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Food and drink

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Giving your opinions of food and drink

Image of children sharing a pizza

To ask someone what they like or don鈥檛 like eating and drinking, you can use the 鈥巉ollowing questions:鈥

  • Qu'est-ce que tu aimes manger/boire? - What do you like to eat/drink?鈥
  • Qu'est-ce que tu n'aimes pas manger/boire? - What don鈥檛 you like to eat/drink?鈥

For many food items, you need to use a plural when you are giving your opinion of them, 鈥巃s you would in English. For example, you would say 鈥業 like carrots鈥 or 鈥業 don鈥檛 like 鈥巋amburgers鈥.鈥

To form a plural in French, you usually (but not always) add an 鈥s鈥, like you would do in 鈥嶦nglish. For example, carrot is carotte and carrots is carottes in French.鈥

  • 闯鈥檃颈尘别 les carottes - I like carrots.鈥
  • Je n鈥檃ime pas les hamburgers - I don鈥檛 like hamburgers.鈥

To reply, you can use 箩鈥檃颈尘别 (I like) or je n鈥檃ime pas (I don鈥檛 like), followed by the food 鈥巌tem.

After 箩鈥檃颈尘别 or je n鈥檃ime pas, you need to have a (le, la or les).鈥

  • 闯鈥檃颈尘别 le poulet - I like chicken.鈥
  • Je n鈥檃ime pas la limonade - I don鈥檛 like lemonade.鈥

Saying 'because'

You can explain why you like or dislike things 鈥巄y using parce que or car - both mean because.

To say because it is鈥 say parce que c'est or car c'est + the masculine form of the adjective.

  • 闯鈥檃颈尘别 le poulet parce que c鈥檈st d茅licieux - I like chicken because it鈥檚 delicious.鈥
  • Je n鈥檃ime pas la limonade car c鈥檈st trop sucr茅 - I don鈥檛 like lemonade 鈥巄ecause it is too sweet.鈥

For more opinion phrases, food and drink items and reasons why you might 鈥巐ike or dislike them, click on the downloadable phrase builder below:

Food and drink phrase builder

Explaining dietary requirements

Sometimes, it is important to explain that you can鈥檛 eat certain foods.
Here are some useful phrases to help you talk about allergies and dietary requirements:鈥

FrenchEnglish
Je suis v茅g茅tarien (male) / Je 鈥巗uis v茅g茅tarienne (蹿别尘补濒别)鈥I am (a) vegetarian
Je suis v茅g茅talien / je suis 鈥巚茅gan (male) / Je suis 鈥巚茅g茅talienne / v茅gane 鈥庘(female) 鈥I am (a) vegan
Je suis allergique aux noix / 鈥嶫鈥檃i une allergie aux noixI am allergic to nuts
J鈥檃i une intol茅rance au lactoseI am lactose intolerant
J鈥檃i une intol茅rance au glutenI have gluten intolerance
J鈥檃i la maladie c艙liaqueI have coeliac disease

Saying what you eat for different meals

A family having dinner around a dinner table

To talk about what you eat for different meals, you can use the following expressions:鈥

  • Au petit d茅jeuner, je mange des c茅r茅ales et je bois du th茅 - For breakfast, I eat 鈥巆ereal and I drink tea.鈥
  • 脌 midi, 箩鈥檃颈尘别 manger des sandwichs - For lunch, I like eating sandwiches.鈥
  • Le soir, je pr茅f猫re manger une salade - For dinner, I prefer eating a salad.鈥

Talking about meals in different tenses

Present tense

To say what you usually drink and eat, or what you are drinking and eating right now, use 鈥巘he present tense of the verbs boire (to drink) and manger (to eat) :鈥

  • Je bois - I drink / I am drinking
  • Je mange - I eat / I am eating

Perfect tense

To talk about what you had in the past, you need to use the pass茅 compos茅 (perfect 鈥巘ense) of the verbs boire (to drink) and/or manger (to eat) :鈥

  • J'ai bu - I drank
  • J'ai mang茅 - I ate

Future tense

If you want to say what you are going to have in the future, you use the correct form of 鈥aller (to go) + boire (to drink) and/or manger (to eat) :鈥

  • Je vais boire - I am going to drink
  • Je vais manger - I am going to eatzcvk3j6

Quiz

Watch the video and find out how much you know about food in French with this short quiz.

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