Talking about food in French
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.
- J’aime les carottes - I like carrots.
- Je n’aime pas les hamburgers - I don’t like hamburgers.
To reply, you can use j’aime (I like) or je n’aime pas (I don’t like), followed by the food item.
After j’aime or je n’aime pas, you need to have a definite article (le, la or les).
- J’aime 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 (because).
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.
- J’aime 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.
- J’aime 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 (female) | 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, j’aime 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 (perfect tense) 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.
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