill, please. English hidden
C’est tout. tap to flip

That’s all. English hidden
Autre chose? tap to flip

Anything else? English hidden
avec / sans tap to flip

with / without English hidden
Bon appétit! tap to flip

Enjoy your meal! English hidden

1 / 8

0 known

Français	English
Je voudrais…	I’d like…
Vous prenez quoi?	What are you having?
s’il vous plaît	please
L’addition, s’il vous plaît.	The bill, please.
C’est tout.	That’s all.
Autre chose?	Anything else?
avec / sans	with / without
Bon appétit!	Enjoy your meal!

How French works here

Three verbs for ordering: vouloir, pouvoir, prendre

vouloir (to want):

je veux

nous voulons

tu veux

vous voulez

il / elle / on veut

ils / elles veulent

Here’s the catch. Je veux un café (I want a coffee) sounds blunt out loud, close to a demand. The polite way to order is je voudrais (I’d like). Learn it as a fixed phrase and use it every time you order. The grammar behind it comes much later. For now, je voudrais is your ordering form.

Je voudrais un café, s’il vous plaît.

Je voudrais le poulet et une salade.

pouvoir (to be able to, can):

je peux

nous pouvons

tu peux

vous pouvez

il / elle / on peut

ils / elles peuvent

pouvoir asks whether something’s possible. At a table, it’s your polite “can I have”:

Est-ce que je peux avoir un verre d’eau? (Can I have a glass of water?)

Je peux avoir l’addition?

Notice how close vouloir and pouvoir look: je veux and je peux, tu veux and tu peux. Learn the two as a pair and you’ve got both.

prendre (to take, and at the table, “to have”):

je prends

nous prenons

tu prends

vous prenez

il / elle / on prend

ils / elles prennent

In a café or restaurant, prendre means “to have.” It’s what the server asks and what you answer:

Vous prenez quoi? (What are you having?)

Je prends une salade et un jus. (I’ll have a salad and a juice.)

“Some”: the partitive

Here’s a small word English skips and French insists on.

In English you say “I eat bread.” In French you say you eat some bread, and you can’t leave the “some” out. That word is the partitive, and it changes shape with the noun:

du before a masculine noun: du pain, du fromage, du vin
de la before a feminine noun: de la soupe, de la viande
de l’ before any noun starting with a vowel: de l’eau
des before a plural: des légumes, des fruits

Je mange du pain. (I eat bread.)

Elle prend de la soupe. (She’s having soup.)

Je voudrais de l’eau. (I’d like some water.)

On mange des légumes. (We eat vegetables.)

The contrast that matters: un or une is one whole thing you could count. The partitive is part of a mass you wouldn’t.

un croissant (one croissant) vs du pain (some bread)

une pomme (one apple) vs de la salade (some salad)

One rule catches everyone. After a negative, all four shrink to plain de, or d’ before a vowel.

Je mange du pain. → Je ne mange pas de pain.

Elle prend de la viande. → Elle ne prend pas de viande.

Je prends de l’eau. → Je ne prends pas d’eau.

How much: quantities

When you say exactly how much, French uses a word of quantity, then plain de. Not du, not de la. Just de.

un peu de (a little): un peu de lait, un peu de sucre
beaucoup de (a lot of): beaucoup de légumes, beaucoup de café
assez de (enough): assez de pain
trop de (too much, too many): trop de sucre
un verre de (a glass of): un verre d’eau, un verre de vin
une tasse de (a cup of): une tasse de café, une tasse de thé
une bouteille de (a bottle of): une bouteille de vin
un morceau de (a piece of): un morceau de fromage, un morceau de gâteau

Je voudrais un verre de vin. (I’d like a glass of wine.)

Je prends beaucoup de légumes. (I’m having a lot of vegetables.)

Un peu de lait, s’il vous plaît. (A little milk, please.)

The whole pattern is quantity word + de + noun, and the de stays flat:

beaucoup de café (never “beaucoup du café”)

un verre d’eau (de becomes d’ before a vowel)

How it sounds

We keep going. Two more sounds this week, built on last chapter’s R, u, and nasals. Say everything out loud. Record and replay if you can.

1. é and è: two accents, two sounds.

You’ve been seeing these accents. Now hear them. They sit on the letter e, and each one tells you exactly how to say it.

é (the accent climbing up, “e-acute”) is a tight, bright sound, close to the “ay” in “day” but cut short, with no glide at the end.

è (the accent dropping down, “e-grave”) is open and relaxed, like the “e” in “bed.”

Feel the pair. é is tight and forward. è is open and loose.

café (é) vs crème (è) · thé (é) vs très (è)

2. Liaison: silent letters that wake up.

French is full of silent final consonants. vous ends in a silent s. un ends in a nasal with no hard n. But when the next word starts with a vowel, that sleeping consonant often wakes up and links into it. This linking is called liaison, and it’s a big part of why spoken French flows the way it does.

vous avez → “vou-zavez” (the s wakes up as a z)

un œuf → “un-nœuf” (an egg)

des œufs → “dé-zœufs” (eggs)

For food, you’ll hear it everywhere:

deux euros · trois oranges · bon appétit

You don’t need every rule for when liaison happens and when it doesn’t. That comes with time. For now, just start hearing the link instead of two separate words.

Understand · don't produce

What you’ll hear in Montréal

For your ears, not your mouth. Recognize these. You don’t need to produce them.

The corner store: le dépanneur, le dep. Every neighbourhood has one. It’s the small shop where you grab milk, snacks, or beer late at night. People shorten it to le dep. Je vais au dep means “I’m running to the corner store.” No textbook outside Quebec will teach you this word, and you’ll hear it constantly.
The bill: la facture. You’ll learn to ask for l’addition, the standard word in a restaurant. In Quebec you’ll also hear la facture for the same thing. Both mean “the bill.” Recognize either one.
A drink: un breuvage. In Quebec, un breuvage just means a beverage, a drink. You’ll see it on menus. Standard French would say une boisson, and in France breuvage sounds odd, almost like a potion. In Montréal it’s everyday.

Practice

Exercise 1 — du, de la, de l’, or des?

Je voudrais pain.
Elle prend soupe.
Tu manges légumes?
Je voudrais eau, s’il vous plaît.
On prend fromage.
Vous voulez café?

Exercise 2 — Say no.

Rewrite each in the negative.

Je mange du pain. →
Elle prend de la viande. →
Tu prends de l’eau. →
On mange des légumes. →

Exercise 3 — vouloir, pouvoir, or prendre?

Conjugate.

Tu (vouloir) du café ou du thé?
Est-ce que je (pouvoir) avoir l’addition?
Nous (prendre) une pizza.
Ils (vouloir) du dessert.
Vous (prendre) quoi?
On (pouvoir) avoir un verre d’eau?

Exercise 4 — Order it.

Write what you’d say in a café. Use je voudrais, je peux avoir, or je prends, and keep it polite.

You want a coffee with milk. →
You want to ask for a glass of water. →
You’re having the chicken and a salad. →
You want to ask for the bill. →

Exercise 5 — What do you eat?

Write five to seven sentences about what you eat and drink in a normal day: each meal, what you have with it, one thing you don’t eat. Use the partitive (du, de la, des) and at least one quantity (un verre de, beaucoup de).

le matin · le midi · le soir · du / de la / des · beaucoup de · je ne mange pas de…

Show a model answer

Le matin, je prends un café et du pain. Le midi, je mange de la soupe et une salade. Je prends souvent un jus d’orange. Le soir, je mange du poulet et beaucoup de légumes. Je ne mange pas de dessert.

Answers

Show answers

Exercise 1: 1. du · 2. de la · 3. des · 4. de l’ · 5. du · 6. du

Exercise 2: 1. Je ne mange pas de pain. · 2. Elle ne prend pas de viande. · 3. Tu ne prends pas d’eau. · 4. On ne mange pas de légumes.

Exercise 3: 1. veux · 2. peux · 3. prenons · 4. veulent · 5. prenez · 6. peut

Exercise 4 (one good version each):

Je voudrais un café au lait, s’il vous plaît.
Est-ce que je peux avoir un verre d’eau?
Je prends le poulet et une salade.
L’addition, s’il vous plaît. (or: Je peux avoir l’addition?)

Exercise 5 (one good version):

Le matin, je prends un café et du pain. Le midi, je mange de la soupe et une salade. Je prends souvent un jus d’orange. Le soir, je mange du poulet et beaucoup de légumes. Je ne mange pas de dessert.

Your turn

Pick one. Both is better.

Record yourself. Order a full meal in a café, both sides if you like. Greet the server, order a drink and something to eat, ask for a glass of water, then ask for the bill. Six to eight lines. Watch your é in café and your liaison in vous avez.
Write it. Describe what you eat and drink in a normal day. Five to seven sentences, with the partitive and at least one quantity.

This week’s work

Flashcards. Add the three decks: drinks, food, ordering. Store every food noun with its article, the way you always do. Add one card each for vouloir, pouvoir, and prendre (full present), one for the partitive set (du / de la / de l’ / des), and a few quantity templates (un verre de, beaucoup de, un peu de). Review ten minutes a day, both directions.

Listening. Find a café or restaurant scene, or someone reading a recipe or a menu. Listen twice before the transcript. Catch the partitive and the ordering verbs.

Pronunciation. Keep it going. é versus è, and liaison, two minutes a day. Keep last week’s R and u warm too. A few minutes daily beats a long session once a week.

Production. The café order or the food-day task above.

Check yourself

Tick these off honestly.

I can order a drink and a meal politely, with je voudrais and je peux avoir.
I can use du, de la, de l’, and des for “some,” and drop them to de after a negative.
I can use vouloir, pouvoir, and prendre in the present.
I can say how much with un peu de, beaucoup de, un verre de.
I can hear the difference between é and è.

If a box is empty, go back to that section before Chapter 5. You can sit down anywhere now and order what you want. That’s a real piece of daily life handled in French. Keep going.

Clears this chapter’s checklist, flashcards, and exercise answers on this device.

Next chapter

Next chapter Chapitre 5 — En ville. You head out into the city. You’ll ask where things are and follow directions to get there. That brings il y a (there is, there are), the small words that place things (on, under, next to, across from), the command form for giving directions (turn left, go straight), and the full set of à + le contractions you got a taste of with au travail. You stop being lost.

À la semaine prochaine.