Ordering in French takes about five phrases. The hard part is the questions the person behind the counter asks back, and the menu words that don't mean what you'd guess (an entrée is not your main course). This guide covers both, for the three places you'll order most: the café, the bakery and the restaurant. Every phrase with a ▶ button has native audio.
The one pattern you need: je voudrais
Almost every order in French is Bonjour + what you want + S'il vous plaît:
- Je voudrais: I'd like. The polite default for ordering anything. Je voudrais un café, s'il vous plaît.
- Je prendrai: I'll have. A little more decided, good when you've just chosen from a menu. You'll also hear je vais prendre (I'm going to have), which means the same.
- Je voudrais ça I'd like this, while pointing. Completely acceptable at a bakery counter or with a menu in your hand.
Avoid je veux (I want). It's grammatically fine, but with staff it sounds like a toddler at a sweet shop. And don't skip the bonjour: in France, ordering without greeting first comes across as rude, however polite the rest of the sentence is.
Ordering at a café
In France, Un café gets you a small espresso, not a mug of filter coffee. If you want something else, you have to name it:
| Say | What you get |
|---|---|
| Un café / un express | A small espresso |
| Un café allongé | Espresso topped up with hot water, the closest thing to an Americano |
| Une noisette | Espresso with a dash of milk |
| Un café crème (or un crème) | Espresso with hot milk, closest to a latte |
| Un café au lait | Coffee with milk; what you get varies by café |
| Un déca | Decaf |
| Un chocolat chaud | Hot chocolate |
Then come the questions. These are the ones you'll actually hear:
- Sur place ou à emporter ? For here or to go? Answer Pour ici (for here) or À emporter (to go).
- Avec ça ? Anything else? Literally "with that?" Reply Non, merci. if you're done, or Juste le café. (just the coffee).
- Vous désirez ? What would you like? Staff say this; you answer with je voudrais.
- Quelle est la différence what's the difference? Useful when the menu has six kinds of coffee you've never heard of.
If you need plant milk, you can ask Avez-vous du lait d'amande ? (do you have almond milk?) or ask for Du lait de soja (soy milk). Je suis allergique (I'm allergic) works for anything: je suis allergique aux noix (I'm allergic to nuts).
The total comes as ça fait... or Ça vous fera (that'll be), followed by the price: ça vous fera trois euros cinquante.
Ordering at a bakery
French bakeries are fast, so have your order ready when you reach the counter. The vocabulary is short:
- Baguette: the long loaf. Une baguette, s'il vous plaît. Ask for une tradition (or une tradi) for the better, traditional-recipe version most bakeries sell alongside it.
- Une demi-baguette: half a baguette.
- Croissant: mostly a breakfast pastry, at its best in the morning.
- Un pain au chocolat: the chocolate pastry. In the south-west it's une chocolatine.
- Bien cuite / pas trop cuite: well done / not too dark, if you have a preference about your baguette. People do.
I found out about chocolatine in Bordeaux, where it's practically a regional identity. I asked for un pain au chocolat, and the woman at the counter handed it over and said, with a smile, une chocolatine, oui. I said chocolatine from then on, at least within Bordeaux.
At the till you'll hear the same Avec ça ? as in a café. C'est tout, merci (that's all, thanks) ends the order.
Ordering at a restaurant
To get a table, say how many you are: Une table pour deux, s'il vous plaît. When you book, the questions are Pour combien de personnes (for how many people) and à quelle heure ? (what time). Answer with Pour quatre personnes or a time on the 24-hour clock: À 19 heures, at 7 pm.
When the waiter comes to take the order:
- Vous avez choisi ? Have you decided?
- Pour moi, le plat du jour. For me, the dish of the day. Pour moi is how you start your order at the table.
- Qu'est-ce que vous me conseillez ? What do you recommend? Waiters usually have an opinion, and it's usually good.
- C'est quoi, le...? What's the...? For any dish you can't decode.
- Sans oignons, s'il vous plaît: without onions, please. Sans (without) works with anything.
- Végétarien: vegetarian. Je suis végétarien (végétarienne for a woman).
- Santé! Cheers! Wait until everyone has a drink.
- C'est bon! It's good! Your waiter will ask Ça vous a plu ? (did you enjoy it?) when they clear the plates.
French menu vocabulary
French menus have a few words that trip up English speakers, starting with menu itself:
- La carte: the full menu, everything the kitchen offers. Ask for la carte, s'il vous plaît.
- Le menu: a fixed-price set meal, usually two or three courses.
- La formule: a smaller set meal, typically at lunch: entrée + plat or plat + dessert.
- Le plat du jour: the dish of the day. Often the best value on the board.
- L'entrée: the starter. Not the main course, as it is in American English.
- Le plat (or plat principal): the main course.
- Le fromage, le dessert: cheese comes before dessert, if you have both.
- Les boissons: drinks.
For steak, French cooking runs rarer than you might be used to, so you may want to go one step further along the scale than you would at home:
| French | Roughly |
|---|---|
| Bleu | Seared outside, nearly raw inside |
| Saignant | Rare |
| À point | Medium rare to medium |
| Bien cuit | Well done |
For drinks: Eau is water. Ask for une carafe d'eau if you want tap water instead of bottled, or say plate (still) or gazeuse (sparkling) if you do want a bottle. A carafe of tap water with a meal can't be charged for in a French restaurant. Vin is wine: un verre de vin rouge (a glass of red), or un pichet (a small jug) of the house wine. Pain (bread) comes with the meal at no extra charge.
French food vocabulary list
The words you'll meet most often on French menus and in bakeries:
| French | English |
|---|---|
| le poulet | chicken |
| le bœuf | beef |
| le porc | pork |
| l'agneau | lamb |
| le canard | duck |
| le poisson | fish |
| les fruits de mer | seafood |
| les légumes | vegetables |
| les frites | fries |
| la salade | salad (or lettuce) |
| le fromage | cheese |
| les œufs | eggs |
| le pain | bread |
| le beurre | butter |
| maison | homemade (tarte maison: house tart) |
And the classic dishes you'll see on café and brasserie boards: Croque-monsieur (toasted ham and cheese sandwich; with a fried egg on top it's a croque-madame), Quiche, Soupe à l'oignon (onion soup), Boeuf bourguignon (beef stewed in red wine), Ratatouille, Crêpe, Mousse au chocolat and Tarte Tatin (upside-down caramelised apple tart).
Paying the bill
- L'addition, s'il vous plaît the bill, please. In a French restaurant the waiter won't bring it until you ask. Nobody is rushing you out.
- Puis-je payer par carte? Can I pay by card? Card machines usually come to the table.
- On peut payer séparément ? Can we pay separately?
Service is included in restaurant prices in France (service compris), so tipping is optional; rounding up or leaving a euro or two for good service is common (Frenchly on tipping in France). On the way out, Bonne journée or bonne soirée to the staff is the nice touch.
Practise your order before you go
Ordering is the most predictable conversation you'll have in French: the same handful of questions, in the same order, every time. That makes it the easiest one to rehearse. For more travel situations see French phrases for tourists, and for a full café and restaurant dialogue, French conversation for beginners. The lessons below let you practise each order out loud with native audio, including the questions you'll be asked back.
