First date dinner: Choosing dishes from the menu together

💬 En stands in for "of them," meaning the starters, and French can't leave it out. On is the everyday way to say "we."

💬 The s of les links to the vowel that follows, so it sounds like (lay-zes-kar-go). The final ts stay silent.

💬 Word for word this is "does that say to you?" Put anything in front to suggest it, as in Un ciné, ça te dit ? "Fancy a movie?"

🇫🇷 This is a soft, friendly way to turn something down. A flat non would feel blunt on a date.

💬 Put plutôt in front of an option to offer it as an alternative. For example, Plutôt le poulet ? means "The chicken instead?"

💬 Use en plus a course to mean "for that course." Other examples are en entrée "as a starter" and en dessert "for dessert."

💬 In casual speech the question word quoi can go at the end. A more careful version is Qu'est-ce que tu prends ?.

🇫🇷 Magret comes from the southwest of France and is normally served pink in the middle. Ask for bien cuit "well done" if you prefer it cooked through.

💬 In casual speech the ne usually drops and the rest blurs together: Je sais pas sounds like (shay-pah).

💬 The f in bœuf is pronounced and the vowel is short, roughly (buhf).

💬 French uses il or elle for "it," depending on the dish. It is il here because bœuf is masculine, but a feminine dish like la terrine would take elle est excellente.

💬 Both small words go before the verb, in the order te then le. For a feminine dish, change le to la: Je te la conseille.

💬 Conseil means advice or a tip, not "council." The verb form is the conseille in je te le conseille.

💬 The pattern is faire signe à someone. À plus le always merges into au, as in au serveur.

🇫🇷 In France you catch the waiter's eye or lift a hand slightly. Snapping your fingers or calling out garçon comes across as rude.