Giving your opinions of food and drink
To ask someone what they like or don’t like eating and drinking, you can use the ‎following questions:‎
- Qu'est-ce que tu aimes manger/boire? - What do you like to eat/drink?‎
- Qu'est-ce que tu n'aimes pas manger/boire? - What don’t you like to eat/drink?‎
For many food items, you need to use a plural when you are giving your opinion of them, ‎as you would in English. For example, you would say ‘I like carrots’ or ‘I don’t like ‎hamburgers’.‎
To form a plural in French, you usually (but not always) add an ‘s’, like you would do in ‎English. For example, carrot is carotte and carrots is carottes in French.‎
- ´³â€™a¾±³¾±ð les carottes - I like carrots.‎
- Je n’aime pas les hamburgers - I don’t like hamburgers.‎
To reply, you can use Âá’a¾±³¾±ð (I like) or je n’aime pas (I don’t like), followed by the food ‎item.
After Âá’a¾±³¾±ð or je n’aime pas, you need to have a (le, la or les).‎
- ´³â€™a¾±³¾±ð le poulet - I like chicken.‎
- Je n’aime pas la limonade - I don’t like lemonade.‎
Extending your opinions with reasons
You can add more information about why you like or dislike different food and drink ‎items by using parce que (²ú±ð³¦²¹³Ü²õ±ð).‎
To give a reason why you like or dislike a food or drink item, such as chocolate or orange ‎juice, say parce que c’est (because it is) followed by the masculine form of the adjective.‎
Drinks and meat tend to be singular.‎
- ´³â€™a¾±³¾±ð le poulet parce que c’est délicieux - I like chicken because it’s delicious.‎
- Je n’aime pas la limonade parce que c’est trop sucré - I don’t like lemonade ‎because it is too sweet.‎
- ´³â€™a¾±³¾±ð les légumes parce que c’est bon pour la santé - I like vegetables because ‎they’re healthy.‎
For more opinion phrases, food and drink items and reasons why you might ‎like or dislike them, click on the downloadable phrase builder below:
Explaining dietary requirements
Sometimes, it is important to explain that you can’t eat certain foods.
Here are some useful phrases to help you talk about allergies and dietary requirements:‎
French | English |
---|---|
Je suis végétarien (male) / Je ‎suis végétarienne (´Ú±ð³¾²¹±ô±ð)‎ | I am (a) vegetarian |
Je suis végétalien / je suis ‎végan (male) / Je suis ‎végétalienne / végane ‎‎(female) ‎ | I am (a) vegan |
Je suis allergique aux noix / ‎J’ai une allergie aux noix | I am allergic to nuts |
J’ai une intolérance au lactose | I am lactose intolerant |
J’ai une intolérance au gluten | I have gluten intolerance |
J’ai la maladie cœliaque | I have coeliac disease |
Saying what you eat for different meals
To talk about what you eat for different meals, you can use the following expressions:‎
- Au petit déjeuner, je mange des céréales et je bois du thé - For breakfast, I eat ‎cereal and I drink tea.‎
- À midi, Âá’a¾±³¾±ð manger des sandwichs - For lunch, I like eating sandwiches.‎
- Le soir, je préfère manger une salade - For dinner, I prefer eating a salad.‎
Talking about meals in different tenses
Present tense
To say what you usually eat and drink, or what you are eating and drinking right now, use ‎the present tense of the verbs manger (to eat) and boire (to drink):‎
French | English |
---|---|
je mange | I eat |
tu manges | you eat |
il / elle mange | he / she eats‎ |
French | English |
----------------- | ----------------- |
je bois | I drink |
tu bois | you drink |
il / elle boit | he / she drinks |
- Normalement, à midi, je mange un hamburger et je bois de l’eau - Normally, for ‎lunch, I eat a hamburger and I drink some water.‎
- Aujourd’hui, ma mère mange des céréales au petit déjeuner - My mum is eating ‎cereal for breakfast.‎
Past tense
To talk about what you ate in the past, you need to use the passé composé of the verbs manger (to eat) and boire (to drink):‎
French | English |
---|---|
j'ai mangé | I ate |
tu as mangé | you ate |
il / elle a mangé | he / she ate‎ |
French | English |
----------------- | ----------------- |
j'ai bu | I drank |
tu as bu | you drank |
il / elle a bu | he / she drank‎ |
- Hier, j'ai mangé du poisson et j'ai bu de l'eau - Yesterday, I ate fish and I drank ‎water. ‎
- Samedi dernier, mon copain a mangé du gâteau et il a bu du coca parce que ‎c'était son anniversaire - Last Saturday, my friend ate cake and drank cola ‎because it was his birthday.‎
Future tense
If you want to say what you are going to eat in the future, you use the correct form of ‎aller (to go) and the infinitives manger (to eat) and boire (to drink):‎
French | English |
---|---|
je vais manger | I am going to eat |
tu vas manger | you are going to eat |
il / elle va manger | he / she is going to eat |
French | English |
---|---|
je vais boire | I am going to drink |
tu vas boire | you are going to drink |
il / elle va boire | he / she is going to drink |
- Ce soir, je vais manger une pomme et je vais boire du jus d'orange parce que c'est ‎bon pour la santé - This evening, I'm going to eat an apple and I'm going to drink ‎some orange juice because it is healthy.‎
- Demain, mon père va boire du café au petit déjeuner - Tomorrow, my dad is going ‎to drink some coffee at breakfast.‎
Quiz
Watch the video and find out how much you know about food in French with this short quiz.
Game - FestiLingo: French. game
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