French restaurant dialogue | Coffee Break French Podcast S1E19

Bonjour et bienvenue à Coffee Break French. Welcome back to Coffee Break French.

Now, it's lesson 19, and in lesson 19, we're going to be reviewing all the vocabulary that we've covered so far. We'll be asking the question, qu'est-ce que tu as appris? What have you learned? So, hopefully, the answer to that is beaucoup, lots.

So, we're going to begin by going right back to episode 11, where we were learning to deal with language situations. I'm going to give you some phrases in English that you need to translate into French.

So, to begin with, can you remember how you would say this in French? I speak a little French.

I speak is je parle, a little, un peu, and then you need to say un peu de français. Je parle un peu de français. I speak a little French.

Okay, how would you say, I don't understand?

as je ne comprends pas.

Je ne comprends pas. I don't understand, je ne comprends pas.

Okay, let's see if you remember some of the words for the different languages. Can you remember the word for English?

It's anglais, of course. Anglais.

What about Italian?

Italian is italien. Italien.

Japanese?

Japonais. Japonais.

Now, if you're saying I speak Japanese, you would say, je parle japonais. Je parle japonais.

And if you were saying that you understand Japanese, you would be better to say, je comprends le japonais. And note here that it sounds a bit better to say le japonais than just japonais. Of course, if you said je comprends japonais, I'm sure every French speaker would understand exactly what you were saying.

Okay, let's try another phrase from lesson 11. More slowly, please.

So, the word for slowly is lentement. Lentement. So, more slowly, please, plus lentement, s'il vous plaît. Plus lentement, s'il vous plaît.

Okay, that's enough for lesson 11. Let's take lesson 12, in which we dealt with numbers, days, dates, and so on. Let's see if you can quickly come up with some numbers here. To begin with, 37.

That's 37. 37, 37. What about 512?

512 is 512. 512.

What about 1,836?

That's a bit more complicated. That would be 1836. 1836.

Okay, test your knowledge of days of the week here. What's Monday?

Lundi. What about Friday?

Vendredi. And try Sunday.

Dimanche. With items like days of the week, you simply have to learn them. Lundi, mardi, mercredi, jeudi, vendredi, samedi, dimanche.

Okay, can you remember the word for today?

It's aujourd'hui. Aujourd'hui.

So, how would you say, today is the 18th of April 2008?

There are a couple of ways of doing this. You could say, aujourd'hui, c'est le 18 avril 2008, using c'est, it is. But the more French way of saying it would be to use nous sommes, literally, we are the 18th of April 2008. So, in that situation, you would say, aujourd'hui, nous sommes le 18 avril 2008.

Okay, let's move on to lesson 13, in which we learned about places in the town and how to ask for directions.

Can you remember the phrase for where is?

Où est? Où est?

So, where is the bank?

Où est la banque? Où est la banque?

What about where is the museum?

Où est le musée? Où est le musée? And of course, you can add in s'il vous plaît. S'il vous plaît, où est le musée?

Or, où est le musée, s'il vous plaît?

Now, you can also use another phrase for asking where is something. And that is the equivalent of asking where can something be found, or where does something find itself.

Can you remember what that phrase is?

Où se trouve? Où se trouve?

So, how would you say, where is the tourist information office using this construction?

Où se trouve l'office de tourisme?

Now, let's give some directions. How would you say, turn right?

Tournez à droite.

Obviously, these are things that you're more likely to hear rather than have to say yourself. So, it's important to recognize these phrases.

How would someone tell you to turn left and go straight on?

Tournez à gauche et allez tout droit.

Or, it could be, tournez à gauche et puis allez tout droit. Puis meaning and then, et puis.

Et puis. Tournez à gauche et puis allez tout droit.

And if you wanted to ask if something is near here, how would you say, is it near here?

C'est près d'ici?

Or, est-ce que c'est près d'ici?

And the opposite, is it far from here?

Est-ce que c'est loin d'ici?

Or just, c'est loin d'ici?

Now, moving on, we also learned to ask what there is in a particular town. Can you remember how you would say, is there a restaurant near here?

So, there are three different ways of forming this. You could say, il y a un restaurant près d'ici?

Or, est-ce qu'il y a un restaurant près d'ici?

Or even, y a-t-il un restaurant près d'ici?

Now, remember, you only need to know one version of these to get your meaning across. I simply gave you all three in case your answer to my question was one of the ones I said.

How would you say, the church?

The church is l'église.

And the hotel?

L'hôtel.

So, to say, the church is far from the hotel, you would say,

L'église est loin de l'hôtel.

L'église est loin de l'hôtel.

What about the restaurant is next to the chemist?

Le restaurant est à côté de la pharmacie.

Okay, let's move on to ordering drinks in cafes and indeed on to ordering food a little bit later. How would you say, I would like?

The correct way to say this is, je voudrais. Je voudrais.

Um, I would like a coffee.

Je voudrais un café.

Or, je voudrais un café. You can make the S run on there. Je voudrais un café.

What about a tea with milk?

Un thé au lait. Un thé au lait.

Or indeed, un thé avec du lait.

A glass of wine?

Un verre de vin.

What about a bottle of lemonade?

Une bouteille de limonade.

Okay, try to place this order. For my father, a glass of red wine, for my mother, a coffee with cream, and for me, a still mineral water, please.

So, splitting this up, for my father, a glass of red wine, pour mon père, un verre de vin rouge.

For my mother, a coffee with cream.

Pour ma mère, un café crème.

And for me, a still mineral water, please.

Et pour moi, de l'eau minérale plate, s'il vous plaît. Now that de l'eau minérale, it sounds a little better to say de l'eau as opposed to une eau minérale.

Une eau minérale. And the chances are you probably would ask for the the name of the particular water, whether it's Vittel, Evian, Badoit, and so on.

So, we've been talking about drinks. How do you say, I'm thirsty?

Can you remember this? It's j'ai soif. J'ai soif.

What about I'm hungry?

That's j'ai faim. J'ai faim.

So, if you're hungry, maybe you would like a ham sandwich.

I would like a ham sandwich.

Je voudrais un sandwich au jambon. Je voudrais un sandwich au jambon.

I would like a cheese sandwich with some chips, or some fries.

Je voudrais un sandwich au fromage avec des frites.

How would you ask for the bill, please?

That's l'addition, s'il vous plaît. L'addition, s'il vous plaît.

And in a restaurant situation, do you have a menu in English?

Do you have a menu in English would be, vous avez une carte en anglais? Vous avez une carte en anglais?

Now, if you have specific dietary requirements, you may need to know how to say, I'm a vegetarian.

Je suis végétarien.

Or if you're female, je suis végétarienne.

What's the word for I eat?

It's je mange. It's a phrase rather than a word really. To eat is manger, so I eat, je mange.

I don't eat?

Je ne mange pas.

So, to say, I don't eat meat?

Je ne mange pas de viande.

Je ne mange pas de viande.

Or I don't eat nuts?

Je ne mange pas de noix.

How would you say, I'm allergic to seafood?

Je suis allergique aux fruits de mer. Remember, seafood is fruits of the sea or fruits of sea. Fruits de mer. Je suis allergique aux fruits de mer.

Now, if something arrives and it's not cooked, how would you say, it's not cooked?

Ce n'est pas cuit.

Ce n'est pas cuit.

What if something arrives and it's absolutely delicious? How would you say, it's delicious?

C'est délicieux.

And that's where we're going to leave it today for this edition of Coffee Break French.

Thanks for joining us, and we hope it's been useful. You can join the Coffee Break French community on Facebook at facebook.com/coffeebreakfrench, and we're at learn French on Twitter.

Merci beaucoup et à bientôt.

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