Day 11: Food

food & drink vocabulary + the partitive article · 25 min

Lots of vocabulary today, but you do not need all of it — pick the things you actually eat. The grammar point is du / de la / des, which is French for the "some" that English usually leaves out.

1. Drinks

⚠️ Order "un café" in France and you get a small espresso. For something closer to American filter coffee ask for un café allongé (uhn ka-fay a-lohn-ZHAY); for a large milky one, un crème (uhn KREM).⚠️ And tea with milk is not a thing — if you want it, say avec du lait and expect a look.

2. Food

★ Notice how many of these you already knew. Bœuf → beef, porc → pork, mouton → mutton. English took the animal names from Old French at the table and kept the Anglo-Saxon words in the field (cow/beef, pig/pork). That is 900-year-old free vocabulary.

⚠️ FAUX AMI: une pomme is an apple, not a potato. A potato is une pomme de terre ("apple of the earth"). And un raisin is a grape — a raisin is un raisin sec.

3. ★ du / de la / des — the "some" you keep forgetting

This is English "some bread". It goes in front of things you don't count.

⚠️ ★ This is the hardest habit for English speakers all month, because English deletes it."I eat bread" has no article at all. French cannot say Je mange pain — it is not ungrammatical-sounding, it is unintelligible. Every mass noun needs du / de la / des.⚠️ In a negative sentence, they all collapse to de.Je mange du pain. → Je ne mange pas de pain.Je bois du café. → Je ne bois pas de café.Same rule as Je n'ai pas de temps on Day 6. After a negative, always de.

The two verbs you need today

4. Meals

⚠️ There is no English equivalent of Bon appétit, and it is not optional. Nobody starts eating before it is said. Saying nothing reads as rude, not neutral.

5. Dialogue — deciding on dinner

A: Tu as faim ? tew a FAN?B: Oui ! Qu'est-ce qu'on mange ce soir ? wee! kess kohn MAHNZH suh SWAR? What are we eating tonight?A: Tu manges de la viande ? tew MAHNZH duh la VYAHND?B: Non, je ne mange pas de viande. Je mange du poisson.nohn, zhuh nuh MAHNZH pa duh VYAHND. zhuh MAHNZH dew pwa-SOHN.A: D'accord. Et pour boire ? da-KOR. ay poor BWAR? OK. And to drink?B: De l'eau, s'il te plaît. duh LOH, seel tuh PLEH.A: Bon appétit ! bo-na-pay-TEE!

6. Exercises

A. Choose du / de la / de l' / des.

1. Je mange ___ pain. 2. Je bois ___ eau. 3. Je mange ___ viande.
2. Je mange ___ légumes. 5. Je bois ___ café.

B. Make it negative.

1. Je mange du fromage. → 2. Je bois de la bière. → 3. Je mange des fruits. →

C. Say it in French.

1. I don't eat meat. 2. A water, please. 3. It's delicious!

D. ⚠️ What's wrong?

1. Je mange pain. 2. Je ne mange pas du fromage.

7. Today's 10 sentences

1. J'ai faim. — I'm hungry (zhay FAN)
2. Qu'est-ce qu'on mange ? — What are we eating? (kess kohn MAHNZH)
3. Je mange du pain. — I eat bread (zhuh MAHNZH dew PAN)
4. Je bois de l'eau. — I drink water (zhuh BWA duh LOH)
5. Je ne mange pas de viande. — I don't eat meat (zhuh nuh MAHNZH pa duh VYAHND)
6. Un café, s'il vous plaît. — A coffee, please (uhn ka-FAY seel voo PLEH)
7. C'est délicieux ! — It's delicious! (seh day-lee-SYUH)
8. Bon appétit ! — Enjoy your meal! (bo-na-pay-TEE)
9. Je voudrais un croissant. — I'd like a croissant (zhuh voo-DREH uhn krwa-SAHN)
10. Vous avez du poisson ? — Do you have fish? (voo za-vay dew pwa-SOHN)

8. 📲 Upload to LangNote

The whole of sections 1–2 plus the partitives in 3. There is so much vocabulary here that the vocab mission will be the biggest it has been all month.

langNote is a paid subscription and this course recommends it. The 30 lessons are free and complete either way.